"Day 5 in Hokkaido and a sweet new summit with only one person around...a 80 yr old Japanese gentleman. If he looked back he would have witnessed our 3 sweet laps of the bowl with Billy, Rob, and Rob. And the ski out went surprisingly fast." — alexjoseph • Jan 26, 2019

"12th backcountry ski day in a row in Hokkaido on 4th trip, we only had until 2pm before driving to Sapporo airport. Paul and I bagged this one in a very cold wind and clouds descending minutes after reaching summit on skis. We skied off summit and descended to car park for an onsen in about 15 minutes. 2 hrs 18 min total." — alexjoseph • Feb 7, 2018

"Ascended into the clouds. 10 others descended in the cloud and fog down the ridge. We pushed onto the summit. Decided to ski the backside in a nauseating zero visibility fog. Contoured back to gondola in a full whiteout. 6 hrs round trip." — alexjoseph • Feb 6, 2018

"Yoshida trail “bullet”. http://www.fujisan-climb.jp/en/trails/yoshida.html Caught a late express bus from Shinjuku to Mt Fuji 5th Station https://highway-buses.jp/ Eked out time eating noodles in the warmth of the base station cafe before setting off at an ultra slow plod in the pitch black at 2145hrs local after the cafe closed. Arrived at the crater rim over 2hrs before sunrise. Found a spot and waited it out with the gathering numbers to view the sunrise “Goraiko”. Curled up and tried to doze but the wait was unpleasant in the chill gusting wind amid sandblasting swirls of volcanic grit. I ended up wearing every piece of clothing in a vain effort to stay warm despite having left Tokyo in sticky 84 degree heat just hours before. The grit got everywhere including the zoom mechanism of my camera lens which jammed. Top tip: pack breathing mask, ski goggles and space blanket. The sunrise was fab after which I set off on a clockwise circuit of the crater. Finished back down at the 5th Station at 0820hrs and lazed in warm sun with an ice cream for an hour waiting for my bus back to Tokyo. I’d bought a return ticket but were I to repeat I’d go down on the Gotemba trail ‘great sand run..." — davidb • Aug 24, 2017

"Peak 4 on our four peak loop. The last section was full of fumaroles making it hard to breath. I was coughing a lot and the smoke left a bad taste in my mouth. This is a very active volcano" — seancasserly • Aug 10, 2017