It has been a busy last few weeks…and I can’t believe there’s now only 3 weeks until my contract in Ibaraki finishes. It has gone by sooooo quickly! I’m excited to be heading home soon to see all my friends and family.
One thing I’ve had on the back burner for awhile was to climb Mt.Fuji. I have little to no experience in scaling up mountains, but I just knew it would be an awesome way to finish up my last few weeks in Japan.
A group of friends and I were all keen to do the climb, and an opportunity arose with the Tokyo Snow Club. The Tokyo Snow Club usually arrange group ski and snowboarding trips for foreigners and locals living or visiting Tokyo, but they also do a yearly hike up Mt Fuji, which we decided to get in on.
You can of course do the hike without being part of a organized group…but we decided that due to our lack of experience and how complicated it can be to arrange anything in Japan when you don’t speak the language, it was easier to just do it with a group…for just under 10,000 yen we had our transport to and from Mt Fuji covered, an oxygen canister (to help with the altitude), an extra bottle of water and a flashlight.
Unfortunately due to the fact that I’m not a regular mountaineer, and that I sent pretty much all of my winter stuff back home in March, I struggled to get all the necessary gear for the hike. I had plenty of clothes that I could layer on, but I didn’t have appropriate gloves, footwear or rainwear…which are pretty much the main things you need. So I decided to make do with the merrell trainers, my poncho raincoat and garden gloves. Tip: Make sure you have appropriate gear, and in retrospect I wish I had a walking stick (mostly for the descent) and a space blanket.
I also had a massive fear I wouldn’t have enough food…and I can now say that I’m probably the only person in history to climb Mt.Fuji and PUT ON weight. I took A LOT of food. Before we even met the group, we went for a massive bowl of ramen….then I had a blueberry scone and not one but TWO icecreams (I think I convinced myself that it might be my last meal on earth). I then had a smoothie during the bus trip to the mountain (gotta stay hydrated, right?) I also bought a lot of food supplies to take with me, including bananas, a cheese muffin, wasabi crackers, salmon rice ball, veggie rice ball, m&ms, protein bar, trail mix, an egg sandwich and an energy drink. Oh and 2 litres of water…
We met the group at 2pm in Shinjuku, where we boarded the bus to make the 3 hour drive to the 5th station of Mt Fuji. We were taking the Yoshida trail up, which is the most popular of the trails. We arrived at the Fuji-Subaru line 5th station at around 5 where we got acclimatized to the altitude (it’s 2305m above sea level) and made sure we had everything to start the trek. I also ate a pork bun because apparently I didn’t think I had carb loaded enough.
At 6pm we headed off to the 6th station…which is roughly an hour walk up the trail. The view was already incredible.
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Once we made it to 6th station, our group slowly started to disperse. My energy levels were pretty good and I knew if I took too much time making my way up the mountain, that I would get over the whole experience very quickly. It was near impossible to talk while doing the hike due to how strenuous it was and how thin the air had become…so from the 6th station through to the 8th station I ended up going solo which in the end I think was wise because it meant I just focused on doing the hike and making sure to breathe properly (I’m a very shallow breather normally).
By the time I made it to 8th station at around midnight, I caught up with Brandon who had been ahead of me. I wasn’t sure where my two other friends were, I knew they were behind me, but not sure how far behind. It’s only another 55 minutes of hiking from 8th station to the summit, but we didn’t see the point of leaving 8th station just yet as it just meant we’d be at the summit at 1am and sunrise wasn’t until 4:20am.
So Brandon decided to sleep while I went in search of hot food and warmth. The temperature had dropped below 0 degrees and I was now in full Michelin man get up trying to stay warm. I made my way into one of the nearby huts and ordered a bowl of vegetable udon (starting to see why I gained weight during this trek). There were a bunch of people huddled around a fireplace, including a kid who was about 10 years old, in an emergency blanket…
At around 1am I decided to walk around 8th station a bit to keep warm. I noticed a massive stream of lights all the way down the mountain…. It was all the other climbers making their way up to 8th station..there were literally thousands of them.
I woke Brandon up and told him I was going to continue to make my way up to the summit so that I didn’t get stuck behind the hoards of people who were on their way up. He was keen to do the same, and so the two of us continued on to reach the summit. This was definitely the most difficult part of the hike up. It was 1:30am in the morning, below 0 degrees, the air was thin, we were tired and sore…but we made it.
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A blurry photo of the 1000s of people making their way up the mountain.
The temperature dipping below 0
Another blurry photo of the trek
The rather lackluster entrance to the summit
At 2:30am we reached the top of Mt Fuji, there were roughly 50 or some people milling around the summit. Sleep was out of the question due to the tempature and wind. Brandon made his way inside one of the huts to get a curry (yes, there’s a hut that serves food right at the top of the summit) and I went in search of finding the optimal spot to watch the sunrise. I sat there with every layer of clothing I had for nearly 2 hours waiting for the sun rise.
At around 4am I heard my other friend Sheila reach the top of the summit…I knew she had arrived because she was the only person to yell “YAAAS I MADE IT! I’M AT THE TOP OF MT FUJI, WAHOOOOOOO!”….no one else had made a peep when they reached the top, but I’m glad Sheila did as it meant I knew she had made it. She made her way over to me and was so elated she’d made it to the top. She said she’d left the 8th station at just before 3am and didn’t think she’d make it to the summit in time for the sunrise as the queue that had formed between 8th station and the summit was almost a complete stand still. You could just rows of peoples headlights at a standstill, all the way down the mountain. Sheila had also really struggled with the altitude, and had already used her entire oxygen canister, I donated her my one which I was fortunate enough not to need.
My other friend didn’t make it all the way to the summit in time for the sunrise. Due to the altitude sickness and the crowds, she was only able to make it past 8th station, however the view was still as epic, and she made it to the summit not too long after sunrise. However, as we had been informed that we needed to start our descent by 5:30am in order to make it back to the bus, we just missed seeing her.
The views from the top made the whole trek worth it. The weather couldn’t of been more perfect, and were so lucky because being the raining season, it had been pouring down all week…and just the night before a group had gone up Mt Fuji and had to take shelter in the huts to avoid the storms.
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I was excited to mail off the postcards from the post office on the top of Fuji…but there’s just one catch that no one tells you about…the post box is 25 minutes walk around the summit. Which literally makes no sense when everything and everyone is on the East side of the summit. I was also informed that apparently the post office was shut…for literally not reason at all. So I didn’t get to send my postcards from the summit, and instead had to send them from the 5th station. zzzzzz.
We started to make our descent at around 5:30am. And again, this is something that no one seems to talk about when writing about hiking Fuji, THE DESCENT IS THE WORST. For me, it was actually the hardest part of the whole trek. The “trail” is just zigzagged paths of loose volcanic rock, which you feet sink into with every step. I slipped over several times, got sunburnt and realized I had frostbite on my thumbs when I took my gloves off. It was what I imagine hell to be like.
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The view was stunning, the descent was not.
3 hours of walking on this.
Weird tunnel they built for a very short portion of the trek
Nearly back at 5th station
Half the mountain in my shoe
I made it back down to 5th station at around 8:30am where I was told the bus would be leaving at 10am…the bus didn’t end up leaving until 12:45pm due to a miscommunication and the fact that 4 people in our group were stuck up the mountain with altitude sickness, and in the end, didn’t make it back down (I think some police were sent up to help them get back down from 7th station…we weren’t really told what was going on but that was the rumour).
Despite going without sleep for 28 hours, and the hike being the most physically challenging thing that I have ever done, I’m glad I did it. Would I do it again? No. But I’m glad I did it. Thanks Mt Fuji.
I climbed Mt.Fuji! It has been a busy last few weeks...and I can't believe there's now only 3 weeks until my contract in Ibaraki finishes.
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