THE DESCENT

You will notice that even though you are descending you are still exerting yourself due to less oxygen volume in the air until you reach a more comfortable altitude. The descent is generally much easier, however the scree can provide a problem with balancing.

Some people seem to speed on ahead oblivious and I wondered to myself whether the young man I had seen in the morning dressed in a tuxedo and carrying a mountain bike on his shoulder had this in mind. Not wishing to end up with a broken ankle, I descended at a more dignified pace and only slipped over backwards once when I was not paying attention to where I was heading.

The descent is rather monotonous zigzagging backwards and forwards like an elephant trail. It occurred to me that if there was one thing they could do to enhance the Fuji experience it would be to put in a chair lift at least part of the way down. Probably this is due to having been in Japan far too long where you don’t want to hang around being unproductive for too long, even if you are enjoying nature, but it would be a jolly good idea to get stragglers off the mountain before darkness falls. People have been known to descend directly downwards to save time, only to slip and break arms and legs for their time saving efforts.

Along with the monotony of the initial descent there are several other problems that can occur.

Signs are posted prohibiting rock throwing and between the 7th and 6th stations where the trail suddenly becomes flat and runs anticlockwise around the mountain there are several concrete rock shelters which you are asked to walk under to protect yourself from falling rocks. Lightening is sometimes also a problem.

There is only one emergency shelter and one toilet on the descent so do your business before you leave the summit.

Below the 8th station you will come to a branch in the trail at the Edoya Hut. Turn to the right and you will descend on the Subashiri route. If you want to go back to the same 5th station where the Bus dropped you then take the LEFT [anticlockwise] trail NOT the right one to Subashiri. There are also several signposts along the way which are easily missed in darkness, but generally speaking, once you have selected the LEFT trail you will make it back to the 6th station where the up and down trails join together as one again.

For variety there is no reason why you cannot climb the Kawaguchi-Ko trail and descend down one of the other trails, such as the Shizuoka side.

Return to:
Greetings
Safe trekking advice
Introduction to Fuji
Getting to Fuji
Climbing up
The summit
Climbing down
What to take with you
Last thoughts
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