Climbing Mount Fuji by Yoshida trail

Mt.Fuji Yoshida trail /Yoshida-guchi route [吉田口ルート]

Climbing from Yamanashi prefecture, starting from the 5th station
It is said it's easiest route to climb Mt.Fuji.
Most of Mt.Fuji tours climb Yoshida trail.

Mt. Fuji is 3,776.24m (12,388 ft) high.
Mount Fuji is designated as UNESCO World Heritage site.

We arrived with tour bus.

 

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We climbed from the 5th station [Japanese: 五合目] of Mt. Fuji
 by Yoshida trail (Yoshida-guchi route) [Japanese: 吉田口ルート] 

 

  

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We kept climbing in the dark.

 

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Sunrise view from the top of Mt.Fuji.

 It was cloudy.

 

The snow still remained around the summit.
 

 

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We went down after watching the sunrise.

 

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We took a tour bus.

Episode of our first Climbing Mt.Fuji by Yoshida trail

Tomo&Chouchou experienced climbing Mount Fuji by Yoshida trail. 

We joined the Mt.Fuji tour organized by French association. We went to the 5th station of Mt.Fuji in Yamanashi from Tokyo by bus at night. There was a French organizer who knew well about climbing Mt.Fuji. He just explained the route roughly. We had to climb by ourselves.
We started climbing around 23pm so we used our head lamps.
Mt. Fuji is a volcano, so it is covered with lots of rocks. The trail is also covered with rocks. So it was tiring to walk and climb.
During climbing Mt. Fuji by Yoshida trail, we did't see the trees. It was also dark so we couldn't see any scenery from the mountain. We only saw the grey rocks. We just needed to keep walking. Then, Tomo suddenly had a stomachache on the way to go up. We decided to take a rest a little bit. On the day we climbed Mt.Fuji, it was very windy. Probably Tomo lost the energy faster and got cold. After drinking something hot, Tomo felt better. We started to climb again. More we approached the top of Mt.Fuji, more strongly the wind was blowing. The strong wind pushed us a lot. It was a little bit scary, but we made effort not to be pushed out from the trail.

Many people climb Mt.Fuji at night to be able to see the sunrise on the top of the mountain. So the trail to the summit of Mt.Fuji was very crowded around the sunrise. Group hike tours blocked the trail. It was difficult to pass them and go forward. We were struggling to see the sunrise on the top of the mountain.
Then, it started to be bright little by little. We expected to see the great sunrise. But there were clouds on that day. However we could see the special sunrise with the clouds. The layer of clouds were colored with several colors. It was not the perfect sunrise but it was fantastic. We also got the sense of achievement. We could be proud of climbing the highest mountain in Japan!

It was difficult for Tomo to go down. Downhill was steep slant with stones. It was slippery and scary. Tomo was slow to go down, but we were running out of time to catch the tour bus. We remembered the French organizer said, "We will not wait for you if you are late for the departure time.". So we hurried a lot. Tomo speeded up to go down with two hiking sticks. We could manage to catch the tour bus.

It was tough hike. But especially for Tomo, she could discover her new ability and strongness. We had a very valuable experience by climbing Mt.Fuji.
If you have an opportunity, please try to climb the highest mountain in Japan once in your life! We are sure that you will feel sense of achievement if you succeed it.

P.S. We are now thinking to challenge Mt.Fuji again to see the perfect sunrise! :-)

 

Tomo&Chouchou's advice for climbing Mt.Fuji

1) Mt. Fuji is 3,776.24m (12,388 ft) high so it's said that we may get altitude sickness. So we ate oxygen tablets while climbing. Then we were fine. We advise you to bring something for oxygen or hike slowly. 

2) Yoshida trail is very crowded around the summit. If you really want to see the sunrise on the top of Mt.Fuji, you had better go by yourself not with the big group tour, you had better arrive the summit earlier than the group tour, or you had better climb other trails except Yoshida trail. 

3) Around the summit, the temperature is really cold. With wind, we feel much colder than the real temperature. Please bring something to protect against cold. 

4) We learned that climbing in the windy condition was tough and we lost energy more. Please check the weather carefully. Change the date, if possible, when the weather is bad.

5) Climbing Mt. Fuji is not that difficult. We just need to have physical strength and to prepare the health condition before climbing. Simply just keep your own pace and go slowly. No rush.

Tomo&Chouchou's request

Since 2013, Mount Fuji has been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Please keep Mt.Fuji clean and bring back your garbage. Let's protect Mt.Fuji together!

 
information
Climbing season: From beginning of July to beginning of September

Here is the official website for climbing Mount Fuji by Yoshida trail. There is a map in several languages.
http://www.fujisan-climb.jp/en/trails/yoshida.html