What to expect at the summit:
22 Feb: 9 temp, -22 wind chill, 40mph winds, some clouds. Freezing level 5086
23 Feb: 0 temp, -36 wind chill, 70mph winds, clear. Freezing level 2133
24 Feb: 0 temp, -31 wind chill, 30mph winds, clear. Freezing level 1805
25 Feb: TBD
*what this means*
- The team will definitely have goggles or something to protect our eyes from high winds (WileyXs for example) and something to protect our face.
- To the gear list, adding mitts or heavier duty gloves for the top.
- We won't hit significant winds until 8th Station or higher from what I read.
On the chart, the worst wind is on the 23rd with winds picking up the evening of the 22nd, dying down on the evening of the 23rd. As this high pressure system moves through, we should have a nice calm window on the back end of the pressure system movement for a day or two to sneak up top before the clouds move back in. We'll keep anticipating this window and look at the weather closely. If this system that's in place right now holds, the sun will do a good job in packing down the snow lower on the mountain for us (good thing). It will also keep us from making the summit on the 23rd, should we go that route. If we leave on the 23rd, we'll head up to 8th Station, bivvy for the night and then head up next morning. 8th Station to the summit is estimated on Summitpost.org as ~160 minutes.
Our flight arrives from Seattle-> Tokyo on the 21st and we fly back to Seattle on the 26th. So on Tuesday we'll make another target departure date based on what the weather forecast is as to when we leave- 22nd, 23rd, or 24th.
Best case, the high pressure system moves through a day early, the winds die down to 20mph and we keep on track. The below link is to a live webcam of the mountain. Check out how clear it is today..... http://live-fuji.jp/fuji/livee.htm
Keep your fingers crossed that the weather holds and winds ease off a little.
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