12 July, 2011
12
Yoshida (5th Station) >> Summit >> Yoshida (5th Station)
[Training hike on the Yoshida trail - 2 hours 10 minutes]
12
Yoshida (5th Station) >> Summit >> Yoshida (5th Station)
[Training hike on the Yoshida trail - 2 hours 10 minutes]
This was going to be my final training run on the Yoshida trail from the 5th Station to the summit as preparation for the Mt. Fuji Race which was now only 10 days away. It was a weekday climb and I had been keeping my eye on the weather and with the weather looking reasonably OK I headed for the Yoshida 5th Station.
With trains and buses it was close to a 4 hour trip to reach the 5th Station. With it still being early in the official climbing season and being a Tuesday there were not so many people at the 5th Station. The weather was reasonably good, there was no rain forecast and the sun was hidden somewhere behind the clouds. I was dressed light - a short sleeve top, knee length hiking shorts, running shoes and a Camelbak which actually contained a long sleeve climbing top and waterproof jacket. Refreshment was a bottle of sports drink which I was going to carry in my hand.
Last year I had done one climb on the Yoshida trail in about 2 hours and 30 minutes carrying a heavy back pack so I was looking to get to the summit as close to 2 hours as possible. In the Mt Fuji Summit Race proper this part of the course would start after 15km of running and fast hiking. The race course joins up at the 6th Station and after that it quickly turns steep with loose gravel, huge steps and craggy volcanic rock making up the trail to the summit. I was wearing regular rather beat up running shoes so I focused instead on walking as fast as I could.
I continued non-stop all the way to the summit and arrived in a time of 2 hours and 10 minutes and felt surprisingly fresh. It was not particularly cold on the summit even though the sun was not out. I decided to take a walk around the crater and did so for the very first time. I walked anti-clockwise all the to the far side which is where you find the Mt. Fuji Weather Station, the actual highest point on Mt. Fuji at 3776m. From there I continued all the way round and rejoined the descending route back to Yoshida 5th Station.
Once back at the 5th Station I slipped on my long sleeve top and caught a local bus back down to Kawaguchiko Station. It was just starting to get dark but from the station I could see the dark silhouette of Mt. Fuji. A few hours and a bowl of steaming hot vegetable noodles later I was back home again. It had been a really great climb (#12) to Mt. Fuji. The next climb (#13) would be the race itself !