Mount Fuji climb

[darkimperial]

I train 6 x 12 storeys up & down then increase my repetition till I hit 100 floors up & down on the last training.

Started my climb at 3pm. I suggest start as early as 12pm or 1pm if you are not strong. If you wanna see the sunset, u had to start at that hr in order to have time to watch the sunset then stay in one of the hut at one of the station.

 

[darkimperial]

saw the sunset while climbing. Managed to summit and see sunrise. I booked the highest hut at 8th or 8.5th station which cost 6500 yen with 1 meal. But I din managed to stay there. haha. My fren stayed.

 

[droozy]

how did u book ? got website ?

saw the sunset while climbing. Managed to summit and see sunrise. I booked the highest hut at 8th or 8.5th station which cost 6500 yen with 1 meal. But I din managed to stay there. haha. My fren stayed.

 

[darkimperial]

GORAIKOUKAN?Mt.Fuji Mountain Lodge information

this is the highest hut in Mt Fuji, I suggest trek early. The website has english but the reservation form is in Jap, but just need abit of google translation will do.

 

[darkimperial]

My trip report:

Map of Mt Fuji

I started from Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station on 18th July, I think its also known as kawaguchiko 5th station. Do not get confuse with yoshida-guchi 5th station. My fren got lost and went to that station when heading down. The trail is yoshida trail but it leads a few 5th station at the bottom.

This is the kawaguchiko 5th station/Fuji subaru line 5th station. The big brown house have many lockers inside. There are 2 types. 500yen & 1000yen. Its abt 100yen more exp than other place. Note: I can't find any shower around the area, be prepared to go back hotel to shower.

Bought the shortest pole for 1000yen with 2 stamps.(5th & 6th station). There are many length and many types available. You can even straight away buy the pole that has all the station stamp. Safely checked in as fragile and brought back to Singapore. Cannot handcarry.

Started my trek at 3pm with 3 of us total(2guy & 1 gal)

My fren went ahead first as the gal was too slow and I stayed behind with her to trek slowly.

The overview of the stations to the top

 

[darkimperial]

The terrain was fairly easy with a few steep slope. Don't be deceived by the photo as I like to take pics at a angle that look steep.

1 of the food stall or station huts

Most of the huts provide stamp chop on the pole which cost 200yen at all the station except on the summit which is 300yen. Some hut will give 2 stamps instead of 1 stamp.

It looks like this. At the end of the climb, it cost me abt 4000-5000yen. You can choose to get just 1 stamp at 1 station. Sometimes I just stamp whenever I see it. haha

 

[darkimperial]

Quite a no. of group climbers. Sometimes their group range from 20-30ppl.

View of below halfway on top

Sunset photo.

Night view of the city below

Finally reached my hut that I booked. It was 12am. My fren had reached the hut at 8pm and waited for us till 11plus before he went to slp. I dunno which bed he was sleeping, there are abt 100plus ppl inside. Everyone was sleeping, we din checked in, we just took a nap at the living room/common room just right at the main entrance till 2am and start our climb without him again.

The trek up was really packed with climbers. Really human jam. If you stop and break halfway, you had to wait quite a long time to find a gap in the route to continue the climb.

 

[darkimperial]

It was quite cloudy

The local said this day was the best sunrise. Since the season started, its either rainy or cloudy with no sun.

This is the summit of Mt Fuji. It looks like a small town. Very lively.

Foods, souvenirs stall & toilet for 300yen. I cannot hold much longer and decided to pay 300yen to **** on top of Mt Fuji.

View of the crater

The trek around the crater needs abt 2hrs. One big circle. You need to trek half of the circle in order to reach the post office to mail postcards. The small building on top is a weather station & a big pole stating that is the highest point of Mt Fuji.

 

[darkimperial]

The post office. Note: buy postcard at 5th station or other places, its cheaper. It cost 300-400yen at the summit.

The most steep slope ever climb on Mt Fuji. Freaking tiring.

Highest point at Mt Fuji

Had to cut across the snow in order to continue the route.

The view from the other side

Took this when I was going down. If you see this, it means the summit is just behind.

I din managed to find my fren at the summit and my fren(gal) went down first while I walk around the crater. When going down, I took another route at the 8th station which is faster. Took me 2 n 1/2 hrs to reach the 5th station at a fast pace. Saw my fren at the 5th station. He reached at 8am, I reached at 10:30am. The gal got lost and had to trek dangerous route to get back and reached at 3pm.

 

[evilerniex]

the sunrise pic is beautiful!
lots of info for those keen to climb mt fuji... thanks for sharing

 

[darkimperial]

darkimperial, thanks for the wonderful trip report. am going tokyo next week. for the climb, am most concerned about the cold. which part of your climb was the coldest? there is still snow at this time of the year? also, if i do not want to book any huts, are there places to shelter from the weather?

I think at the 8th station. I started wearing my jacket from 7th station onwards. The wind starts to blow in all direction. Even if I find something to block the wind, the other direction is expose. The wind is not strong but it just keep blowing. There is still abit of snow left but not many.

If you did not book the hut, u can stay outside at any of the hut, there will be long seats available but will be expose to wind. You can also climb to summit and stay there on top for sunrise, provided you got enough clothing to stand the cold. Its not really expose on the summit. There are quite a no. of spot to hide from the wind at one direction.

 

[snap99]

The local said this day was the best sunrise. Since the season started, its either rainy or cloudy with no sun.

Congrats on a well done TR and fantastic summit !!

For you info, the sun arises directly on top of O-yama 大山 (a fairly important mountain with a temple on top) in the tanzawa national park. Thats the small pyramidal peak directly below the sun. The lake is Yamanaka-ko.
To the right and behind Oyama is Yokohama.

 

[snap99]

The view from the other side

More trivia .... This is a very very special picture.

The high range in the background is the Southern Alps (minami alps), while behind the Minami Alps (partially hidden) is the Chuo Alps range of mountains where Komagatake is (that a few of us here in this forum have scaled successfully!), while behind that is the Northern Alps, that contains eg beautiful Kamikochi.

 

[Ernestx]

Wow this a great shots. Thanks for sharing.

 

[droozy]

why u din manage to stay there ah ?
thanks for the link !

GORAIKOUKAN?Mt.Fuji Mountain Lodge information

this is the highest hut in Mt Fuji, I suggest trek early. The website has english but the reservation form is in Jap, but just need abit of google translation will do.

 

[droozy]

can u roughly tell me how many hrs from 5th to 6th , 6th to 7th , 7th to 8th , 8th to summit ?

Scared of stamina =p

 

[snap99]

can u roughly tell me how many hrs from 5th to 6th , 6th to 7th , 7th to 8th , 8th to summit ?

Scared of stamina =p

I took a pic of my fuji map for you. The trail is from 5th station up. The timing is fairly close for a mildly fit person. I usually find the timings conservative eg they include timing for resting, stopping for breathe, etc.

 

[darkimperial]

why u din manage to stay there ah ?
thanks for the link !

Cos I reached very late and everyone was sleeping already. Took a nap a while inside the common room then head to summit.

 

[droozy]

but u still need to make any payement ?

Do u know how early we have to book the accomodation if we want ?

thinking to climb slowly and stay overnight to see the sky !

Cos I reached very late and everyone was sleeping already. Took a nap a while inside the common room then head to summit.

 

[droozy]

is that the full climb?

Thanks so much for sharing !

I took a pic of my fuji map for you. The trail is from 5th station up. The timing is fairly close for a mildly fit person. I usually find the timings conservative eg they include timing for resting, stopping for breathe, etc.