UKC

Can anyone recommend a map for climbing mount fuji? Seems impossible to find anything online. Thanks for your help.

Hi Marcel. This is the official hiking map for Mt Fuji and the Fuji Five Lakes area:

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%B1%B1%E3%81%A8%E9%AB%98%E5%8E%9F%E5%9C%B0%E5%9...

It's available on Amazon Japan (not UK), but you can usually order stuff from there and get it shipped. Failing that, just pop into any bookshop in Tokyo when you arrive and you'll be able to buy it there for the same price. Tony

I've not checked their inventory but I usually use Stanfords who have a site up. You'll pay a bit more but if like some of us you like to study your routes then a couple of quid extra is worth it to get your eyes on whats going on.

I'd be surprised if you'd need a map - as I recall the path is wide enough to drive all the way to the top and at an easy gradient. More than a quarter of a million people go up it every year just in the summer months so it's a well established track that's easy to follow even in heavy fog. 

Going off piste is massively frowned upon, please remember in the shinto faith it's a holy mountain and a pilgrimage site for many.

Safe travels ,

S 

Whether or not you need a map is beyond the point... some of us just like having maps. It isn't only about what is on the trail in front of you, it's about the area in general.

Marcel, if you haven't chosen a route already, I recommend taking the most common trail up, doing a lap of the crater, and taking the Gotemba trail down... it's a little bit more of a wrestle with public transport (which isn't usually a problem in the slightest in Japan) to get back to where you started, but you get to run down on huge fields of shifting black sand, making the descent quick, easy, and bloody good fun.

Many years ago now, but I looked in to walking up it when in Japan. There is a definate “season”, which is basically July and August. We where in Japan in May and June.

The main difficulty outside of the season appears to be getting to the mountain without a car, as none of the usual logistics operate outside the season.

Plenty of easily accessible walking mountains relatively close to Tokyo. We had a few good days around Nikko, which is little more than an hour by slow train from Tokyo.

http://www.stanfords.co.uk/Mount-Fuji_9784398762313

Not currently in stock though.

https://www.fujimountainguides.com/uploads/1/5/3/1/15315858/fuji_climbing_m...

Any good?

That doesn't also apply to an out-of-season ascent, does it? I gather the usual facilities would be closed, but people wouldn't be horrified would they (except at the deviation from custom)?

Went up there a few years ago. You won't need a map. I would also advise not starting at station 5 but from the bottom. You start by walking through a temple with big Dragon statues looking down at you.

It give a good sense of occasion

Thanks for all the advice. I will go there in a couple of weeks (off season). We will do the yoshida trail from 5th station. We can only leave Tokyo at 6.30am so eont have enough time to start from the bottom. Public transport is available even though sparse. I managed to find a couple of route maps on the web that I printed out and laminated. The Sato Goya hut only opens for 5 or more guests. It' s only two of us so we will be biving at 5th station after the climb. Will keep a close eye on weather and snow report to keep it safe. Thanks again! 

Started up it myself once a few years ago out of season, so all the huts closed and snow still around, saw a few skiing down. Met some Americans, German and Italian. Later heard that the Americans ( US army guys) found a dead body on the slopes!