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| F U J I |
| After postponing this adventure for two years, we finally climbed and made it to the top of Fuji-san (3776m). After living in Japan for many years, it never dawned on me to try and climb this mountain until I left. After about five hours of climbing, we reached our "bed" for the night at Honhachigome-Tomoe Hut (3400m) and promptly scarfed down some curry rice before crashing-out at about 6pm. We awoke the next morning at about 1:30am and started out for the top at 2. We reached the summit at about 3:45am and promptly waited with hundreds of other people and waited for the sunrise. Our luck with the weather held out and we were treated to the most beautiful sunrise imaginable, the only clouds visible many feet below us. Climbing Fuji-san was a lot harder than I expected, especially the journey down, but it really was "an adventure of a lifetime" (and I'm never doing it again). |
| Date | Area | Location/Altitude | Time/Notes |
| S A N F R A N C I S C O (+/-) |
| August 30, 2010 | San Francisco | San Francisco International Airport (SFO) | |
| Japan Airlines Flight JL001 San Francisco (SFO) to Narita International Airport (NRT). | |||
| T O K Y O (+/-) |
| Japan Airlines Flight JL001 arrived at Narita. | |||
| August 31, 2010 | SFO-NRT | Narita International Airport (NRT) | |
| Shinjuku | Star Hotel | First night! Dinner and drinking with my buddies from California | |
| F U J I (+/-) |
| September 1, 2010 | Tokyo | Tsukiji | |
| Kawaguchiko | Kawaguchiko Station | Keio Dentesu Bus, 3:10pm Shinjuku arrives Kawaguchiko 5:00pm. Business Hotel Kawaguchiko. | |
| September 2, 2010 | Kawaguchiko | Gogome (2305m) | 9:50am bus from Kawaguchiko Station to Gogome. 1hr acclimation to altitude. |
| Fuji-san | 2305m | 12:24pm - Begin from Yoshida-guchi. | |
| 2400m | 12:34pm. | ||
| 2700m | 1:28pm - Nanagome. | ||
| 2900m | 2:16pm - Torii-so Hut. | ||
| 3100m | 3:08pm. | ||
| 3250m | 4:06pm - "Cha" stamp. | ||
| 3400m | 4:41pm - Honhachigome-Tomoe Hut. | ||
| September 3, 2010 | Fuji-san | Honhachigome-Tomoekan Hut | Woke-up at 1:26am. |
| 3400m | 2:04am - Push for the summit. | ||
| 3450m | 2:22am. | ||
| 3600m | 2:59am. | ||
| 3700m | 3:34am - Reached the crater at approx. 3:45am. Sunrise at 5:12am. | ||
| 3700m | 5:50am - Dainichidake, Isudake, Jojudake. | ||
| 3770m | 6:32am - Climb Kengamine. | ||
| 3775.6m | 6:41am - Reached Kengamine peak. 6:50am - Fuji weather station. | ||
| 3700m | 7:48am - Drank a cold Asahi beer. | ||
| 3700m | 8:15am - Begin the descent back to Gogome. | ||
| 3400m | 8:50am - Honhachigome-Tomoekan Hut (backside). | ||
| 3350m | 9:02am - Edoya Hut. | ||
| 2400m | 11:07am. | ||
| Yoshida-guchi trailhead | 11:25am. | ||
| Gogome (2305m) | 11:43am. | ||
| Kawaguchiko | Fujikawaguchiko | 12:40pm bus back to Kawaguchiko station (arrive 1:28pm). Lunch in the station then onto Wakakusa no Yado Maruei. |
| K O B E / O K A Y A M A / H I R O S H I M A (+/-) |
| September 4, 2010 | Kobe | Sanda | Took the bus back to Tokyo and took three trains to Sanda to see my buddy Ken. |
| Kanto Bus from Kawaguchiko to Tokyo; Nozomi from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka, Local train from Shin-Osaka to Osaka to Sanda to Flower Town. | |||
| September 5, 2010 | Okayama | Osafune | Hikari from Shin-Kobe to Okayama. Ako-Sen to Osafune. |
| September 6, 2010 | Okayama | Nishigawara | Got out on the bike |
| September 7, 2010 | Okayama | Osafune | |
| September 8, 2010 | Hiroshima | Hiroshima | Got out on the bike |
| September 9, 2010 | Hiroshima | Hiroshima | Okonomiyaki, Peace Park, A-Bomb Dome, kushi-age, yakitori! |
| September 10, 2010 | Okayama | Nishigawara | Watched Aya's school performance |
| September 11, 2010 | Okayama | Osafune | Finally rode the Kibiji Trail after 15 years |
| Soja, Yayoi Square, Tsukuriyama Tomb, Bitchu Kokubunji (Gojyu no Tou), Kibitsu-jinja, Bizen-Ichinomiya | |||
| September 12, 2010 | Okayama | Osafune | Beef Bourguignon |
| September 13, 2010 | Okayama | Osafune | |
| September 14, 2010 | Okayama | Nishigawara | Got out on the bike. Karaoke with my old friends |
| September 15, 2010 | Okayama | Osafune | Got out on the bike and rode up the Yoshigawa. Yakiniku for dinner |
| September 16, 2010 | Tokyo | Narita International Airport (NRT) | Narita Express to Narita Airport |
| Japan Airlines Flight JL002 to San Francisco. | |||
| N O T E S (+/-) |
| One or two day climb? | It would have been fairly easy to make it to the top in one day, but the chance to sleep at 3400m and watch the sunrise the following morning absolutely made the entire trip. Also, as mentioned earlier, the descent was a lot harder than I expected. The slippery footing of the volcanic rocks and the monotinous switch-backs make a night descent more dangerous in my opinion. Plus, the views during the descent are fairly spectacular as well. |
| What to pack... | We had a backpack with the following items: windproof jacket, rain parka, thermal long-sleeve shirt and long-johns, extra socks, beanie, hankerchief, gloves, flashlight, six 220cal energy bars, two 16oz bottles of water each, bandages, toothbrush and other misc. toiletries, camera. |
| At the hut... | We stayed at Honhachigome-Tomoe Hut at 3400m on the 8th Station. You should probably get reservations prior to the hike just to be sure you have a place to sleep, but our hut was not full when we stayed there because of the time of the year. |
| Price of a beer | My can of Asahi Super Dry was ¥600 and worth every yen. |
| F U J I |