No less than one individual died climbing Mount Fuji days earlier than the official begin of the climbing season, and three our bodies have been discovered on the mountain, the police and native media stated.
Amongst them was knowledgeable rock climber, Keita Kurakami, in keeping with Patagonia, which he was an envoy for. He misplaced consciousness whereas ascending the mountain, Japan’s tallest, on Wednesday and was pronounced useless at a hospital, the native police stated, in keeping with public broadcaster NHK.
The three our bodies have been found about three-quarters of the best way up the 12,400-foot mountain, all close to its crater however in several areas, the native police stated on Wednesday, in keeping with NHK. It’s unclear when the our bodies have been discovered. All three are thought to have been climbers who ascended individually, the broadcaster stated.
For all of final yr, seven Mount Fuji deaths have been reported.
The police in Shizuoka Prefecture, the place some trails to the summit begin, began looking after a girl in Tokyo reported on Sunday that she had misplaced contact together with her 53-year-old husband who had gone to climb Mount Fuji, the police stated. He left on Friday night and on Saturday, despatched his household a photograph taken close to the summit however then fell out of contact, NHK stated. The person was recognized as one of many useless, Eriko Takahashi, the Shizuoka police division spokeswoman, stated in an interview on Thursday.
The police have been nonetheless figuring out the 2 different our bodies however suspected they have been a person in his 30s who was reported lacking in December and a person in his 50s who was reported lacking in January, Ms. Takahashi stated.
As Mount Fuji’s reputation has soared lately, officers have change into extra involved about overcrowding and harmful climbing practices.
There are 4 trails resulting in the summit. The one in Yamanashi Prefecture opens July 1, and the three within the neighboring Shizuoka Prefecture open July 10, in keeping with the mountain’s official climbing web site.
Outdoors the summer season climbing window, Mount Fuji experiences violent wind gusts and snowstorms, and climbers can fall due to the winds or slip on ice, in keeping with the official climbing Mount Fuji web site. Bogs and mountain huts the place climbers can relaxation are closed within the low season, in keeping with the web site for Yamanshi Prefecture police.
Authorities have lengthy frightened about climbers who attempt to ascend the summit with out resting in a single day at one of many huts that dot the paths. Climbing with out breaks via the night time can lead to altitude illness and hypothermia, officers have warned.
Mr. Kurakami, the skilled climber, ascended the mountain from the Yamanshi path, NHK reported. Patagonia stated in a social media publish that he had a coronary heart assault in 2021, obtained therapy and continued climbing.
Though the quantity of people that summit the mountain has remained regular over the previous decade at about 200,000 to 300,000 every year, the quantity of people that go to the beginning of the paths — and who would possibly climb a part of the best way — elevated from about three million in 2014 to 5 million in 2019, in keeping with knowledge from Yamanashi Prefecture.
This climbing season, Yamanashi Prefecture is for the primary time capping the day by day variety of hikers and requiring hikers to pay a payment equal to about $12.50. It has additionally put in a gate in the beginning of its path, which might be closed from 4 p.m. to three a.m.
