Fuji-san Hike

hey all,

So I've just returned from my hike to Fuji-san, or Mt. Fuji as the rest of the world knows it. The experience has been described by others as surreal, and like walking on another planet. At 3776 meters tall, the peak of Fuji can barely be considered as being in Earth's atmosphere: the thin air gives many hikers a difficult time, and many lodges along the way up sell canisters of oxygen, bottles of oxygenated water, etc.

From the 5th station.

The terrain itself seems otherworldly. You can see clouds below your feet, Mars-like red soil and rock, and bizarrely eroded volcanic rock formations.

Since this is a more touristy hike than the outdoor club usually organizes, I just asked around my friends here to see if anyone was interested. Several were, but had already made plans, but another ALT was available and interested, so I ended up hiking with him. We left Omiya around 9, took several trains over to Kawaguchiko, then took a bus up to the 5th station of Fuji. There are 9 stations on each hiking trail. We arrived at the Kawaguchiko 5th station around 3PM. The Kawaguchiko 5th station is 2305 meters high. From there, John and I hiked up Fuji on foot. From the 5th, it is around 5-6 hours to the peak of Fuji. Since we arrived so late in the day, we ended up hiking for 1.5-2 hours in the dark. I brought a headlamp for myself and an extra flashlight for John to use.

Sunset at around 3000 meters.

Part of the trail.

We stayed in one of the 8th station lodges for the night, ate a delicious dinner of curry rice, and then pretended to sleep until 1:40AM. The lodge was very crowded, so it is really difficult to fall asleep with that many people around you (unless you are Japanese, in which case you will sleep fine). Around 1:40, we all (John and I had met up with two random British guys who were pretty friendly) decided we should try for the peak in order to see dawn from there.

Thus began another night hike. The 8th station lodge we stayed in was at 3400, so we had the last 376 meters to go. Those last few hundred meters were rather difficult, due to the dark, the cold, the wind, and the fog/misty rain which normally shrouds the peak. We arrived well before dawn, but dawn failed to arrive, as the summit stayed cloudy.

Me at the cloudy summit. The sign says "Fuji-san summit. Please take your trash down with you."

The hike down took maybe 3.5 hours.

Cheers,