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I made it! And the weather was even nice enough not to precipitate, hail or lightning strike us (there were storms in Tokyo) - enough so that we were lucky enough to see the sunrise.

I am quite happy to have climbed Mt. Fuji, or Fuji-san as the Japanese call it. I actually had doubts about it before I went since I had never climbed anything to that altitude. Although not a serious mountain, standing at 3776m, it’s not to be taken for granted.

My friend Hanako arranged the trip for some friends (12 of us in total) and I took along a couple of my co-workers. We left Shunjuku around 7:30pm before arriving at Kawaguchiko 5th station around 10pm.

This is us at the start:

And me, being the most equipped I’ve ever been, with my hydration pack, gortex jacket and thermal undies (not shown), for a hike:

I had actually over-estimated the coldness, partly because everyone I spoke to before the trip said it was really cold there, but I was quickly stripping off as soon as we got moving. I much prefer the cooler temperatures than the humid heat that I’ve lived in for the past two months. In fact, when we were waiting for the bus at the end, I had some memories of my childhood because of the cool breeze blowing across my skin whilst the sun was warming me at the same time, similar to the UK’s summer a decade ago or spring time.

Anyway, the way up was not too difficult. There were plenty of overpriced goodies to buy along the way. I saw that everyone else was taking oxygen, so I brought a can for 1,500 Yen, before find it 200 Yen cheaper at the next stop! And it felt like I bought a can of air - in fact, I did! Whether it worked or not, I don’t know, but I only used it a couple of times. I did lose my breath really quickly and had to take short stops regularly. It was only right at the top, I started to feel a slight headache, but I’m not sure if that was due to the lack of sleep or lack of oxygen. I skipped the beer though, so it wasn’t that!

We had several short stops on the way, some probably longer than necessary as it did get cold very quickly above the 8th station. I’ve still got my zips undone in this picture above, so that means I’m still hot and sweaty. There are actually two 8th stations. The first one we reached by 1:30am at 3020m, then the original 8th station (which I guess is now the 9th), we reached at 3am at 3360m. Most of our pack decided to get some rest at one of these 8th stations and to see the sunrise from there but Hanako, James, Miah and myself continued onwards.

It got really really crowded close to the summit, the four of us who continued from the 8th station were all separated by now. Everyone kept stopping to take photos or to rest. At times it was moving at less than 1 metre per minute! I almost got annoyed but there was no benefit from that, so I just went with the flow. Eventually, when the sunrise came at 5am, everyone was sitting where ever they were to take the photos of it. It was simply quite beautiful. Just like the views you get from a plane but no dirty windows in the way. Just me, Mt Fuji and the sunrise (oh yeah, and the other thousand or so hikers.)

Once the crowds cleared, it took less than 10 minutes to get to the summit. I quickly found James who had found himself a warm can of cocoa and kindly lent it to me to warm up my hands. Miah turned up a little later followed by Hanako! We all made it. Despite the lack of sleep and food, it was quite satisfying to have climbed Mt. Fuji, saw the sunrise and to rest with friends in a warm hut. We managed to catch some shut-eye for a bit, as there was no rush to get back down since the bus was at 2pm!

I’ve probably climbed more mountains than I can remember now but Fuji san was certainly ranked as one of the toughest in my books. If I were to climb Fuji san again, I’d probably do it during the day to avoid the crowds. That was one of the negative sides of it (or Japan in general if you think about it). As for physical injuries, 36 hours on, I have zero blisters, thanks to my well worn hiking boots I had since my good old days in Switzerland, zero bruises and well, lots of aching muscles!! But it’s not too bad, I would say Fuji san is an easy to moderate mountain to climb. It took me less than 7 hours including stops/traffic to get up from the 5th station.

On the way down is always the easiest for me. Especially if the ground is like it was on Fuji-san. Soft volcanic ash which I practically skated down. I thought I would get blisters anyway, because I was putting a lot of pressure on the toes and heels of my feet, so I just ran down to get it over quickly. My feet did hurt a little afterwards but there seems to be no lasting damage. I was quite impressed with myself to have descended in one quarter of the time it took me to get up and I did not fall on my ass once!

We slowly re-grouped near Kawaguchiko (the start/end). We still had at least 4 hours until our bus so most of us just found a nice piece of floor to rest on.

The trip ended with a visit to an onsen. Of course, I am a consistent person (usually) so I skipped it as I’m not a huge fan of being cooked in hot water - but I have tried it at Niijima before you say anything.

Mt Fuji on Flickr