Well, I climbed up Mt. Fuji and skied down on April 27th and thought I’d share in case others wanted to do the same. First off, it is a doable spring hike. A fair number of people head up around the golden week period. It’s not particularly dangerous, although I’m sure it could be if the weather was bad. We did the Fujinomia route on the south side and that definitely seems like the best route off-season. The road had been cleared and was open to the fifth-station parking lot at 2400 meters. There was a number of groups camping in their cars or tents and others arrived through the night (waking me up periodically in my tent). This year there was deep snow well below the fifth station so the entire hike was on snow but in other years, the snowline can be higher.
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The hike up was very straight forward. Since it was a little cold, the snow was hard and not practical for skinning. Walking it with crampons was the best way to go. Doing it in boots alone would have been technically possible but I think I would have wasted too much energy slipping and sliding to make it to the top. An ice ax is not necessary but definitely makes you look cool. In my case, my ski poles gave me something to lean on.
Spending a night at 2400 meters as we did is probably a good idea, but still, coming from sea level, you can expect the altitude to be a significant factor. At first, I plowed up the hill, stopping for a short break around 3000 meters before arriving at the 8th station, feeling great at 3250. Approaching the 9th station, however, short distances suddenly started to seem very long. At 3410 meters (the 9th station), I realized that I was getting pretty tired and in need of a longer break. The push from there up to the summit was a long, slow, pain-session. We arrived at the rim of the crater over 6 hours after starting and then I walked around to the true summit at 3776 meters. I was slightly light-headed and generally very tired and short of breath. I had no headache, but felt pretty sick to my stomach and couldn’t eat or even drink. As impressive as the scenery was, I was eager to get down.![Posted Image]()
For the descent, most people walked down, while others skied or boarded or even slid on their butts. Skiing seemed like the best option to me despite having to lug up the extra weight. Since there was mention of one or two serious accidents in other threads, I guess it shouldn’t be recommended for inexperienced skiers. The pitch is not steep but it’s very consistent, and the scale is pretty huge, of course. Riding down with a heavier pack, at altitude, and on very hard snow is tricky. You wouldn’t want to get going a little too fast and then suddenly loose it and slide into sharp volcanic rock. On this particular day, it was a little cold, so the snow didn’t really soften until the bottom half. The skiing was less than spectacular but it definitely got us down quickly. Upon arriving at the parking lot, I lay in the fetal position in the snow for 15 minutes, thinking to myself, “…yeah, I’m done with mountains!” Of course, that was just a high-altitude delusion. I recovered pretty quickly, driving down the mountain. Next time I’d like to do it a little slower, maybe spending two nights at 2400 meters to acclimatize. I still think doing it off-season, on snow is the best option, much better than dealing with crowds of people and having to walk on that volcanic rock and dust the whole way, up and then down.![Posted Image]()
The hike up was very straight forward. Since it was a little cold, the snow was hard and not practical for skinning. Walking it with crampons was the best way to go. Doing it in boots alone would have been technically possible but I think I would have wasted too much energy slipping and sliding to make it to the top. An ice ax is not necessary but definitely makes you look cool. In my case, my ski poles gave me something to lean on.
Spending a night at 2400 meters as we did is probably a good idea, but still, coming from sea level, you can expect the altitude to be a significant factor. At first, I plowed up the hill, stopping for a short break around 3000 meters before arriving at the 8th station, feeling great at 3250. Approaching the 9th station, however, short distances suddenly started to seem very long. At 3410 meters (the 9th station), I realized that I was getting pretty tired and in need of a longer break. The push from there up to the summit was a long, slow, pain-session. We arrived at the rim of the crater over 6 hours after starting and then I walked around to the true summit at 3776 meters. I was slightly light-headed and generally very tired and short of breath. I had no headache, but felt pretty sick to my stomach and couldn’t eat or even drink. As impressive as the scenery was, I was eager to get down.
For the descent, most people walked down, while others skied or boarded or even slid on their butts. Skiing seemed like the best option to me despite having to lug up the extra weight. Since there was mention of one or two serious accidents in other threads, I guess it shouldn’t be recommended for inexperienced skiers. The pitch is not steep but it’s very consistent, and the scale is pretty huge, of course. Riding down with a heavier pack, at altitude, and on very hard snow is tricky. You wouldn’t want to get going a little too fast and then suddenly loose it and slide into sharp volcanic rock. On this particular day, it was a little cold, so the snow didn’t really soften until the bottom half. The skiing was less than spectacular but it definitely got us down quickly. Upon arriving at the parking lot, I lay in the fetal position in the snow for 15 minutes, thinking to myself, “…yeah, I’m done with mountains!” Of course, that was just a high-altitude delusion. I recovered pretty quickly, driving down the mountain. Next time I’d like to do it a little slower, maybe spending two nights at 2400 meters to acclimatize. I still think doing it off-season, on snow is the best option, much better than dealing with crowds of people and having to walk on that volcanic rock and dust the whole way, up and then down.
