Climb Fuji with same day return to Tokyo possible?

Posted June 25th, 2009 by Contrav

Assuming the trails are open on July 1, is it possible to leave Tokyo early in the morning, climb to the summit and return the same day? From all the information I've seen on here it's going to be pretty tight.

The first bus from Shinjuku to the Kawaguchiko 5th station arrives at 10:10. The last bus from the Kawaguchiko 5th station back to Shinjuku leaves at 15:00. That seems impossible with the 8+ hour round-trip in the guide.

The earliest you could get to the Fujinomiya train station appears to be around 8:02 assuming you leave central Tokyo around 5:00! That still leaves the 100 minute bus ride to the Fujinomiya-guchi 5th Station putting you at the trailhead around 9:40. Assuming you don't stop and take the 7 hours in the guide for the roundtrip that doesn't leave much room to catch the last bus from the Fujinomiya-guchi 5th Station to the Fujinomiya train station which leaves at 18:10.

Am I missing other options? I'd like to think it's possible to do this.

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junior's picture

junior - 37 weeks 1 day 12 hours 29 min ago

Hi Contrav,
the most popular option is to take a bus at evening and start climbing at night in order to see sunrise from the summit.
About the bus schedule of Kawaguchiko Trail, there's a bus heading to Kawaguchiko train station until 18:55 on July 1. This bus arrives at Kawaguchiko train station at 19:45, so you can take a highway bus at 20:10 which arrives at Shinjuku at 21:55.
There isn't a timetable for this highway bus on this site, I've put a comment on another post the other day.
http://mountfujiguide.com/forum/371
Hope it helps.

Asher - 37 weeks 15 hours 27 min 37 sec ago

If you are fit and have no problem with the altitude sickness, than you should be able to get to the summit with in 5 hours the latest from the 5th station (Kawaguchiko),
Assuming you start at 8:40 am and reach the summit 1:40 pm, take one hours leisure time at the summit, that would be 2:40 pm,
Your down hill decent will not take you more than 3 hours,
If you can maintain the climb with the above pace or faster than you will make it, though you may need least 2 full day rest after that,


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