Mt Fuji-san 2018 | Our Journey to 3,776.24m (12,389 ft) 富士山

30 July 2018

"A well-known Japanese saying suggests that a wise person will climb Mt. Fuji once in their lifetime, but only a fool would climb it twice." However, I've done this three times -- in what kind of crazy epigram do I fit?!

My daughter and I first tackled Mt Fuji in early July 2009, after seeing an advertisement about Japan in the seat-back of a Continental Airlines flight from Germany. Our route was the easiest of the four, the Yoshida Trail; however our journey was fraught with a terrible storm that rolled-in after we reached the Fujisan Hotel Hut (Original 8th station 3,400m / 11,154ft). Tremendous wind, ice, horizontal sleet, and 15-degree F temperatures made us turn about when one of the people said, "If you go up, you probably die."

Undeterred, we went back to the Yoshida Trail in late July 2015. While the temperatures stayed just above freezing, we endured seventeen hours of non-stop rain and 50 mph winds! But we made it! The view was limited to about twenty feet and we saw virtually nothing of the landscape.

On this trip, 30 July 2018, my lovely wife and I took two friends to the summit. We enjoyed absolutely spectacular weather! This was the first time my wife had attempted anything close to this magnitude of basic hiking, much less an ascent...and she was completely up to the task! Our route was the second-ish Subashiri Trail. By this third ascent I had perfected our climbing gear and equipment. Call-out to Chase Mountains (YouTube) for teaching me about trekking poles! And to Luke and his team at www.fujimountainguides.com for making our mountain hut reservations!

While I'm still highly fit and mobile, it's important to me to be able to succeed at all four of the Mt Fuji routes; so in August 2020, the Gotemba and Fujinomiya routes are on the itinerary. We'll hit Gotemba going up, cross-over to Fujinomiya at some point, and reach the summit before sunrise. My daughter and son-in-law are also joining this adventure -- as she wants to know if there REALLY is good weather on Mt Fuji, of if it's just post-card propaganda! And I'm thrilled to be taking my wife's son on the trip, as well.

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#GoPro
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#Vaude

Video/Photo Kit:
- GoPro Hero 6
- GoPro Session 5 (x2)
- Samsung Note 8
- Final Cut Pro X / iMac 27$ 5k

Music licensed to Vidtuition, LLC
- "Feel" by Stephen Keech
- "Far from Home" by Stephen Keech
- "Perfecting the Raincloud" by Cody Martin

Hiking Gear:
Vaude.com: Hats, coats, back packs, gloves.
Columbia: poles, lights, compression packs
Boots: Vasque