Kitadake is a very popular hike given it’s close to as high as Fuji and from the top you can actually see Fuji, which can be hard when you are on the top of Fuji. The overwhelming majority of people get to the trailhead around 9 or 10am, hike up to Kata-no-Koya Hut which is about 700m from the summit, stay the night and then wake up to see the sunrise at the top. If you are lucky, it comes up just above Fuji-san, which is pretty amazing. I’ve done this before and it is a fun way to spend a couple of days in the mountains. That said, to do it this way you definitely need two full days. The hut is also on the expensive side and gets very busy in the climbing season. Given this, I wanted to explain how to do this in a day-ish.
Getting There
The biggest problem with Kitadake is getting to the trailhead. As with many mountains, you cannot drive to the trailhead and the closest parking lot is about an hour bus ride away. If you want to do it in a day, you do need to drive as close as you can. A train or bus to Kofu and then another bus to the trailhead won’t give you enough time to get up and down in a day. I’ve also been quite surprised how most websites tell you to drive to Kofu and take the bus from there. That’s not at all needed and if you have a car, you might as well drive as close as you can. Best is to park at Ashiyasu Parking lot.
Once there, you can take a bus which doesn’t run that regularly or a shared taxi which is a bit faster but slightly more expensive. I’d suggest trying to get the first bus which should leave at 5:15am from the parking lot. This will get you to the trailhead around 6am. If you miss this though, just be patient and wait for the next taxi to come. Its still Japan so you don’t need to haggle or anything, but it may be a wait.
You might be wondering; how do I get up that far from Tokyo for a 5:15am bus? The answer is, good luck. It’s about 2 hours from Tokyo by car so we decided to leave the night before and stay at a simple business hotel. There are lots of inexpensive places to stay in Kofu and you can drive up after work the night before still making this more or less a day trip.
The Hike
The hike can basically be broken down into three sections. When you get off the bus / taxi, walk up the road a bit and turn onto the suspension bridge. Once you cross, you basically go straight up until the first hut. This is the fist stage. There aren't really switchbacks and there are lots of ladders so its not fast going. As you clear the first hill, there's a hut to take a quick break before beginning the second section. This is basically the same. Straight up, but this time you keep going until you clear tree level. It's almost harder than the first section so save your strength.
Once you make it to the top of the second bit, you more or less walk along a ridge which is the third section. It gets more technical before making it to the last hut. From here, it's only 700m to the summit though it's a bit of climbing here and there and don't get excited as there are a few false summits. It took us exactly 3hrs 15mins from bottom to top.
If you are doing this in a day, just turn around and go back the way you came. The problem is you can't really make up too much time going down. It's very steep so there's not really a high speed you can hit. It took us about 2hrs 30mins to come down.
We missed the 12pm taxi so decided to have lunch at the trailhead. Recommended as you'll probably have some time to kill. There should be a bus and/or taxi at 2pm which gets to the parking lot at around 3pm. After a stop at my favorite Starbucks at the Dongozaka rest area, we made it back to Tokyo before 5pm!
What to Prepare
There are the two huts on the way up that sell some food and drinks, but I would strongly recommend you bring your own supplies. It's not nearly as developed as Fuji-san. I had about 1.5 liters of water in a Platypus Bladder and a smaller water bottle with some energy drink. I also brought two Bonk Breaker Rainbowblast packages, and my go to bacon. I like bacon. For lunch, we picked up an onigiri at 7-Eleven and some snacks (nuts, dried fruit, candy). You need to be moving at a fast pace so there shouldn’t be too much time to sit and eat.
As you are just going for a day, a simple hiking backpack or even running backpack is fine. Definitely bring proper rain gear and a fleece. Depending on the season, I’d also suggest a winter hat and some light gloves. It’s a much more technical climb and the temperature on top is quite different than the trailhead.
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