It’s not really the done thing to come to Japan and not climb Mount Fuji. As a bare minimum you’re supposed to see it at least once, but with the mountain being notoriously stealthy and often hidden by cloud, it can be difficult even to take a decent picture. Obviously climbing a mountain (or volcano, if we want to be precise) is tough mentally and physically, so I admit having major hesitations in the weeks before our trip this weekend. I’m not the fittest of creatures and have had problems with my back in the past. On the other hand though, I am fairly lightweight, and excitable at times (a certain level of energy and bounce is required), so with a lot of encouragement I was coaxed into the expedition.
Our team consisted of three people. It’s a nice little number, on reflection. Enough to take care of each other and keep it interesting, but not so many that being in a group becomes a bother. This was lucky as things did not go to plan at the start and we had to change our route. So in our team there were two guys, my kiwi friend and an English friend, and myself. On Saturday I met up with the kiwi, Simon, at Shin-Osaka station to catch the shinkansen (bullet train) to Shin-Fuji.
As Simon quite rightly pointed out, you often forget just how cool the shinkansen is. For that reason, here is a picture for you to enjoy.
Our team consisted of three people. It’s a nice little number, on reflection. Enough to take care of each other and keep it interesting, but not so many that being in a group becomes a bother. This was lucky as things did not go to plan at the start and we had to change our route. So in our team there were two guys, my kiwi friend and an English friend, and myself. On Saturday I met up with the kiwi, Simon, at Shin-Osaka station to catch the shinkansen (bullet train) to Shin-Fuji.
As Simon quite rightly pointed out, you often forget just how cool the shinkansen is. For that reason, here is a picture for you to enjoy.
I know, the picture doesn’t convey the coolness. Just trust me when I say the bullet train is awesome.
Getting into the station was a bit of a trial because our tickets didn’t work at the barriers. When I bought the tickets the night before, the man working at the booth forgot to give me the second part of our tickets and we had to pay 735 yen to make up the difference. I still don’t know what for. We fooled around on the platform taking pictures of us in explorer poses with our backpacks until the train pulled in, where Rob was already waiting for us in the non-reserved section. (For the record, I’m never buying a reserved seat on the bullet train again, there is no need and it’s a waste of money.) We changed at Shizuoka and arrived at Shin-Fuji at around 2pm. The next plan was to buy return tickets to Fujinomiya fifth station, from which was reportedly the shortest journey to the summit.
[By the way, people don’t often start from the foot of the mountain, mostly people start from the fifth station at about 2400m. If it sounds like a bit of a flake-out, I urge you to try from the first station! It can’t be done in a day!]
Except that when we went to buy the tickets, the nice ladies (with very good English skills) at the tourist information office informed us that the Fujinomiya trail was officially closed from the eighth station onwards until the 14th July. They told us that it was our choice to continue past the eighth station, but as it was officially closed there would be no mountain huts or first aid stations open. Simon rang around his friends and heard that some of them had done the trail the week before, and one was going to do it the same night as us, but I was really sceptical. If the weather suddenly turned bad, as it can do in the mountains, we would have no shelter to turn to. If one of us got hurt, getting help would be that much harder. The boys really wanted to stick to the original plan but on seeing how reluctant I was, they agreed to take the different route. I’m really grateful for that as it did complicate things a lot just to give me peace of mind.
The other route, the Kawaguchiko trail, was on the other side of the volcano and added a few hours extra to our journey and 2500 yen. We first took a two hour bus to Kawaguchiko train station, then the train two stops to the recently renamed Fujisan station. The train was covered in pictures of a cartoon Mount Fuji in its various different moods.
Getting into the station was a bit of a trial because our tickets didn’t work at the barriers. When I bought the tickets the night before, the man working at the booth forgot to give me the second part of our tickets and we had to pay 735 yen to make up the difference. I still don’t know what for. We fooled around on the platform taking pictures of us in explorer poses with our backpacks until the train pulled in, where Rob was already waiting for us in the non-reserved section. (For the record, I’m never buying a reserved seat on the bullet train again, there is no need and it’s a waste of money.) We changed at Shizuoka and arrived at Shin-Fuji at around 2pm. The next plan was to buy return tickets to Fujinomiya fifth station, from which was reportedly the shortest journey to the summit.
[By the way, people don’t often start from the foot of the mountain, mostly people start from the fifth station at about 2400m. If it sounds like a bit of a flake-out, I urge you to try from the first station! It can’t be done in a day!]
Except that when we went to buy the tickets, the nice ladies (with very good English skills) at the tourist information office informed us that the Fujinomiya trail was officially closed from the eighth station onwards until the 14th July. They told us that it was our choice to continue past the eighth station, but as it was officially closed there would be no mountain huts or first aid stations open. Simon rang around his friends and heard that some of them had done the trail the week before, and one was going to do it the same night as us, but I was really sceptical. If the weather suddenly turned bad, as it can do in the mountains, we would have no shelter to turn to. If one of us got hurt, getting help would be that much harder. The boys really wanted to stick to the original plan but on seeing how reluctant I was, they agreed to take the different route. I’m really grateful for that as it did complicate things a lot just to give me peace of mind.
The other route, the Kawaguchiko trail, was on the other side of the volcano and added a few hours extra to our journey and 2500 yen. We first took a two hour bus to Kawaguchiko train station, then the train two stops to the recently renamed Fujisan station. The train was covered in pictures of a cartoon Mount Fuji in its various different moods.
From Fujisan station we took one more bus for an hour up to the Kawaguchiko fifth station. I managed to take this picture from the bus, but it doesn’t really convey just how big Fuji was or how daunting a prospect it seemed to try and climb it.
With that, we reached the fifth station at around 7pm and changed into more appropriate clothes. We relaxed for about an hour, had some water and snacks (we had been eating more or less all day, mostly carbohydrate snacks like onigiri, as well as a take-away from Mos burger), and reorganised our rucksacks. At 8.15pm, we set off into the darkness, torches at the ready, and basically no idea what to expect.
