Just finished climbing Mount Fuji and now sitting on a bus in traffic to get back to Tokyo which will probably take longer than it did for me to climb mount fuji
For any one interested in climbing Mt. Fuji here is a link to the website that I got most of my information from
http://www.garyjwolff.com/climbing-mt-fuji.htmlI just climbed Fuji in the off season which is both good and bad, good being it is less crowded bad because most of the facilities on the mountain are closed. This was a three day weekend in Japan so the freeway was packed with cars. Japan has one of the greatest rail systems in the world and one of the highest costs to own a vehicle but their traffic is still crazy
But hey hawaii's rail will be different and we will be rid of long commutes once it's done
anyways climbing Mount Fuji was pretty tuff but not as hard as I was expecting, I always hope for the best but plan for the worst so I probably ended up bringing more gear than I needed.
I was very lucky and the weather was perfect, ended up climbing to the summit from the 5th station in about 3 hours and 15 mins. the average time is about 6 hours. I did it alone so I was able to stick to a fairly quick pace. I summited just at sunset and was one of only about 5 people there, it was both beautiful and eerie at the same time. I hiked down to the 8th station and spent the night there to watch the sunrise. Hiked back down to the 5th stationing after sunrise in a little over an hour.
I always wanted to climb Mt. Fuji and knew I had to do it more sooner than later, not getting any younger(almost 42) I would reccommend climbing Mt Fuji to everyone, while I was there I saw kids that looked around 6 years old to seniors in their seventies or eighties climbing. Don't get me wrong people do die every season on Mt. Fuji but as long as you stick to a pace comfortable to you and watch your step you should be ok.
If anyone is interested in climbing Mt. Fuji and have any questions let me know and I would be more than happy to help you out, hell I might even end up climbing with you
Will post some pics as soon as I get back to my hotel