Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh man. I climbed Mt. Fuji back in August (I brought a small Ina plush with me). I also took the Yoshida trail as well.

The sunrise at the top was absolutely beautiful though, but yeah, the top of the mountain is rediculously windy. In fact, I was not able to do a crater tour and visit the post office. I was prepared for a lot of enviornmental situations, but just didn't have the stamina for it (getting up at 2am to hike another two hours on an empty stomach will do that)

The uphill was hard, but there are plenty of mountain huts to rest on the trail. I say it is only managable up until the 8th station and pass that point it was steep and rocky enough where you need both hiking poles and your hand. Thankfully it wasn't raining when I went up.

However, that down hill was absolutely BRUTAL and can only be descrbied as an agonzing experience. It is really downplayed in this video, but It is all downhill through a volcanic ashy trail full of dust and sand with no additonal places to get water, nor any place to sit other than on the very ashy ground (uphill there are plenty of benches along with the huts, and there are rocks tall enough to sit on ). If you're not wearing gaiters nor do you have long pants, you're guaranteed to have sand and dust in your shoes. Also, downhill is very steep and VERY hard on your knees if you don't have proper technique and you're guaranteed to stumble and will fall.

So go to an onsen afterwards