A paraplegic mountaineer headed up the lava-strewn slopes of Mount Fuji on Monday, pulling himself toward the summit in a bid to make the first such ascent of the 12,385-foot peak.

Keegan Reilly, 22, from Soldotna, Alaska, hopes to make the normally five-hour trip to the chilly summit in six days using a custom-made arm-powered, three-wheeled bicycle.

"For every four cranks, he goes one foot," said Gardner Robinson, editor of Outdoor Japan, one of the disabled climber's sponsors.

Reilly set off Monday morning from an elevation of 5,460 feet and scaled about 900 feet before camping on the rocky trail in a sleeping bag beneath a starry sky.

Accompanying him was an eight-man support team hauling 300 pounds of water and backpacks brimming with noodles and canned chicken.

"He's feeling really strong," Reilly's uncle and team leader John Nelson said via mobile phone from base camp, about 500 feet below Reilly. "I had targeted him for about 500 feet, but he went about 900. He's just powering it."

Reilly was disabled in a 1996 car accident. He is making the ascent with a titanium-tubed bicycle that cost $35,000 and is powered by arm cranks. The bicycle is also equipped with a special center crank that enables Reilly to hurdle boulders and even climb steps.

More than 200,000 people climb Mount Fuji every year during the July-August climbing season, making Japan's most sacred mountain one of the most-climbed peaks in the world.

Reilly's first major climb after the car accident was Colorado's Mount Elbert at 14,435 feet, and he has since reached the summit of California's Mount Shasta at 14,162 feet.

"If you have the dreams, there's no reason not to go for it," Nelson said. "This message applies not only to disabled people ... but also to anyone who has a dream but just needs a little spark of courage."

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