If you are going to climb Mt. Fuji, be prepared. There are three types of provisions you should have: things you know you’ll use, things you likely will use, and things you hope you’ll never use.
Here’s what I recommend:
- Do not wear jeans. As fashionable as they look, jeans are the worst thing to wear on a 10-hour hike. I recommend zip-off shorts (as I’m wearing in the photo) made of anything but cotton. I also recommend my friend Merrill because he let me borrow his because all I had were jeans.
- Bring a hat. Better yet, wear the hat that you bring; don’t leave it on the bus.
- Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. Especially if you leave your hat on the bus.
- Don’t expect to be alone on the mountain. This isn’t McKinley or Kilimanjaro.
- A walking stick (or two). One worked fine for me. I couldn’t imagine not having one. Bring your own or buy one for a handsome price of 1200-1500 yen when you get there. Then, for a cheap sum of 200 yen each, you can get “stamps” branded onto your walking stick at every stop along the way. There were at least 15 of these stops.
- Bring lots of yen.
- Did I mention the zip-off shorts? Now you see why. But you never can predict the weather.
- Do not wear a long-sleeve shirt in the beginning. I was grateful later toward the top, but that was 4 hours later.
- Make sure to have plenty of granola with little chocolate chips in it. M&M’s are way overrated.
- Contrary to popular belief, and universal logic, beef jerky can indeed go moldy. Check the package before the trip.
- Be encouraged by signs on the trail, even if they tell you there’s still over 4 hours worth of climbing ahead of you. A good attitude means survival.
- Who cares how ridiculous you look when you’re dry. Must have poncho. Raincoats okay, but the poncho protects the backpack too.
- I recommend a Ukrainian T-shirt to put on when you reach the top. Nothing better than a little Ukrainian pride at the summit of Mt. Fuji. Surprised my wife too when she saw the pictures.
- Be prepared for cooler weather at the top (yes, that’s snow). While this trip was worthy of shorts at the top, that is not always the case. Make sure to have warmer LAYERS of clothing to don (and doff) as needed.
- Fortunately, there is a Ramen shop at the summit. Who would of thought? (rhetorical question D. De-VON).
- Good hiking shoes, but no matter how water-resistant or water-proof they are, they will get soaked if it rains. So bring extra shoes and socks to change into at the bottom.
- Do not be afraid of the brown water in the toilets on the mountain. It is recycled water (I think that means rain run-off). No matter how many times you flush, it will still be dark brown.
- On that note, the best toilets are on the way up. For some reason the facilities at the summit and the one halfway down (the down trail is different than the up trail) are not quite as pleasant.
- And if you need to use the toilet at the bottom, either prior to climbing or just after, I recommend NOT using the nasty ones in this building.
- Cross the street and use the nicer, heated kind in this building. They charge half as much (yes, pay toilets only on Mt. Fuji) and they are not nearly as crowded.
- Oh, and walking sticks are a little cheaper in this building as well.
- Bring a first-aid kit. I never used it, but it made me feel better to have one.
- Make sure to go with awesome friends. It makes the 10-hour journey (especially when it rains the whole trip down the mountain) so much more fun, and more memorable.
- One final note: bring a reliable camera so you can take lots of pictures like these. Enjoy.
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