UKC

Hello everyone,

Has anyone been up Mount Fuji? What route up did you take? Are there any interesting or less-travelled routes that you might recommend?

We have a few weeks in Japan this July and it's such a pretty mountain that I'd hate to pass up the opportunity to go up it.

Thanks for any advice or information, all!

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Similarly, if anyone has any experience with the mountains and hills in the north-east of the country, towards Aomori, Iwate, or Miyagi, I'd be absolutely delighted to hear any stories you might have to tell. Cheers.

In reply to Pete Houghton:

Yes. There are what are called stations on the mountain, basically huts. You can get a bus to the 5th station. Then there are 4 more stations before the summit. Vast majority of the Japanese stop at the 9th station and get up in the morning to see the sunrise. I continued to the summit walked round the crater rim, watched the sunset, then descended in the dark. Watching the shadow cast by the mountain as the sun set was stunning. Caught last bus back down from the 5th station which was either 10pm or 11pm (it was 15 years ago).

In reply to Lion Bakes:

Ah, sunset, I hadn't considered that. I know that most people aim for the sunrise, but I guess sunset might be a little less crowded. Which route up did you take, there are four or five of them...

In reply to Pete Houghton:


Just 4 of us spread quite wide around the crater rim at sunset. Looking at a map and where I walked round rim and sat to watch sunset I'd say Fujinomiya route. It is about a couple of hours to wander round the rim at a lazy pace with plenty of stops for photos / admiring the view.

In reply to Lion Bakes:

That sounds like the ticket then, there can be hundreds of people at sunrise I hear. Might endure the extra weight of a bottle of sake and enjoy the sunset instead, stumble back down in the dark in time for an early breakfast. Thanks for the tip.

In reply to Pete Houghton:

Just make sure you make an accurate note of where you joined the crater rim, and find that point start descending in the post sunset twilight before truly dark. You'll see a lot of people get off those last buses as you get on to go down.

In reply to Pete Houghton:

Hi Pete

There are only four routes on Fuji, and you can't really stray off them and pick your own line up in the summer, you'd be committing a major faux-pas as well as potentially knocking down a lot of rocks. There's no point in straying off the established trails anyway in summer, as the terrain is all pretty much the same. You'll find a lot of people on the trails through the July-August hiking season, and the most jammed times near the summit will be early morning when most people are heading up for sunrise. It's much more comfortable to leave it a bit later in the day and avoid all that stuff...

The longest route on the mountain is the Gotenba route on the eastern aspect. The 5th station trailhead on that side is at about 1400m, whereas the others are approx. 1000m higher, so Gotenba gives you a good 2300m of elevation gain.

This website will tell you what you need to know: http://www.fujisan-climb.jp/en/access/#block2

As Lion Bakes mentioned, make sure you take the right trail down from the crater if descending in the dark, as by the time you get down to the 5th station on the wrong trail you'll be screwed, miles away from your car and no obvious way to get back there

The mountains up north (Iwate, Aomori etc.) will be snow free by the time you're there. There are lots of good mountains up there for hiking and trail running (Hakkoda-san, Iwate-san, Akita-komaga-take etc.). Shoot me a mail if you'd like any more info closer to the time of your trip.

Alternatively, if you'd prefer ideas for more technical climbing routes/areas in Japan, feel free to take a look at my site (http://climbjapan.blogspot.jp/) or book (http://amzn.to/1U6ydqx).

All the best!

In reply to TonyG:

A thousand thanks Tony, good info. Definitely confirms the idea of a summit sunset instead of a sunrise.
It was actually the Gotemba route that I had been looking at, mostly because it's a bit longer and apparently a bit less crowded, but also because the descent sounds the most fun... sand-and-gravel running? Have you ever taken the route yourself? I do a fair bit of long-distance running and hiking, and I'm also quite good at dragging my girlfriend along on the occasional long jog, is it ridiculously optimistic to want to do the whole thing in a single push? We aren't too keen on lurking in one of the huts below the summit, although I suppose if we aim for a sunset then we can take our time a bit more on the ascent.

Do you know much about the city of Gotemba to the south east? We were thinking of staying there for two or three nights before heading north, to give us the best chance for a weather window.

Also, we wouldn't dream of straying from the path on a sacred mountain, and it's a shame that that necessary bit of advice has to be repeated so often. Still, the varied range of people's behaviour is one of the things that makes the human race so interesting.

One last question: have you any experience with the ice routes on the north-facing side of the Fuji crater? They sound like a particularly atmospheric day out. I'm quite tempted to book a return trip one winter with skis and axes...

Thanks again for the info and advice.

In reply to Pete Houghton:

Sure, you can go up and down in a day easily if you've got good hill fitness or are no stranger to mountain running. I've been up the Gotenba route from 5th station to summit in 3h50m myself, and that's nowhere near what the fastest time will be. There's no real need to stay the night unless you actually want that as part of the experience.

I can't tell you much about the city of Gotenba itself, as I suspect there's not a lot to tell... There's a large USMC base there, at the foot of Fuji, and Gotenba has all the usual family restaurants and probably some minor night life. Two or three days might be pushing things a bit though, particularly when you're only a couple of hours away from Tokyo. If you do want to spend a few days in the area though, and if you have a rental car, consider staying a night each at some of the lakes (Yamanaka-ko, Kawaguchi-ko etc.).

As for ice routes in the crater, I don't have any experience of that. I've been to the summit in winter, but didn't see any icefalls in there. I've certainly heard a lot of talk about it from one friend, but he's never actually climbed on it or found it in condition when he's been there. I suspect you might have more luck searching for rocking horse sh*t... You'd probably need to be (i) living here, (ii) climbing Fuji regularly throughout winter on the off-chance it developed that year, and (iii) doing that over the course of several years to have everything fall into place at the right moment when you happen to be up there in good weather with all the right gear... or (iv) be extremely lucky and have all that happen on your first try. Never say never though...

That aside though, there's loads of good stuff to do out here in winter, so do give some thought to that trip!

Tony