A minimum of one individual died climbing Mount Fuji days earlier than the official begin of the climbing season, and three our bodies had been discovered on the mountain, the police and native media mentioned.
Amongst them was knowledgeable rock climber, Keita Kurakami, according to 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 mentioned, in response to public broadcaster NHK.
The three our bodies had been found about three-quarters of the way in which up the 12,400-foot mountain, all close to its crater however in numerous areas, the native police mentioned on Wednesday, in response to NHK. It’s unclear when the our bodies had been discovered. All three are thought to have been climbers who ascended individually, the broadcaster mentioned.
For all of final yr, seven Mount Fuji deaths had 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 along with her 53-year-old husband who had gone to climb Mount Fuji, the police mentioned. 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 mentioned. The person was recognized as one of many useless, Eriko Takahashi, the Shizuoka police division spokeswoman, mentioned in an interview on Thursday.
The police had been nonetheless figuring out the 2 different our bodies however suspected they had 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 mentioned.
As Mount Fuji’s reputation has soared lately, officers have develop 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 response to the mountain’s official climbing website.
Outdoors the summer time climbing window, Mount Fuji experiences violent wind gusts and snowstorms, and climbers can fall due to the winds or slip on ice, in response to the official climbing Mount Fuji website. Bogs and mountain huts the place climbers can relaxation are closed within the low season, in response to the website for Yamanashi Prefecture police.
Authorities have lengthy nervous 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 by way of the night time may end up in altitude illness and hypothermia, officers have warned.
Mr. Kurakami, the skilled climber, ascended the mountain from the Yamanashi path, NHK reported. Patagonia mentioned in a social media post that he had a coronary heart assault in 2021, obtained remedy 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 may climb a part of the way in which — elevated from about three million in 2014 to 5 million in 2019, in response to information from Yamanashi Prefecture.
This climbing season, Yamanashi Prefecture is for the primary time capping the daily number of hikers and requiring hikers to pay a price equal to about $12.50. It has additionally put in a gate in the beginning of its path, which will probably be closed from 4 p.m. to three a.m.