Climbing Mount Fuji 27/28 June

I am still planning on climbing on the 28th, as I will be in Kawaguchi-ko already for a bachelor party. Please let me know if anyway wants to go up that night.

The buses do run in June: http://mountfujiguide.com/blog/4plus/330

I climbed Fuji last summer and a friend of mine is going in a few weeks. Its not a walk in the park, but it wasn't extreme mountain climbing either. I did it...I'm 45 years old, not athletic, and certainly not a treker. Endurance is the key. Also, something that is personal to every climber is whether they will be affected by the altitude. I was not. I started my climb at 8 pm...there were tons of other folks, so while I was not with a group, I certainly wasn't alone. Folks get to know your face. And while the Japanese can be very shy, they're also incredibly hospitable and you'll notice that folks look out for one another on the climb. It's among my top life experiences. Do it once. Go to the top. But don't make a habit of it :) The climb took me all night...I did not make it to the summit for the sunrise (at 4am-ish) ...but I did continue after the sunrise to get to the top. It was well worth the additional time. The hike down was more challenging than the hike up, frankly. The one thing I wish I'd known on my way up...have enough water with you to take down. There are stations along the way and you can buy food and water at those stations. But there aren't any stations on the way down. And in the sunlight, you need the water. Also, take protein bars. You'll want that. Layer up for the night chill. I didn't have any fancy clothing nor shoes and the biggest injury I had in the end was a blister on one toe and some soreness in my legs for a few days following. Climb Fuji. You won't be sorry.

Hi chioubaccalovin

Thank you for the bus info. I will be climbing on the 28th then. I will start the hike roughly 9pm. Do you know of a good place to meet up?

I will goto Fuji on 27/28 june....i will come down on 28 june sunday...
i was wondering if i descend on gotemba 5th station, can i get a bus to gotemba station from gotemba 5th station....
i mean do they run now, or only in july-aug....

I will be climbing on the 28th, along with 1 or 2 other people. The information I have been able to gather is as follows: there is a train that runs from Shinjuku station to Kawaguchiko station (the Chuo line to Otsuki, and the Fujikyu Railway through Fujiyoshida to Kawaguchiko), then take a bus from the Kawaguchiko station up to th 5th station (on Mt Fuji). The bus operates daily, but at limited times due to it being the off season. My plan is to arrive around 1300 into Kawaguchiko, and take the 1350 bus up to the 5th station. It takes just under an hour to get up the mountain. The ascent to the summit should only take 5-7 hours, so we will have several hours to kill until sunrise, but that's ok. The bus back down to the Kawaguchiko station departs the 5th station at 1140 on the 29th. The price for a one way ticket on the bus is 1500 yen and 2000 yen for a roundtrip. If anyone wants to join us, feel free. And if anyone determines any of this information to be inaccurate, I apologize! I have never done this climb before, and have been researching on several websites to get this info. I have also found that 1 mountain hut is open year-round... it is located at the 5th station and is called Sato-goya. The number is 23-1807 (from the base of the mtn) and 23-1945 (from mt fuji). It said something about dialing 0555 before each of those numbers if you are calling from Japan?? Good luck!!

I plan to climb up on Monday the 29th and come back down on the 30th.

From someone that climb Mt Fuji last week, I understood it is possible to stay in the last basecamp, even though it is officially closed. I plan to stay the night so I can see both sun set and rise!

Anyone up to join for that?

PS does anyone know where to leave luggage that you don't want to take up?

Hi Remco,

Are your dates flexible? There are limited buses running from Shinjuku to 5th station on the 29th (2 in the morning), and limited buses coming back to Shinjuku on the 30th (2 in the afternoon). Assuming you plan to get there on the 29th late morning, are you planning to ascend to 7th or 8th station and then rest for the night and then go to summit? I'm just trying to see if the way back for me is fesible base on the time.

Hi Traveller100
I'm quite flexible, just that I'm not 100% sure if I can check the forum after tonight anymore. I plan to arrive at the 5th station at 12:40 (maybe I'm not in the bus myself as a friend might bring me up to the 5th station). I might go to the top twice, as it is only 1 extra hour up and the sunset and sunrise will both be nice - of course depending on the energie that evening :) .
Will this suite for you? I will try to check this blog tomorrow (you can propose another time if it would suite you better), otherwise I will just wait for you at the busstop and see if you show up or not.

If anyone else wants to join in. Just make sure you'll be there at 12:40 (and check this blog tomorow for possible changes)

I just called one of the hotels along the way, and was told that there is still quite a snow cap on the mountain. I was advised that climbing to the top might be quite difficult at this time. Has anyone already climbed Fuji this year? Any thoughts on the matter?

thanks,

I just returned from Japan. We climbed Mt. Fuji last Thursday. There is very little snow left but that is not to say there is none or there is no danger. What snow is left (above station 8) is somewhat treacherous. There were climbers with ice axes and crampons, which we did not have. The trail clearing and set up for the season was in full swing and by this week I expect the mountain to be filling with climbers. We were not able to tell in advance whether it was possible to sleep in a hut but met several people who did so. Even though the huts were not yet open, people were sleeping there. For us, we did it as a day climb. We paid top dollar for at taxi from Kawaguchiko to station five and got back in time to ride the staff bus down from the station five. It was a long, hard day. My kids ages 11, 15 and 17 all did it as well. We saw no other children out there, that is for sure! We took tons of warm clothes, water and food. The altitude bothered me a lot. A very interesting and worthwhile experience.

I hope this helps. The entire trip to Japan was outstanding. THanks to this forum for great input.

Hi everyone!

I have planned to go with a bunch of people this friday 3rd of July. We are supposed to do a night hike from Kawaguchiko 5th to the sunrise and then go back down in the morning. My Japanese friends have now told me that the mountain is closed and that it's even forbidden to ascend to the summit because of the amount of snow. Is this the case? Have any of you been up there yet? Is it dangerous?

Grateful for an answer!

They dug the snow out on the trail up to 8th station, so you can at least climb to there. The climbing season is starting today, we had the Sengen Shrine Festival, but yes, the summit still has too much snow to ascend without professional gear. It is still 0 degrees up there too.

Hi, I'm planning to climb tomorrow, either Gotemba or Kawaguchiko. My Japanese friends say there is over a meter of snow at the summit, but I've heard of people in the past week making it there with no problem. Can anyone give me a reliable report.... other than the 'official' report I keep hearing about? Has anyone actually been up Gotemba? Can I make it to the top without an ice pick?

The post above yours says ''there is still too much snow at the summit to ascend without professional gear'', so that probably answers your question.

An ice pick is not a piece of climbing equipment by the way, I think you are thinking of an ice axe...

Yes, sorry... ice axe.
But the post above mine didn't answer my question. I've read about people making it to the top yesterday with no special equipment on Kawaguchiko. I guess I'm trying to find out why there is such a discrepancy.
Does anyone out there really know what's going on?

The Kawaguchiko newspaper reported yesterday that the Mountain is now open to the summit.

This may be a little late, but I thought I'd chime in anyway. There is a lot of conflicting information given out regarding the mountain conditions. I made it to the top on 7/1 via the Yoshidaguchi Trail (actually very early the morning on 7/2) after hiking through the night. Snow was NOT a problem at all and an ice axe and crampons were NOT necessary at all.

For those of us on the mountain that day the big problem was the rain. It started around 9:30 pm on 7/1 and rained pretty much non-stop thru the time I left the 5th station at 10:00 am on 7/2. At times is was coming down pretty hard and that coupled with the strong winds made it pretty miserable up there.

But as far as the non-rain related trail conditions, in my opinion there is little danger. If anyone has any specific questions just ask here and I'll try to answer as best as possible.

Also, if anyone else was up there on the Yoshidaguchi Trail on 7/1 - 7/2 let me know if you saw a group of four get down safely(two Asian-American males, a Caucasian female, and an Asian-American female). They probably would have been on the 12:00 bus directly back to Shinjuku.

I meet them on the bus ride up and passed them coming down, but didn't see them at the 5th station before I left. Just want to make sure they are ok.

Cal or Kaylee, give me a holler if you read this.

Jason

If they had not got down safely i.e., been injured/killed/needed rescuing, it would already have been reported in the news, so I'd say you can assume that they did.

Thanks Sira. Yeah, that's what I figured as well, but I am back at home in the U.S. and so I thought I'd ask here. Thanks.