Family Adventures: Climbing Mt Fuji

Mt Fuji, an icon of Japan, is an active volcano, has an exceptional symmetric cone. The highest mountain in Japan with summit elevation of 3776 meters (12388 feet), is about 100 km southwest of Tokyo. It is a very popular destination for mountain climbing.

Nicholas and I climbed Mt Fuji on July 3rd, 2024. We started climbing around 3:30am in the morning from the mountain hut, Satomidaira Seikan-so, where we stayed overnight. It took me 5 hours 40 minutes to cover the 6km long trail to reach the summit of Mt Fuji.

my trail on Mt Fuji

Arriving at Lake Kawaguchi - a gateway to Mt Fuji

Lake Kawaguchi is a beautiful medium size lake, ~ 15 km in perimeter, about 16 km north to Mt Fuji. It is a popular place for biking around the lake, paddling and cruising on the lake. It is a gateway to Mt Fuji. We took a 2-hour long-distance bus from Shinjuku, Tokyo to Lake Kawaguchi in the afternoon of July 1.

Lake Kawaguchi under a cloudy sky

Lake Kawaguchi is a great place to see Mt Fuji as well, and I got lucky and see a few variations of its image under different conditions. Clouds could block the view of the summit, but also could accentuate its beauty.

Due to schedule limitations, we only walked around lake shore for a bit, and rode the ropeway cable cart to a hill top near the lake to see the lake from above, and Mt Fuji - unfortunately the Mt Fuji was behind clouds when we got to the hill top.

Lake Kawaguchi - viewed from Kawaguchiko Tenjoyama Park

Going to the mountain Hut Satomidaira Seikan-so

There are 4 trails to climb Mt Fuji; the most popular one is Yoshida trail. There are mainly two ways to climb Mt Fuji: 1) Start from the foothill at the base of the mountain, e.g. Yoshida trailhead. The hiking distance is about 20 km, typically a two day hike. 2) start from 5th station of a trail, e.g. Mt Fuji 5th station at Sky palace.

To watch sunrise at Mt Fuji, it is best to stay in a mountain hut at 6th or 7th stations. One can start climbing the previous night to submit before sunrise (4:34am July 3rd), or get up 3:30 am or so to reach 6th station or above. One can see sunrise on the Yoshida trail anywhere above 6th station.

We took an one hour bus from Kawaguchiko station to the Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station, arriving there around 2pm, July 2. We instantly felt the cool temperature when getting off the bus, and quickly put on long sleeve sweater or jacket.

The 5th station elevation is 2300 meters, and the 3776 meter summit is about 1500 meters above us. The view of the Summit was somewhat underwhelming.

Mt Fuji summit - viewed from Fuji Subaru line 5th station

trail to Yoshida trail 6th station

on the trail to Yoshida trail 6th station

Upon checking in at the 5th station trail entrance, we hiked to Yoshida trail 6th station. It turned out that our hut, Satomidaira Seikan-so, is actually 0.8 km downhill from the 6th station!

The hut clerks were young Japanese who spoke excellent English. The hut itself was apparently recently renovated, the sleeping area and the dinning area looked new. Our reservation included two wood screen divided sleeping spots on a wood floor, two dinners and two bento breakfast to go for next morning. We had dinner in a tatami dinning room before 5pm local time.

It was windy and cold outside, so we went to rest early, before 6pm, for a very early morning get-up.

There were about 12 hikers stayed at the hut that night, two of them left around 9pm when the breakfast bento was ready. They planned to summit before sunrise, and watch sunrise from the summit. Others left between 12am and 3am. It was somewhat noisy in the hut, despite everyone's effort to be as quiet as possible. We were woke up by a group leaving around 3am, and decided to get up. We started hiking ~ 3:25am from the hut on July 3, 2023.

the mountain hut

tatami dinning room at the hut

Climbing Mt Fuji

We got up at 3:15am on July 3rd, and left the hut around 3:25am.

It was partly cloudy, with mild wind, a bit chilly. With long pants, jackets, we turned on our headlights and marched toward 6th station, and the summit.

We could see many climbers on the trail already, as indicated by the line of lights on the mountain slope.

dawn at Mt Fuji at 3:30am

The lights on the slope were the headlights of climbers

We got above the 6th station before 4:34am, the time of sunrise. There were clouds on the eastern horizon, we did not see the real sunrise. But the clouds provided a different vista. The clouds came and went on the mountain, and in the lower altitudes.

The lit-up slope between 6th and 7th station

smaller mountains became islands in the sea of clouds

There were about 983 climbers for the day according to a sign at the Kawaguchiko station, which was about a quarter of the max number (4000) allowed in the mountain. So the trail was not crowded at all. The climb was more like what we had at Colorado 14ers, Quandary Peak and Mt Elbert.

The initial portion was on loose gravels between 6th station and 7th station. The trail becomes much steeper from 7th to 8th station, and most part was more like rock climbing!

8th station, elevation 3250m

As it got higher, wind was stronger and it was getting colder as well. In the process, my cadence became lower, I had to pause frequently to catch my breath or to let heartbeat slow down. Nicholas was at least twice as fast as I was. He paused his ascend regularly, each after a few switch-backs, to let me catch up. Waiting made him cold. We had to put on more clothes, I changed into a winter coat, he added a heavier jacket.

I put on GoPro from 8th station onwards, recorded a few times before taking it down due to strong wind.

changed into winter coat, and put on gopro

on the loose gravel portion of the Yoshida trail

there were some snow remnants on the slope

The last torii before the summit

The last stretch to the summit of mt Fuji

The last 400 meters of the trail was the hardest for me, due to the steepness, the elevation and exhaustion. It took me about 40 minutes to finish this last stretch, and I summited Mt Fuji at 9:30am, about 5 hour 40 minutes after I started tracking at 6th station. I hiked 6 km, with 1500 meter elevation gain. Nicholas had been there 20 ~ 30 minutes ago.

The summit was cold, very windy and very cloudy, we could not even see the crater.

We decided to have the packed bento first, but sands in the wind got into food. We gave up eating, just then cloud passed, the crater appeared!

The crater loop trail was however closed due to weather condition, we only walked less than one fifth of the crater rim.

The snow covered crater

we hiked to the highest point accessible to us

Climbing mt Fuji was the hardest mountain climb for me, even when compared to climbing 14ers* in US, Mt Whitney (7 years ago) , Quandary Peak (5 years ago) and Mt Elbert (4 years ago). A constant changing vista, a fast evolving weather, and a challenge to my physical strength, I experienced Mt Fuji to its fullest.