Our travels abroad are often a compromise between visits to cultural and natural sites and climbing the occasional mountain. Our visit to Japan this year was no different. It is a country that has fascinated me for a while. So, we took the plunge and organised a trip for August. In mountaineering terms my interest was in Mount Fuji on the island of Honshu and Asahi-dake on the island of Hokkaido – two island highpoints in Japan. Mount Fuji also features as #35 in the World’s most prominent peaks.
Japan is an easy place to travel around. It has an efficient transport system and use of English on signage etc. is common. Google Translate fills in the gaps.
Having sampled the cultural delights of Tokyo, we caught a train to Kawaguchiko located in the picturesque Five Lakes district. Kawaguchiko Lake is near the foot of Mount Fuji (3776m).
Accessing Mount Fuji has become more difficult in recent years. In peak season (early July to early September) a permit is now required for all climbers – see this website. The climb was becoming too popular. And, because of the popularity of the mountain, permits get snapped up quickly. Most climbers also tend to stay part way up in huts at “Stations” with a view to seeing the sunrise from the summit. The huts are booked up equally quickly. The “Stations” are rest stops. There are eight or nine Stations on each of the four trails up the mountain with a tenth at the crater. I would start at the 5th Station.
Because we had arranged the trip so close to departure, two-day permits and hut accommodation were not available. So, I had to rely on a single day permit and do the climb in a day. In fact, I obtained two single day permits as a hedge against bad weather. Given that we had travelled so far, I thought that the additional £20 or so cost a reasonable insurance premium.
In fact, when we reached Kawaguchiko, the mountain was covered and the forecasts for both days for which I had permits were not promising. So, I had a dilemma. Which day to go for? I plumped for the first day, although the forecast for the following day seemed slightly better.
One day ascents are not prohibited. But so-called “bullet climbs” are strongly discouraged by the authorities.
Mount Fuji
I had arranged for a taxi to pick me up from our hotel at 2.30am. The driver arrived at 2.15am and apologised for being early! This did not bother me in the slightest. It was a 40-minute drive to the trail head. If you have a day permit, the rules do not allow climbers on to the trail until 3.00am in any case.
So, when I arrived at the trail head at 2.55am I was in a queue of three. Five minutes later my permit (a QR code on my phone) had been checked, I was handed a wristband as evidence of my permit, and I was on my way. I would approach the climb by following the most popular trail, the Yoshida trail. Another official checked my permit at a gate 50m further on. In the dark it was a little disconcerting that the route began with a gentle, but long, downhill section on a motorable track.
There is never any real danger of getting lost, even in the dark. You are either hemmed in by ropes or fences, or the terrain is not conducive to going off-piste.
The downhill ended at a fork and a sign directing me to the right. Here the climbing began. I was soon at the 6th Station. There was another sign warning of the dangers of “bullet climbs.” It also highlighted the dangers of altitude sickness with accompanying statistics on failure rates. I ignored the sign and passed by, taking another right turn.
Above in darkness I saw a ribbon of lights showing the various huts and climbers making their way up. The trail takes you pleasantly on. There are wide zigzags often passing below large retaining walls. Clearly, there is a lot of trail maintenance and construction going on with vehicles occasionally parked by the trail.
About 1 hour 45 minutes into the climb, I was able to dispense with my headtorch. Passing by the many huts overnight residents were readying themselves. So, it was now busier on the trail.
I slowly plodded up the zigzags, not wanting to trigger any altitude related issues. Dawn broke at around 4.30am. I rested briefly above the 7th Station to watch the sunrise.
By 8.00am I was on the crater rim where a line of shacks all offering retail opportunities rather spoiled the ambiance! I had a 15-minute rest here. Admiring the views, I was happy that the mountainforecast.com forecast was wrong – no rain and no strong wind.
Fuji has a large crater rim that I was going to walk around in a clockwise direction. The summit was still 30 minutes further on. It was not visible from the top of the Yoshida trail. So, after my rest, I left the shacks behind and was soon at the top of the Yoshida ‘down’ trail. Because of the busyness of the Yoshida trail, it has separate ascent and descent routes.
Nearby it was now possible to look across the crater to the summit, festooned as it was by a large weather station.
I went over Joujuga-take, the first of a number of subsidiary bumps on the crater rim, and then another two, Izuga-take and Sengen-dake. The latter is by the top of the Gotemba and Fujinomiya trails where things became even busier.
I was soon at the final slope to the summit. And when I reached the summit, there was an orderly queue for the necessary photo at the summit marker. I joined the queue.
The Japanese were very efficient – no dallying to get that ‘perfect’ shot. The wait was short. When it was my turn a kind local noted that I did not have anyone to take my picture and volunteered to do so.
To nerds (like me?) you should note that the true high point is a few metres further on. Of course, I had to visit this spot.
It was now time to continue my circumnavigation. I dropped down below the summit block and had this view of the crater. It was not as spectacular as those on Orizaba or Parinacota, but it was still pretty good!
The crowds had now gone. I merely passed a handful of others as I continued. Unfortunately, the top of Hakusandake was roped off and I did not feel as though I could hop over this to bag this summit. A few wispy clouds went by. I then ascended to the final top of Kusushi-dake which is not far short of the top of the Yoshida trail.
Here there was a slightly different angle on the crater.
I passed the top of the Yoshida trail and back to the melee and shops for another brief rest. It had taken me just 30 minutes of walking time from the summit.
At about the same time, the Reluctant Mountaineer was taking this photo of Fuji from Kawaguchiko.
So, it was on to the descent trail (which the Subashiri trail shares for about a third of the way). Going down was a good test of the thighs. There is no scree run, unlike a couple of the other trails. This was not as interesting as the ascent trail. Much of the way I followed a vehicle.
Clouds had now built up and swirled around, though the views below were good when the clouds allowed them. But the descent was fast. Just above the 6th Station the ascent and descent trails merge and I came across large numbers toiling upwards towards the huts where they would stay the night.
Then it was back to the starting point with my wrist band checked at the exit. Here I was able to take a bus back to Kawaguchiko (1950 yen one way) with a short walk back to the hotel and sumptuous traditional Japanese feast to celebrate my bullet climb.
There is a downloadable GPX track of my route here.
Asahi-dake
Having done some more touristy stuff in Kyoto, we flew north to Hokkaido. Here we tackled Asahi-dake (2291m), another volcano, in Daisetsuzan National Park. Where Fuji gave me good weather, Asahi-dake did not.
Our hotel was located less than one kilometre from a ropeway that provides a speedy 500m elevation uplift to the Sugatami Station. We took this with a guide, an American who now lived in Hokkaido. I do not think that a guide is really necessary for this climb. We had an original intention of undertaking a longer circuit, but the weather put paid to that. A guide was useful for navigating any bureaucracy and was knowledgeable about what we couldn’t see!
The path is gravelly but straightforward, summer flowers covered the lower slopes . But we were in the cloud right from the Sugatami Station.
We could hear the roar of, but not see, and smell the fumaroles. At one point the sun teased us by threatening to break through. But no, the ascent, like the summit, was cloud-covered, wet and windy.
And about halfway down the descent, the heavens opened and we had a soaking that not even layers of Gore-Tex could match. So, we were pretty wet when we got back down to the Station. But we rewarded ourselves there with hot drinks.
Sod’s law, of course, determined that the next morning the mountain looked like this. We could even see the fumaroles (but not hear or smell them this time!)
Japan offers a lot of opportunity for peak baggers – not just Mount Fuji and Asahi-dake. We merely scratched the surface in both mountaineering and cultural terms. It would be nice to go back.
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