17 ~ 18 July, 2009
03
Yoshida (5th Station) >> Summit >> Subashiri (5th Station)
[Rain soaked first climb with Iris]
03
Yoshida (5th Station) >> Summit >> Subashiri (5th Station)
[Rain soaked first climb with Iris]
This was my 3rd visit to Mt. Fuji and I was accompanying Iris for her first trip. We were both perfectly prepared for the trip. The only thing we didn't really account for was the weather. This particular trip would turned out to be a rain soaked affair and on the way down I took a wrong turn and we ended up at a completely different 5th Station. Until this mishap I had imagined there was only one 5th Station on Mt. Fuji but would learn that there are in fact 4 !
Iris and I had left from Shinjuku an a Keio Highway bus bound for the 5th Station on the Yoshida trail. I hadn't yet started checking the weather forecast before my visits to Mt. Fuji and looking at the evening sky over Tokyo, it looked perfectly fine. After arrving at the 5th Station we waited around for an hour or so to acclimatize and then slowly set out. Things looked like they would remain fine but over the next 2 hour or so we started to see flashes of lightning way of on the horizon. The wind too started too pick and the clouds seemed to be drawn towards Mt. Fuji. With the first drops of rain starting to fall we got into our rain gear and continued on up.
It was Iris's first Mt. Fuji climb and she showed a great deal of resilience, climbing steadily as we continued on up. The weather was really closing in and it then just continued to rain as we made progress towards the summit. On a clear night you can see thousands of stars but tonight there was nothing to see because of the heavy clouds. We stopped repeatedly at the various huts to rest and continued all the way to the summit.
With heavy cloud enveloping the summit there was little hope of seeing anything. By the time we reached the summit the cloud was translucent and above it or behind the sun was shining somewhere but visibility was just a 100 yards or so. There were not so many people on the summit. We entered into one of the summit rest huts and had something warm to eat. Having done that we joined the descending trail and headed back down. The contrast between conditions during my first 2 trips and this one couldn't have been greater. I felt sorry for Iris because she had looked forward to enjoying the sunrise, as I had.
Heading back down, visibility was just as poor and we just continued on down the zig zagging trail. The rain continued falling and wouldn't let up until we were much nearer the bottom. There were not so many people on Mt. Fuji or if there were, we just couldn't see them. I continued to follow the trail but at a certain point I realised that things didn't quite look the same as they had done on the previous 2 descents I had made. I still believed there was only a single 5th Station so I reassured Iris that whatever trail we were on we would probably re-converge onto the same trail I had used before. This unfortunately didn't seem to be the case. We passed one or two huts and I assumed we must still be heading towards civilzation again and the 5th Station. However, eventually I realised we were heading to a completely different 5th Station because the weather had cleared up sufficiently to see signs that reported we were on the Subashiri trail.
By the time we reached the Subashiri 5th Station the rain had eased of and it was actually starting to brighten up. Iris looked exhausted and not too happy. I tried my best to figure out where we were and since we had return bus tickets from the Yoshida 5th Station, I enquired about how we could get there. The taxi driver I asked told me it would cost 20,000 yen to get over to the other 5th Station which was now on a different side of Mt. Fuji. Eventually we were told we could catch a local bus to Matsudo station and from there take a train back to Shinjuku.
The bus journey was a long tiring 90 minutes and then it was a single train journey all the way back to Shinjuku. Back in Shinjuku we sat outside a coffee shop on what had turned into a typically hot summers day in Tokyo and talked about our little adventure. I was disappointed of course at not seeing the sunrise and disappointed too for Iris who had been looking forward to this trip. I'm not sure Iris was thinking about going back after what had been quite a difficult and uncomfortable experience but for whatever reason I was already thinking of going back again.
I had learned a few important lessons at least. If you want to see the sunrise and avoid getting soaked, always check the weather forecast before you go. If you know it's going to rain take precautions to keep your belongings dry. I was wearing my DSLR around my neck and keeping it under my rain proof jacket but the cloud had been so dense that my camera body was actually full of codensation. Most importantly, I learned that there was more than one 5th Station accessible on the descending trail back to Yoshida 5th Station. Around the 8th Station the trail seems to naturally diverge of to the right and actually heads in the direction of the 5th Station on the Subashiri trail. If you're heading for the 5th Station on the Yoshida trail you need to continue on for another 20 yards or so and veer left.
Note - I have since learned that this junction has been the casue of many misadventures because on trips up and down the Subashiri trail I have met other climbers who have accidentally taken this route. The climbers who I have spoken to or those who have stopped to ask if they were heading for the 5th Station on the Yoshida trail have usually been foreigners but I am sure there have probably been many Japanese climbers too who have made the same mistake. As of 2012 the information that is handed out at the 6th Station as you come up the Yoshida trail explicitly warns you to be aware of this particular juncture. The signs have also been considerably improved to stop climbers going the wrong way. On my last few trips (in 2012 / 13) I have even seen mountain guides standing just before this junction repeatedly telling climbers to be sure to go the correct way. This is probably a good thing on the busy weekends during the climbing season but the problem seems to be that the sign board - and it's quite a large sign board - is placed a little beyond the right turn which takes you away down towards the Subashiri 5th Station.
Iris and I had left from Shinjuku an a Keio Highway bus bound for the 5th Station on the Yoshida trail. I hadn't yet started checking the weather forecast before my visits to Mt. Fuji and looking at the evening sky over Tokyo, it looked perfectly fine. After arrving at the 5th Station we waited around for an hour or so to acclimatize and then slowly set out. Things looked like they would remain fine but over the next 2 hour or so we started to see flashes of lightning way of on the horizon. The wind too started too pick and the clouds seemed to be drawn towards Mt. Fuji. With the first drops of rain starting to fall we got into our rain gear and continued on up.
It was Iris's first Mt. Fuji climb and she showed a great deal of resilience, climbing steadily as we continued on up. The weather was really closing in and it then just continued to rain as we made progress towards the summit. On a clear night you can see thousands of stars but tonight there was nothing to see because of the heavy clouds. We stopped repeatedly at the various huts to rest and continued all the way to the summit.
With heavy cloud enveloping the summit there was little hope of seeing anything. By the time we reached the summit the cloud was translucent and above it or behind the sun was shining somewhere but visibility was just a 100 yards or so. There were not so many people on the summit. We entered into one of the summit rest huts and had something warm to eat. Having done that we joined the descending trail and headed back down. The contrast between conditions during my first 2 trips and this one couldn't have been greater. I felt sorry for Iris because she had looked forward to enjoying the sunrise, as I had.
Heading back down, visibility was just as poor and we just continued on down the zig zagging trail. The rain continued falling and wouldn't let up until we were much nearer the bottom. There were not so many people on Mt. Fuji or if there were, we just couldn't see them. I continued to follow the trail but at a certain point I realised that things didn't quite look the same as they had done on the previous 2 descents I had made. I still believed there was only a single 5th Station so I reassured Iris that whatever trail we were on we would probably re-converge onto the same trail I had used before. This unfortunately didn't seem to be the case. We passed one or two huts and I assumed we must still be heading towards civilzation again and the 5th Station. However, eventually I realised we were heading to a completely different 5th Station because the weather had cleared up sufficiently to see signs that reported we were on the Subashiri trail.
By the time we reached the Subashiri 5th Station the rain had eased of and it was actually starting to brighten up. Iris looked exhausted and not too happy. I tried my best to figure out where we were and since we had return bus tickets from the Yoshida 5th Station, I enquired about how we could get there. The taxi driver I asked told me it would cost 20,000 yen to get over to the other 5th Station which was now on a different side of Mt. Fuji. Eventually we were told we could catch a local bus to Matsudo station and from there take a train back to Shinjuku.
The bus journey was a long tiring 90 minutes and then it was a single train journey all the way back to Shinjuku. Back in Shinjuku we sat outside a coffee shop on what had turned into a typically hot summers day in Tokyo and talked about our little adventure. I was disappointed of course at not seeing the sunrise and disappointed too for Iris who had been looking forward to this trip. I'm not sure Iris was thinking about going back after what had been quite a difficult and uncomfortable experience but for whatever reason I was already thinking of going back again.
I had learned a few important lessons at least. If you want to see the sunrise and avoid getting soaked, always check the weather forecast before you go. If you know it's going to rain take precautions to keep your belongings dry. I was wearing my DSLR around my neck and keeping it under my rain proof jacket but the cloud had been so dense that my camera body was actually full of codensation. Most importantly, I learned that there was more than one 5th Station accessible on the descending trail back to Yoshida 5th Station. Around the 8th Station the trail seems to naturally diverge of to the right and actually heads in the direction of the 5th Station on the Subashiri trail. If you're heading for the 5th Station on the Yoshida trail you need to continue on for another 20 yards or so and veer left.
Note - I have since learned that this junction has been the casue of many misadventures because on trips up and down the Subashiri trail I have met other climbers who have accidentally taken this route. The climbers who I have spoken to or those who have stopped to ask if they were heading for the 5th Station on the Yoshida trail have usually been foreigners but I am sure there have probably been many Japanese climbers too who have made the same mistake. As of 2012 the information that is handed out at the 6th Station as you come up the Yoshida trail explicitly warns you to be aware of this particular juncture. The signs have also been considerably improved to stop climbers going the wrong way. On my last few trips (in 2012 / 13) I have even seen mountain guides standing just before this junction repeatedly telling climbers to be sure to go the correct way. This is probably a good thing on the busy weekends during the climbing season but the problem seems to be that the sign board - and it's quite a large sign board - is placed a little beyond the right turn which takes you away down towards the Subashiri 5th Station.