I would like to tell you my experience of climbing Mt. Fuji
I wished to climb Mt. Fuji during my first visit (1998) to Japan. Mostly people climb during an official season,
July and August, so that became our plan too. I learned that if you inquire about climbing Mt. Fuji, at least one in five will probably
quote: "You are wise to climb Fuji once and a fool to
climb more than once." It's not a very inspiring proverb, if you think about it. However most people who quote these words would have never
climbed the mountain themselves. That's because fewer than one percent of Japanese people ever climb Mt. Fuji.
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| Fuji during sun set |
It's too high and difficult, they say (or hint strongly). It's perfect on a postcard, wonderful when the
clouds part and you can see it, but far removed from everyday life. Mention that you're climbing Mt.
Fuji and someone is sure to ask whether you'll be using oxygen. Mt. Fuji stands 3776 meters
(12,285 feet). People run marathon above that elevation in Colorado. It's high, but...and then I feel
apologetic for thinking disparaging thoughts. Oxygen or no oxygen, I can't imagine why someone
would grow up next to such a magnificent mountain and never go to the top.
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| Fuji with suzuki grass |
One can choose more than one way to the top of Mt. Fuji. Of course, people can be snobby about which
route is best, however I didn't spend much time worrying about this. That's because a group of Japanese
friends were already planning to hike up the Kawaguchi route, so my friends and I decided to go that
way and hopefully meet them on the mountain.
Of the five main routes up Mt. Fuji, the Kawaguchi trail is the most popular. I can't say much about
the other options. In my non-expert opinion, this is a good route for first time climbers starting from
the Tokyo-Kanagawa area (you should choose another trail if you are starting from the other side of
the mountain).
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| Fuji with silhouette view |
When to go
As I mentioned above, we climbed in August. During July and August the weather on Mt. Fuji is
quite moderate, and the snow that caps the mountain for most of the year melts. People of all ages
climb during these months in relative safety. You can climb Mt. Fuji in other months, too. In fact,
the best time to climb may be just before or after the climbing season, when there are no crowds.
That means there are also no services, though, and you'll miss out on quite a human spectacle (which
I think is worth seeing at least once). The further you get from the July/August window, the more
dangerous it becomes. Once you add wind, snow, ice and falling rocks to the picture, Mt. Fuji can
be deadly.
We followed the popular strategy. We started
around 8pm, well after dark, and hiked all night.
Our plan was also to arrive at the top in time for
sunrise. Many climbers start at 11pm or later,
but we were playing it safe so we started early.
Starting Out
Getting off the bus at the 5th Station was slightly
surreal. The bus pulled into a large parking lot
surrounded by tourist shops. It was dark, and
most of them had closed. Many people drive to the Kawaguchi 5th Station for day trips.
They'll take a short hike, buy a souvenir -- and that's the
closest they come to actually climbing the mountain. It gets
very crowded on weekends and holidays in August, but at
night it was quiet. Few people were grabbing a bowl of
noodles at an inside food counter, others were using the
restroom, shopping or just passing time. From the 5th Station
it's only a 8 or 9 hour hike to the top, so no one was in a hurry
yet.
The stores at the 5th Station have the usual assortment of key
chains, carvings and boxed food for gifts. Two liter bottles of
water, for those who forgot, were going for about JPY500
each. I bought two, because my only other choice was to fill
my water bottles in an unsavory restroom sink. I didn't buy
much else, but I paid JPY100 to use the restroom and another
few hundred Yen for a locker. Here's a tip. When you finish
hiking Mt.Fuji you'll be tired, sweaty and dusty and you may
still have several hours of travel to get home by bus and
trains. I suggest to bring a change of clothes, some toiletries
and food to tide you over until you get to Shinjuku. Put all of
this in one of the many lockers at the 5th Station, and you'll be
patting yourself on the back at the end of the day.
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| Hiking stick with Japan flag |
The only thing I ignored was to buy a hiking stick, I did buy during my 3rd attempt though. You've got to have one of
these. Well, more than half the people climbing the mountain
think so. Every shop has a big bin out front filled with
simple, wooden hiking sticks. The sticks are actually pretty
cheap (about JPY500, I think). As you climb the mountain,
you'll run into a person at each station with a barbecue grill
and a kind of branding iron who will, for a price, burn an
insignia into your stick. This is to prove that you reached that
station. You can collect a row of stamps as you ascend Fuji,
or save your money and just get the one at the top. At the top,
you can choose from 2 or 3 different stamps. My favorite was
an extra large one that says, "Sunrise top Mt. Fuji" and
includes the date. I'd love to climb Mt. Fuji every year with
the same stick and collect a row of these.
After awhile we decided it was time to get started. We took a
couple of pictures, gathered up our stuff and went looking for
the trail. It was dark. We didn't have a map or any idea
where to go, but that was no problem. We just looked for a
group of people who seemed to know what they were doing
and followed them. Once we got started, we were in the midst
of fellow hikers all the way to the top. At the bottom, we
enjoyed the company (particularly because they kept us from
being lost). From the start we found that our flashlights were
not that necessary. The moon was bright. We were following
a clear line up the trail. Finally, hikers tend to congest at the
steeper spots, and all their flashlights come together at the
same time. Of course, you should carry a flashlight, but don't
get stressed out about getting lost or falling in the dark (unless you have night
vision problems
or difficulty
keeping your
balance in
general).
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| Stamp to prove we've reached summit |
The first half of our climb was fun and easy. The trail was wide and didn't
seem that steep. Other than pausing for drinks of water, we
didn't rest at all until the 7th Station. We were passing people
constantly along the way. For the most part, I enjoyed hiking
with other people. But at some points we had to slow down
because the trail was so crowded. At one point, when we
were moving slowly up a "steep" section, I passed a man with
two boys who were less than ten years old. He had laid a
plastic mat beside the trail and one boy had fallen asleep.
I don't remember the 6th Station at all. By the time we came
to the 7th Station, we were winding our way more or less
straight up the mountain side. We saw the lights first, and
then there was an old cabin carving out a level spot on the
trail. The trail widened and there were places to sit. Some
people were resting there, and others were getting started
again. The front of the cabin had a window facing the trail,
and they were vending out hot cocoa, cup of noodles, and
cans of oxygen for any takers. It was all ridiculously
expensive, and we weren't tired enough to be tempted. Inside
the cabin was a large, open Tatami room with a warm fire,
and further back a room where (I presume) people were trying
to sleep. I say "trying" because there was constant chatter
outside, despite their efforts to keep the hikers quiet. There
was a charge to go inside the Tatami room, and a higher
charge (about JPY7000 if I remember right) for those who
wanted a place to sleep.
The problem is not simply the number of people on the trail. Every year about 200,000 people climb Mt. Fuji, and most of them
climb during July and August. That's just an average of 3,000
people per day. Not bad, except...almost everyone wants to
reach the top at the same time, which is just in time for
sunrise. As a result, it took us over 2 hours to get from the 8th
Station to the top of Fuji, even though it's a relatively short
distance. For future reference, I realized, it's better to arrive at
the top early (e.g., an hour before sunrise) then to hike in
gridlock and get there just on time.
We rested out a bit, and I visited a restroom by the side of the
trail with a door that wouldn't stay closed. Outside was a
bucket and a note that said, "JPY100" Maintenance must be
expensive on the side of a mountain, because all the coins
didn't seem to be paying for much.
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| at 7th stage with friends |
We set out from the
7th Station, turned a
corner or two and
arrived at the 7th
Station again.
Apparently, stations
are not precise spots
but sections on the
trail. We passed yet
another 7th Station and then we found ourselves once more rising slowly through
the semi-darkness. But there was a significant change from
about this point onwards. The further we ascended, the more
crowded the trail became. For the first time, we noticed large
tour groups climbing together. These groups were large
(perhaps 50 people each), and they were usually led by guides
carrying bullhorns. We were grateful when these groups
would move to the side of the trail for a rest break, because
then we could quickly move past them. But further up the
mountain, the trail was so congested that they could hardly
move over. Sometimes one tour group would pass another,
which compounded the problems. These groups were a real
nuisance.
We reached the 8th Station sometime around 1:30am. Within
30 minutes after leaving the 8th Station, the trail was packed 3
people wide and moving slowly. Occasionally we would
move to one side and pass large masses of people, but often
the trail was too narrow for that. After an hour of hiking the
sky started to lighten. I realized suddenly that some people
would still be stuck on the trail at sunrise. That was a
horrifying thought for me, and all the more so because at that
point we were moving like a line at Disneyland.
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| beautiful sunrise from fuji top |
As we neared the summit the sky slowly started filling with light. There was a time when I was sure the sun must be
about to rise, but we still had a long way to go. Actually, we
were probably within few hundred meters of the summit, but the trail
was packed three people wide. I think everyone on the trail
shared a brief panic, because the line stopped moving and I
saw several people taking out their cameras, but all was well.
Still, I would have rather been finishing up right at first light.
Sunrise on Mt. Fuji was earlier than I expected. You should
know the time in advance. I didn't. We were just climbing
with the herd. At some point, though, someone said sunrise
would be at about 5:30 am (I think; I actually can't remember
now). I hiked as aggressively as possible up the final section
of trail and arrived with about 15 minutes to spare.
Speaking
of "hiking aggressively," what I mean is that I was passing
people. It seemed perfectly natural except that I was about the
only one doing it. I felt some justification due to the fact that most of the people climbing seemed to barely be making it
(due to age, inertia, lack of exercise, etc.). But I couldn't deny
that passing others on the trail (masses of people, like 50 at a
time) was probably considered rude. I believe in learning and
following rules of my host culture. All I can say is that I was
compelled by a higher cause (specifically the highest cause in
Japan).
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| Me at the Torii gate near the summit |
We came around a last curve and the summit was suddenly
right ahead -- just a short set of stairs and a Torii gate. Then
the trail turned with the ridge on the left and a row of low
buildings on the right. The entire left side was lined with
people holding cameras, except for a woman I noticed talking
on her cell phone. It was a Docomo phone (my AU [then
KDDI] phone had no reception, but who needs to talk to
someone from the top of Mt. Fuji anyway). To the right,
more people were huddled inside large, open rooms in the
buildings eating noodles and drinking from Styrofoam cups.
Vendors were lined up selling a huge collection of souvenirs,
including oodles of key chains and other small, lightweight
items.
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| Crater |
I met up with my friends again (we had been separated in the
rush to the top). We took a few pictures and then all went to
stake out a place to wait for sunrise. I walked a short distance
past the stores, pulled out my camera and pointed it in the
same direction that hundreds of other people were pointing
their cameras. We all waited as the sky became brighter, and
then finally a tiny prick of orange light appeared. I did not have a still camera then. Had to take few stills from my video camera. (Few photos here are curtesy my friend).
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| NHK weather radar |
You can see the pictures below, but they don't do any justice
to the scene. Quite simply, the sunrise from Mt. Fuji (on a
nice day like ours) is spectacular. It was the most beautiful
sunrise I've ever seen, and it's the reason I'd like to climb
again and again. The view is unobstructed from Mt. Fuji all
the way to the ocean, which isn't that far away. You see the
gentle slop, rolling green hills and clouds rising from below.
The land recedes to the ocean, and the two blend together in a
hazy blur. I don't know how to explain scientifically, but the
sun appeared from within this transitional area. Anyway, you
should climb up there and see for yourself.
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| Crater and I |
The sky was bright, but it was still early. I turned to the
vendors. Having brought little extra cash, I couldn't afford
even a small can of coffee (going at JPY400). Some of my
friends were eating bowls of ramen and instant noodles, which
didn't look very good but tempted me nonetheless. I was very
happy when someone shared a few bites. After that, I
wandered through the hordes of climbers and vendors looking
for someone to stamp my hiking stick. Speaking of the
vendors, I marveled at how they had brought so much
merchandise up the mountain. I had learned on the way up that most of them live at their
stations for weeks at a time during the climbing season. I
doubt they get much rest.
There was only one thing left to do after that. Mt. Fuji is
shaped like a cone with a huge crater at the top, center. There
is a trail that goes all the way around the crater. On the way,
it passes by the tops of all the other climbing routes. There
are a few more shops (although most of the business is
concentrated at the Kawaguchi route). More importantly, you
must go to the opposite side of the crater to reach the highest
spot on Mt. Fuji (and thus, the highest spot in Japan). The
place itself is not all that interesting, but how can you climb
Mt. Fuji and miss the highest piece of dirt?
As a bonus, on your way around the crater you'll pass a post
office (the highest post office in Japan, and -- despite the
density of post offices everywhere else -- the only one on Mt.
Fuji). This incongruous little building had a long line of
people outside waiting to mailing postcards and letters that
would be postmarked from Mt. Fuji. I didn't know about the
post office, so I hadn't come prepared. But several of my
friends had brought postcards to mail.
It takes about 30 minutes (more or less depending on your
pace) to reach the little monument that marks the high point,
and about 2 minutes to snap a picture and move on. There
isn't much to see, although I for one thoroughly enjoyed
walking in the morning sun around the side of the crater.
When we returned to the Kawaguchi area, it was still early
(about 8:30am). There wasn't much more to do, so my friends
and I started down the mountain around 9:00am.
Getting Down the Mountain
Actually, I had noticed people pouring down the mountain
well before 7:00am. We weren't in such a hurry, because our
bus wasn't leaving until 11:30am. I had heard stories about
running (or shuffling very fast) down Mt. Fuji, so I was
confident we would descend quickly. Indeed, we started out
walking fast and soon picked it up to a sustained jog -- aided
by gravity and the soft, dusty trail.
One of the reasons people complain about climbing Mt. Fuji
is the dust on the way down. You don't want to be behind someone at this point, and regardless you will be well coated
(unless you sweat heavily, in which case you may be dripping
mud). But I'm exaggerating. It didn't bother me, and besides
I had an extra change of clothes, soap and a toothbrush
waiting in a locker below.
At one point, my friend stopped and asked whether to go this
way or that way on the trail. One interesting feature of the
Kawaguchi trail is that you come down by a slightly different
route than you go up. Both directions pointed down though.
The question was settled when another hiker came by. I
asked, in my limited Japanese, something like, "5th Station,
this way???" He said something I didn't understand, but
eventually he agreed that the 5th Station was the way I was
pointing. Then we were off again.
We increased out pace and hardly rested. We were put to
shame by a few young guys who were literally running down
the mountain. I was confident that I was pushing my 30+ year
old knees to the limit, so I didn't try to keep up. A couple of
times, my friend asked if I recognized the trail. I was feeling
a bit uneasy myself, but I knew that we were coming down by
a different way and so we shouldn't worry. Finally, the trail
leveled out and we entered the woods. Once you're in the
trees, it's shady and there is no more dust. On the down side,
it's hard to run in the woods, because the earth is packed hard
and there are more obstacles.
Heading Home
Everything had gone well, we gathered near the parking space
waiting for all to assemble. Some were taking photographs,
some were purchasing gifts, I was starving out of hunger cant
eat anything out there. Once everybody gathered got into the
bus and came back to Tamachi, where we started. Went to an
Indian restaurant to have good food. Unfortunately the order
got mixed up and my friend who cannot eat spicy food got
spicy chicken, as I cannot eat non-veg I settled for a bland vegetarian curry. Ate what ever was given and went back home slept
like a log and body was aching like anything for couple of
days.Resolution
That is, I decided that I will never ever climb Mt. Fuji ever
after in my life. But you know something? After making this resolution I've climbed twice, once in 2003 and once more in 2006. I am
thinking of climbing few more times, if my back pain co-operates
with me.
Note: Photos shared are taken during several occasions and not just during fuji climbing...
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