Weather permitting, I'm considering climbing Fuji-san in mid-May. I know that's outside the normal climbing season (July to mid-Sept), but it's not dead of winter either. I've been up Rainier (2x) and Pico de Orizaba... so this would not be my first time on snow & ice. Obviously, I'd utilize crampons, ice axe, helmet, and winter gear.
I found this link which has helpful info:
https://www.garyjwolff.com/climbing-mt-fuji.html#2
Sounds like 3 biggest threats are (1) avalanche; (2) winds; (3) hypothermia. So a few questions about an attempt in May:
(1) Do some routes have less of an avalanche threat?
(2) Is there one route that is used more often in Spring?... is it used enough that there is a visible trail in the snow & ice?
(3) Is post-holing bad in May?... are snow-shoes necessary for snowfields?...
(4) Looks like mid-May has about 14 hours of daylight (4:40am to 6:40pm)... is that plenty of time to go up and down without spending the night on the mtn?
(5) How often is the summit a white-out in May? Almost every day? Rarely? Half the time?
(6) Are any of the lower huts ever open in mid-May?
(7) How difficult is it to understand the trains and taxis and such if you don't know Japanese?
(8) Any other advice or feedback?
Thanks in advance.