Fuji Climb - Part 1

We did it - Michael and I conquered Mt. Fuji this weekend. It all started out early Saturday morning at the Shinjuku bus station. We took two buses up to Station 5 on Fuji, the most common starting place for hikers. We hiked from Station 5 up to Station 8, slept at Station 8 for a few hours, and then hiked up to the summit in the early early morning hours to catch the sunrise from the top.

Station 5 was like a hiking Disney World. We ate lunch there and got ready for the big hike.

We had heard that Fuji is packed with hikers, and we were not disappointed. There were tons of people climbing. Some tour groups will take groups of 50 or more hikers up with a guide. We tried hard to avoid (stay ahead of) those groups. In the end, the crowds were not as annoying as I had expected.

Here you can see the line of hikers coming up the trail behind us.

Here we are (Andreas, Yasmin, Teresa) at Station 8. This was just a few hundred meters below the hut where we spent the night.

We started out hiking around 1:00pm, and made it to our hut before 6:00pm. Our hut provided dinner and breakfast and a place to sleep. The sleeping arrangements were tight, and we were on the top floor, under the rafters, so it was HOT up there!

After dinner we slept until 1:30am, and then started the hike up to the summit to watch the sunrise.