Fuji-san is one of the most iconic images of Japan. Naturally, I've long wanted to climb it, and the official climbing season is July and August of each year. On Thursday last week I decided to make a solo attempt on it and so booked two days off work.
Waking up at 5AM, I really wasn't sure if I'd even be able to succeed in getting to Fuji-san, never mind making it to the summit. However, I managed to get to Kyoto Station and book myself onto a Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo without incident. Speeding along to Tokyo and admiring the views out of the window, a sense of excitement began to build inside me. Yet I was pressed for time as I had to get to Shinjuku Bus Station in Tokyo to catch a bus to Mt. Fuji 5th Station, the starting point for 90% of people who climb the dormant volcano. You can't just rock up and jump on the bus; you have to pre-book a seat. As it turned out, I managed to just about make the 10:40AM departure I'd booked onto with only a couple of minutes to spare.
It usually takes 6 hours from the 5th station to the summit. I did it in 3 hours. It certainly wasn't my plan to beast it. There are a number of mountain huts along the track, that you have to pre-book into, to spent the night on the mountain. The tradition in Japan is to time your ascent so that you reach the summit in order to greet and see the dawn of the new day. As I fancied trying it the traditional way, I'd booked into Fuji Hotel, a mountain hut at Station 8, 1.3 KM from the summit. My initial plan was to just reach the hut and spend the night there before heading to the summit in the dark to see the dawn of a new day. I surprised myself on the quick pace that I made up the mountain, and reached Station 8 by 5:30PM. Carried along by the excitement of having got to this point, and knowing that the top of the mountain was so close with a few hours of daylight left, I just thought, I'm going to go all the way to the summit now!
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The summit itself is a huge crater with a 1.6 KM circuit around it's rim. There were very few people on the summit that evening when I got there, which was suprising given the thousands of people I'd seen on the way up. The peak itself was on the far side of the crater to where the Yoshida track arrives onto the crater, so I made my way around to that whilst admiring the stunning landscape and views. It was thrilling to reach the peak, and as I made my way back around to the Yoshida track, I got to see the sun set.
Making my way down to the mountain hut, which was little more than a large wooden shed, I hungrily devoured the curry rice meal they gave me before attempting to get a few hours sleep. I didn't succeed in getting much sleep as you're forced to sleep virtually on top of other climbers crammed onto long wooden racks, and I had the misfortune to be next to the only person who seemed to be snoring very loudly. I felt on such a high at this point that I didn't care much, though I did feel a slight sensation in my head which I knew were the symptoms related to the altitude that I was at.
At 2AM, many of the climbers in the hut started to wake up and get ready to make their way in the dark to the summit in time to see the rising sun. Despite the chronic lack of sleep I virtually leapt out of my sleeping bag and headed outside to join the huge thronging crowds snaking their way up the trail. At some points on the track the crowds were so dense that they ground to a halt and people just stood in long lines in the dark waiting to move forward slowly. I didn't want to miss out on getting to the summit to see the sun rise so I ducked and dived and weaved my way through the crowds using the skills I've learnt on countless cross country races in the UK and got to the peak on the summit by 4AM, where there was a small group of people with cameras at the ready.
First, the glow of the sun began to appear on the horizon on the opposite side of the crater, and at around 4:30AM the sun appeared in the sky. There was a real sense of excitement in the air and one of the guys on the summit shouted out loudly, "Ohayo gozaimasu" (good morning) as the sun appeared, followed by a chorus of dozens of people replying "Ohayo gozaimasu!". By 5AM the sun was rising rapidly and I decided to make my way off the summit as I was getting really cold by this point. I took the Gotemba track off the summit, which had few people on it compared to the busy Yoshida track. On the way down there was an option to take a 20-minute side trip to the summit of Hoei-zan, a peak formed by a secondary side vent of Fuji-san. I took the side trip as I was enjoying myself so much, but there were very strong winds on the summit and ridge of Hoei-zan. There was a great view of Fuji-san from the summit.
I was amazingly lucky with the weather as it was perfect conditions during both off my visits to the summit of Fuji-San with clear views, no rain and not windy at all apart from when I was on the summit of Hoei-zan. It really was a fantastic experience and a true highlight of my time in Japan.
