Sunday, March 19, 1972, regarded like the right day to climb Mount Fuji. The temperatures had been gentle, the winds had been calm — however forecasts warned of a low-pressure system approaching.
That yr, Vernal Equinox Day, a public vacation, fell on a Monday. Again when Saturdays had been nonetheless half workdays, a Monday off meant climbers would be capable to benefit from a three-day weekend for in a single day treks.
Among the many hikers on March 19 had been 9 members of a mountaineering membership from town of Shizuoka, coaching for a Himalayan expedition on Fuji’s southeastern slope. Additionally on the mountain was an 18-member staff from close by Shimizu — seven of whom headed for the summit, whereas the remaining 11 pitched tents close to the fifth station.
Nevertheless, what started as an odd day on Japan’s highest and most iconic peak would quickly flip right into a nightmare.
With Mount Fuji’s 2025 climbing season formally opening this week, the tragedy that unfolded on its slopes greater than half a century in the past serves as a stark reminder of the dangers authorities are as soon as once more getting ready for as extra first-time — and sometimes underprepared — hikers try and scale the three,776-meter peak.
Whereas the climate was clear on that March morning in 1972, situations rapidly deteriorated. By the point the Shizuoka staff wrapped up coaching for the day, fog had rolled in and robust winds had begun to blow. The rain was sleet. The next morning, the 9 mountaineers determined to name off their expedition and descend Mount Fuji amid a violent storm. Solely two made it all the way down to the foothills to name for assist.
In the meantime, the 11 members of the Shimizu group noticed their tents buried in snow and took shelter in a close-by mountain hut. Because the winds eased, they started descending with a solo climber who had joined them, forming a gaggle of 12. Seven collapsed from hypothermia, 5 had been buried by avalanches. Just one survived, crawling out of the snow to ultimately make it to Gotemba Police Station.
By Tuesday, March 21, a 500-member search get together had been assembled, together with police rescue groups, native mountaineering associations and rangers from the Japan Self-Protection Forces. Regardless of the extreme climate, they managed to rescue 5 folks and recuperate one physique. A number of different teams, together with these from Tokyo and Kyoto, had stayed in mountain huts and safely descended, as did the seven summit climbers from the Shimizu group.
Ultimately, 18 had been confirmed lifeless and 6 remained lacking, possible buried in avalanches, making it the worst civilian mountaineering accident in Japanese historical past.
“The world across the police station was filled with reporters, grieving households and rescue personnel,” the Yamanashi Nichinichi Shimbun each day reported on March 22, 1972. “Simply after 12:30 p.m. on March 21, as Self-Protection Forces ambulances arrived with our bodies, kinfolk rushed ahead — some crying out that ‘they will need to have suffered a lot.’”
The occasions of that weekend pressured a reckoning with how Japan — a rustic the place roughly 70% of the land is mountainous — approaches mountain security. Within the wake of the catastrophe, native authorities acknowledged the pressing want for skilled alpine rescuers and for elevating public consciousness of the hazards concerned in back-country and high-altitude trekking. And as mountain tourism surges throughout the nation — from the Japanese Alps to lesser-known regional trails — officers warn that the mixture of inexperience, poor planning and quickly altering climate continues to place lives in danger.
“The dying of 24 folks on Mount Fuji led to the formation of our mountain rescue staff,” says Katsunori Masuda, an officer with the Shizuoka Prefectural Police.
Quickly after the incident, 11 policemen had been handpicked from throughout the area — all with mountaineering expertise and distinctive bodily and psychological endurance — and in November 1972, the Shizuoka Prefectural Police Mountain Rescue Group was formally established.
“At the moment, it includes 28 members,” Masuda says. “Most are common law enforcement officials who volunteered to hitch the rescue staff. They conduct 4 annual coaching workouts, amongst different coaching classes.” Members are stationed throughout the Shizuoka Prefectural Police Headquarters, in addition to at native precincts with jurisdiction over key mountain areas: Susono, Gotemba and Fujinomiya for Mount Fuji, and Shizuoka Chuo Police Station for the Southern Alps.
“Wanting on the annual statistics, the variety of mountain accidents has primarily returned to pre-pandemic ranges,” Masuda says. “For the reason that majority of climbers are concentrated within the official climbing season, it’s throughout that interval that we see many of the incidents happen.”
To payment or to not payment
Straddling Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, Mount Fuji has 4 principal climbing routes. The Yoshida path on the Yamanashi facet opens July 1, whereas the Fujinomiya, Gotemba and Subashiri trails on the Shizuoka facet open on July 10. The official climbing season runs roughly till Sept. 10.
Famed for its symmetrical cone form and a supply of worship since historical instances, the mountain is taken into account a nationwide image and stays a closely visited landmark. In the course of the 2024 climbing season, as an example, greater than 204,000 folks made the ascent, with a majority utilizing the Yoshida route, which is taken into account essentially the most beginner-friendly.
And whereas individuals are discouraged from climbing Mount Fuji exterior the official climbing season on account of harsh situations, trekkers proceed to make journeys all year long, often resulting in accidents.
In 2024, Shizuoka Prefecture recorded 113 mountain misery incidents. Though the entire variety of instances declined from the earlier yr, the variety of deaths and lacking individuals doubled to twenty. Mount Fuji accounted for the very best proportion of incidents, making up greater than 50% of the entire.
“Whereas it is determined by every state of affairs, we sometimes dispatch a staff of 9 or 10 rescue personnel every time an incident happens,” says Masuda of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police.
In April, for instance, a Chinese language college scholar dwelling in Japan was rescued on Mount Fuji after returning there to seek for his misplaced cell phone — regardless of already being airlifted off the mountain 4 days earlier.
In response to a collection of rescue operations on the mountain through the low season, Yamanashi Prefecture has begun contemplating charging charges for rescues carried out by its catastrophe response helicopters. Whereas mountain rescues are typically offered freed from cost, the fee could be substantial when choppers are deployed, and these missions additionally carry vital dangers for rescue groups.
“With the comfort of smartphones, I really feel there’s a rising tendency for folks to request rescue as casually as calling a taxi,” mentioned Fujiyoshida Mayor Shigeru Horiuchi throughout a information convention on June 13. “Introducing a payment is supposed as a warning to discourage climbers from taking the mountain calmly.”
Some native governments have already launched charges. Saitama Prefecture started charging for helicopter rescues in 2018 following an accident by which its catastrophe response helicopter crashed throughout a mountain rescue operation. Underneath a prefectural ordinance, the costs apply solely in designated high-risk areas, and the fee to these rescued is ¥8,000 ($55) per 5 minutes, roughly equal to the price of the gas. Previously, such rescue operations have taken a mean of about one hour, which might translate to round ¥1 million ($6,900).
In the meantime, forward of the July 1 opening of the official climbing season on the Yamanashi facet, authorities have unveiled a brand new everlasting gate on the fifth station of the Yoshida path. Costing roughly ¥15 million, the steel-framed construction replaces a short lived wood gate and is a part of broader efforts to discourage poorly outfitted climbers from making harmful ascents, in line with Daisuke Watanabe of Yamanashi Prefecture’s Mount Fuji Tourism Promotion Group.
The 8-meter-wide, 3.5-meter-high gate can be closed from 2 p.m. to three a.m. each day — two hours sooner than final yr — to forestall late departures. “The gate can be opened for these returning. Safety personnel are on responsibility 24 hours a day, and people with reservations at a mountain hut can be permitted to go via even after 2 p.m.,” Watanabe says.
“The goal is to discourage ‘bullet climbing,’ by which hikers forgo in a single day lodging and as a substitute ascend via the evening to view the dawn, a follow thought-about extremely harmful.”
Climbing charges have additionally been raised to ¥4,000 per particular person to assist fund security and environmental measures, whereas a each day cap of 4,000 climbers stays in place. Yamanashi has additionally strengthened the authority of its Mount Fuji Rangers, who now have the ability to show away climbers who lack the suitable gear.
“We intend to strictly implement the coverage of denying entry on the gate to those that don’t comply with the principles,” Yamanashi Gov. Kotaro Nagasaki mentioned throughout a information convention on June 5.
Enhancing climbing security
Mountain rescue in Japan has steadily improved over the previous many years, pushed by higher coordination, expertise and public training. Police and fireplace departments in mountainous areas reminiscent of Toyama, Gifu and Nagano prefectures have specialised rescue items skilled in alpine situations, rope work and helicopter operations. These groups usually work alongside skilled native mountaineering associations to create a response community with regional experience.
Digital instruments have additionally modified how hikers and climbers interact with the mountains. Cellular apps like Yamap and Yamareco let customers submit climbing plans, share GPS places and observe their routes in actual time.
Regardless of these technological advances, accidents stay widespread, particularly amongst middle-aged and older individuals who usually take up mountaineering as a type of recreation and train.
In 2024, there have been 2,946 mountain misery incidents reported nationwide, in line with the Nationwide Police Company — a lower of 180 from the earlier yr. Nevertheless, bother on standard vacationer peaks like Mount Fuji and Mount Takao rose sharply. On Mount Fuji, 83 folks required rescue, a roughly 60% improve in comparison with the five-year common. Mount Takao, which stands 599 meters excessive in western Tokyo, recorded 131 incidents, up about 50% in contrast with the earlier yr.
Of these concerned in mountain accidents, 79.8% had been aged 40 or older, and 50% had been 60 or older. Amongst fatalities and lacking individuals, 91.7% had been aged 40 or older, and 64% had been 60 or older. In the meantime, 135 international guests had been concerned in mountain incidents, the second-highest quantity on document, following a peak of 145 the earlier yr.
“On Mount Fuji, there are a rising variety of climbers who aren’t severely injured or in want of advanced medical therapy or technical rescue however who’re just too exhausted to proceed,” says Kazue Oshiro, a licensed worldwide mountain medic and the founding father of the Affiliation for Mountain Medical Rescue, a gaggle that interprets international mountain drugs requirements, gives hands-on coaching with first-response instruments, and helps subject clinics in advising rescue operations.
Oshiro spends a number of weeks every summer season at a clinic situated on the eighth station of Mount Fuji, at 3,250 meters. Many hikers are available affected by altitude illness.
“Whereas local weather change is an element, the rise in bodily unprepared or fatigued hikers is changing into a giant concern,” she says. “These instances, usually involving newcomers or older climbers, place a big pressure on rescue groups and native sources.”
Tomikazu Murakami, a former commander with the Hokkaido Police Mountain Search and Rescue Group, and a member of Oshiro’s affiliation, says that improved first-aid methods and equipment have led to vital progress in treating hypothermia, the main reason behind dying in mountain accidents in Hokkaido.
“Previously, there have been many instances of hypothermia the place victims had been nonetheless alive when rescuers arrived,” he says, “however they’d deteriorate quickly and die shortly afterward.”
Murakami has developed a number of unique merchandise bought via the affiliation’s web site, together with the DK Shelter, a small, light-weight tent that may be rapidly unfold out over the physique to create a heat area, and a rescue vest designed for hypothermia sufferers. And as a veteran mountain rescue skilled, Murakami notes that many mountain accidents happen in standard vacationer areas.
“Take Mount Asahi in Hokkaido, for instance,” he says. “There’s a ropeway, so the mountain seems clearly accessible. However as soon as the climate turns, it’s straightforward to lose your sense of path on the descent.”
Mount Fuji presents the same threat. “As a result of the height is so seen, it provides a false sense of safety,” Murakami continues. “There are mountain huts, too, so it doesn’t really feel like an actual climb — it feels extra like visiting a vacationer spot. However the situations could be extraordinarily harsh. On calm, windless days, most could make the climb. However as soon as the climate adjustments, it turns into a treacherous climb.”
With July marking the beginning of mountain climbing season for Mount Fuji and the Japanese Alps, Murakami gives this recommendation to these planning trekking expeditions: “Don’t wait till you’re utterly caught and out of choices to name for assist. Ask for rescue earlier. Within the meantime, preserve your energy and gear to remain alive. If you happen to try this, the rescue staff will do every part they will to succeed in you.”
