Questions about Mt. Fuji

I was enchanted by the photo's, and was curious....

1. Can you legally climb outside of the official season?

2.Is it arduous?

3.Is there really a volcanic sand-slide you can ride down on a back-pack or something after reaching the summit?

4. Is it permanently snowy on top?

Scott Keehn's page on the live-fuji site has quite a lot of English language information, including facts & figures, FAQ etc.

http://live-fuji.jp/fuji/scott/scott.html

One of the best times to go up is a weekend or two after the season is officially over, but before the snow falls. Much fewer people there = faster trip. So no, there's not always snow on top (that's what makes it impossible to climb up in the winter). Very, very old people climb it each years, so it's not that difficult of a task, although it might be tricky if you're a smoker (thin air).

i climbed it two days after it opened this year, and the weather was horrible. Many people turned back, infact there was just a few idiots like myself who went to the top and almost all were foriegners. Make sure you check the weather before you climb, it makes a huge difference. As i got closer to the top i had to take more breaks because of the thin air. The way down was ok though. I recommend climbing fuji, its a wonderful experience and challenge.