Solo hike up Mt Fuji 🗻

Review of my 2D1N to solo hike on Mount Fuji during summer 🌞 in Aug 24

😎 Vibes: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

💸 Price: $$

🕰️Time to hike: ~6hr up, ~4hr down

💭Thoughts: wanted to climb Mt Fuji before i become too old to do these type of demanding stuff, Did it solo because no friends wanted to go through torture with me and it felt doable. did alot of research on youtube vlogs and online guides and correlated with https://www.fujisan-climb.jp/en/ for this year's information before deciding on Fujinomiya Trail instead of Yoshida/Subarishi Trail which most Singaporeans tend to use.

📍Recommendation for: people who like to hike i guess and also need some validation for a solo hike. note that weather quite unpredictable on mountain in August due to the extreme heat.

➡️ the deed

Transport: $~90 (two shinkansen 🚄 ticket to and fro, + bus ticket)

Mountain hut: $90

Food: ~$25

souveniers: ~$40

toilet (yes you need to pay): ~$9

➡️ Transport Guide

🔸1hr Shinkansen from Tokyo 🗼-> Shin Fuji 🗻 Station. from there, buy the Shin Fuji - Fujinomiya 5th Station round trip ticket for 3700 yen. from shin fuji the first bus is 1000hr and i took it to reach 5th station at 1230hr.

🔺Mount Fuji has 4 trailheads, Fujinomiya is the steepest but also the shortest route. most tourists go by Yoshida/Subashiri because its convenient and the path is less demanding on ur legs (alot nice dirt roads, especially for descent), but now they have a fee + 4000 max pax/day on Yoshida Trail. note that climbing season is between early jul-early sep.

➡️ my pack list

-windproof jacket 🧥

-1 drifit tee + pair of sun sleeves (Day 1)

-1 base thermal layer (Day 2)

-1x hiking pants 👖

-1x compression tights (Day 1)

-1x underwear (Day 2)

-1x hat + sunglasses 🕶️

-1x sunblock

-1x pair socks

-1500 yen worth of 100 yen coins 🪙

-1x headlight

-1x pair gloves

-3x kitkat bars

-2L water 💦

-2x powerbank

Redundancies

-1x dri fit tee*

-1x extra hiking pants* (didn manage to get rain pants)

-1x pair socks

-1x thermal bottom*

-1x poncho* (didn manage to get rain pants)

*Didn used in the end

🔆 Day 1 🔆

🔸On the 🚌 to the 5th station i saw the ominous anvil shape cumulus cloud forming around mount fuji and blocking it. 😢 so i braced myself for bad weather and double check all my water proofing

🔸Arrived at 5th station (2400m) at 1230hr. bought abit more water and ended up bringing 2L of water in my bag (note the price of water will keep increasing as you ascent like 500yen/small bottle at the top. tbh if i was not so stingy maybe its better to just buy than to carry extra weight up 🤔)

🔺 it was recommended to stay at 5th station for 30mins to acclimatize to the oxygen level to prevent altitude sickness. but i had a headache so i decide to do 45min and departed at 1315hr

🔸Arrived at 6th Station (2490m) at 1335hr. the distance between the 2 stations quite short only and its mostly up a dirt slope, gaining a measly 90m 🤡. However, i chose to take a 15mins rest at every station though I may not need it because it's gonna be a long journey so I must pace myself.

🔸Arrived at New 7th station (2780m) at 1435hr. this was the leg that made me think twice whether I did the right choice to do this hike hahah. but i told myself mt kinabalu was harder and pushed on 😤 the trail from this point has turned into just rocks and loose gravel ☠️

🔸Arrived at Old 7th Station (3010m) at 1540hr. halfway up to the old 7th station i saw the storm cloud rolled in from the west and thunders were roaring every 5 seconds and the rain was getting heavier.

Even the japanese guide with his tour group ahead of me was like "やばい" and started calling his colleagues for more info. 😐 I sped up abit to try hit the station for shelter in case the thunderstorm ⛈️ gets worse. visibility was bad in the clouds (pic 5)and there was so much static in the air that we can see each others hairs standing (like those science projects)

🔸Arrived at 8th Station (3250m) at 1635hr. thankfully the west side of the mountain took the brunt of the thunderstorm and the south (where i was ascending from only dealt with the residue rain which cleared up once we are at the 8th station. checked into my mountain hut Ikeda-kan to stay the night and commence summit attack tomorrow morning

At 8pm we had a free alarm from the earthquake alert! quite an experience when everybody's phones started to ring. the shake was for a few seconds and stopped and we all went back to sleep 💤.

🔺they only provide 1 sleeping bag with no pillow ☠️ + the 1100 yen top up for dinner is just curry rice with no ingredients rabakz. in hindsight, maybe could have tried to stay overnight at 9th station if i knew i could climb up so fast before sunset.

🔆 Day 2 🔆

🔸Everyone woke up at 0100hr on the 8th station to prep for the summit attack. tbh was not that cold at that altitude because there was no wind 🌬️. only wore a base layer + my jacket. started hiking up with my headlight at 0130hr

🔸 Arrived at 9th station (3460m) at 0205hr. this leg was the easiest i felt going up (not counting the 5th-6th). but things are getting harder i have to start using my hands to pull myself up at certain points.

🔸Arrived at 9.5th station (3590m) at 0250hr. things were getting hard and i find myself stopping alot more for short breaks on the way up (told myself no point pushing + i solo so need take care of myself). wind was picking up but i was sufficiently warmed up from the hike to deal with it.

🔸Arrived at Okumiya (3720m) at 0400hr, the end of the Fujinomiya trailhead at Mount Fuji's shrine and also now on the rim of the volcano. there was a queue to climb up the final leg and the normally 35mins leg became 1hr 10mins. but not complaining cos csn rest more and still have time to preposition for sunrise

at this point i had two choices and chose the latter because I want to come back to the Okumiya Shrine to get some souvenirs and my stamp and eat cup noodles (its a thing here uh to eat cup noodles 12000ft above ground level 🤣) in the rest house beside it

🔺If want to see the Goraiko (break of dawn over the Kanto plains) I have to hike (its not a straight road you have to climb up and down steps) another 20-30mins to Yoshida trail end point on the east of the rim.

🔺If I am just happy to see the sunrise break over Mt Fuji, I can start hiking towards Fujisan Kengamine (3776m) which is the true summit of Mt Fuji (pic 1+7). Fujinomiya trailhead is the closest to this point which is about 20mins hike up a gravel slope (abit xiong not gonna lie).

🔸Had my cup noodles, got my stamps and a few souveniers charms from the shrine and decided time to go down the path of pain 😭

🔸Decided to rush and climb down to hit the 1000hr return bus instead of the 1300hr one. in hindsight it was stupid 🤡 because i could only check in my hotel at 3pm so i had to find things to do in Fujinomiya city (my next accomds was here for my next day itinerary, but the bus's terminal stop is Shin Fuji if catching the shinkasen returning to Tokyo) while still in dirty clothes once im back down lol

The weather was good and sunny on day 2 but no time to take more pics and videos because i was chionging down.. took 4hr 10mins (with the 6th-5th station jogging cause gonna miss the bus 🚌 already) going down to 5th station. loose rocks is a more painful experience than climbing down stones steps in KK jeez. shoes were wrecked and i cant walk down staircase properly for next 2 days 😱

🚨 Tips:

1) Buy gaiters to prevent any loose rocks from entering your shoes

2) Book mountain huts through Yamatan.net, it shows all available mountain huts for booking on Fuji (note that google translate will make the webpage unworkable... so use your phone google lens)

3) Yoshida trail is less rocky from other reviews but very crowded and has an entrance fee + reservation system. Gotemba is not the steepest, but also the longest and with the least mountain huts. Subarishi Trail combines with Yoshida halfway so it will be a cluster ---- 👀. Fujinomiya trail is the steepest but the shortest to summit.

4) Buy own breakfast and dinner up because food may not be that great up there. BUY SNACKS LIKE CHOCOLATE BARS TO FUEL YOU.

5) Always have wet weather gear (waterproof shoes, pants + jacket / ponchos, waterproof your bags and items inside)

6) Came across a special souvenier tip: buy the short walking stick (pic 10) and get it stamped at every mountain hut on the way up and get the final stamp at Okumiya Shrine. each stamp is 300 yen, the stick depends on where its bought

7) Bring lots of 100 yen coins (300 yen per toilet visit)

My Regrets 🤔

🔸Staying st 8th station instead of 9th. but hindsight is always right 🤷

🔸chionging for the earlier bus to go back town and ended up wandering around with heavy bag and broken legs 😢

🔸not taking better photos but i was too shag to think also

🫧 Reflection

🔸I managed to achieve what I wanted since before covid. tbh i only decided on Fujinomiya trail after watching Abroad in Japan YouTube video where he climbed the same trail with his 50yr old friend which made me think solo-ing it is possible. Ultimately Yoshida is still the easiest one because of its touristy nature (Fujinomiya rocks and gravel can be demanding for people who didn trained). but i think im grateful that i chose this trail because it was not that crowded compared to Yoshida which I would have went like most foreigners. now can finally say i experienced fuji 😁

part of 10D9N Summer Trip to Japan

#summerdiary #ThingsToDo #japantravel #Japan #fuji #hiking #mountfuji #solotravel