Mt. Fuji, Up and Down

While travelling around Japan, climbing Mt. Fuji is probably on the top of the list of memorable moments. Actually using the word climbing is a bit of an over exaggeration, it is more of a long steep hike. But what a hike! :) 

The official season to climb Mt. Fuji is during the summer, from early July to mid September. Even during the summer, the temperatures at summit, 3800m above see level, can easily drop to freezing during the night. 

Many people aim to see the sunrise from the summit and time their ascent accordingly, meaning a big part of the hike will be done during the night or early morning hours. As this is a popular approach it is common to be very crowded along the path during the hours before sunrise. The crowd, along with the narrow paths, and the night darkness can make it quite a frustrated climb, as keeping ones own pace might be easier said than done.

My friend and I decided to skip the "night rush", instead we stayed in a hut 800 hundred meters below summit and climbed to the top during daylight. The hut was  called 日の出館 (hinodekan), meaning "sunrise guest house", and as the name suggest it was a good spot for the sunrise. With this approach we got some good rest during the night, had a lovely view of the sunrise, and then continued our ascent during the morning hours, reaching the top before noon. 

Leaving Tokyo for Mt Fuji

We traveled Japan by JR Railpass, which included unlimited travel on JR lines. From Shinjuku, Tokyo, we took the train towards Otsuki. That is as far as you can get with the railpass. From there we got on a local train, the Fujikyuko Line towards Mt. Fuji, heading for the end station, Kawaguchiko.
Inside the Fujikyuko Line train:

Then we jumped on a bus that took as up the mountain, to the "base camp", or what is known as the 5th station. It is located at 2300 meters. The 5th station is easily accessible by car and bus and from here most tourists start their climb. Located here is a hotel, a post office and shops/restaurants:

We bought our walking sticks and off we went. Only 6 km with an estimated time of 385 min.

Early on, this is how the path looked like. Not really a climb, right?
It's me on the left overtaking the group on the right. :) It was amazing to see all those guide tour groups and how slowly they walked. They literally took one step, paused a second before taking the next step. Something to consider in case of joining one of those tours.

日の出館 (hinodekan) Our home for the night

It only took us around 2 hours to get to the 7th station and our guest house for the night. We left the 5th station just after 3 pm, so we could enjoy the sunset from the hut, eat something and go early to sleep. Actually the sun sets on the other side of the mountain, but it was still a nice evening view. Here the sign outside the hut (7th station, Hinodekan)

Here getting the stamp from Hinodekan on our walking sticks. We got stamps at each station to fill our sticks. Price of the stamps ranged from 100Yen up to 500Yen.

Dinner served inside the hut. The sleeping bunks in the background. Included in the price for one night was dinner and a packed meal for the following day.

Not really luxurious... But good enough to get some sleep.

Late at night this group came in. They only stayed for a few hours before heading out again. Their aim was to reach the summit before sunrise, so they only stopped for an hour or two to get some rest.

Waiting for the sunrise

We were up early next morning to be sure to be ready for the sunrise. Here snapping a silhouette selfie while waiting.

We were lucky with the weather, with only some clouds below and above us. It made it look like the sun was rising out of the clouds and to cast a perfect reflection on the clouds above.

We stayed a few hours to admire the view and to get ourselves ready, then we continued our climb. The increased heat from the rising sun and the lower temperature at higher altitudes made it a perfect balance. Here passing by another station on the way up:

At the top

Finally reaching the top! It took us roughly 4 hours from the 7th station, making it to 6 hours for the total climb.

Here a picture looking down in the crater.

It was striking the sight of all the vending machines and many small souvenir shops. :) There were actually vending machines pretty much at each station along the way. 

Interesting to see the price fluctuations. Price for a can of beer was pretty much static at 400Yen, while a can of water had a price of 150Yen at the 5th station, and peaking at 500Yen at the summit. So actually beer was cheaper than water at the top. :)

Going down again was pretty easy and we were basically jogging all the way down. It took us less than 1.5 hours.

Back down at the 5th station we jumped on the bus to take us back to Kawaguchiko. Me dozing off realizing how tired I was.

Ryokan in Kawaguchiko

What a contrast to our previous day and night up on the mountain. We now had a night booked at a ryokan, located next to the Kawaguchiko lake, with an excellent view of Mt. Fuji.

Sunnide resort:

View from the garden:

Dinner time! This was one dish part of a 7 course meal. Just an excellent moment!

After dinner and hot-spring bath, we had this view from our room. Looking towards Mt. Fuji and the trail of lights of all the climbers.

Sunrise again

This time we were in a much more comfortable spot while looking at the sunrise. Amazing the shift in colors as the sun was rising above the horizon.

Bye Bye Fuji-san

Our bags are packed and walking sticks ready. Off for new adventures...

At Mishima Shinkansen station, ready to board the train for Kyoto.

Hope you had some fun!
Please comment and let me know if you have any questions.
See you around.

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