Mount Fuji is seen in the background of Lake Kawaguchi, Yamanashi Prefecture. Photo: AP file
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Police say body may be hiker who fell on Mt Fuji while live-streaming

31 Comments
By Mari Yamaguchi

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31 Comments
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he is done for , and I hope it gets enough media attention to clarify to all other idiots that there is a reason a mount is considered closing, and that winter is cold.....

10 ( +18 / -8 )

closed means no support available and basically not advised due to dangerous conditions, obviously if you a pro you could, but should be knowing what you doing ...

9 ( +12 / -3 )

Sad that searchers have to be sent out after a glory-seeker who's climbing outside the season, without proper gear.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

The mountain was closed but are people allowed to climb mt Fuji a different way? Or does closed mean forbidden to climb entirely?

The official climbing season ends the first week of September. But the mountain doesn't close. On the Subashiri side, only two huts are open until October 16th. After that if you wanna climb, like someone said above, you need to know what you're doing. And have the proper gear (crampons, proper warm layers and gloves, etc.). The mountain itself is always open. You could even snowboard into the crater at the summit and again, if you know what you're doing.

People need to understand that Fuji is not a picnic walk. It could be extremely dangerous even during the peak season. Two people died last year during summer (I unsuccessfully tried CPR on one of them) and two this year.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

I almost died like he did. It was a long time ago, I did not speak much Japanese and my Japanese friends did not speak much English, but they suggested we drive to Mount Fuji to watch the sun rise. We got to the Fuji Skyline car park around 3:00 am, it was cold so we decided to walk around, and went up the trail. After a while I got ahead and waited, but they did not catch up. They had told me that the mountain was "closed", so I expected to come to a barrier and decided to go on until I reached it. When I hit snow I realised there was no barrier, but I kept climbing anyway. At one point I slipped and fell down, sliding down the mountain for hundreds of metres, but eventually managed to stop. My clothes were ripped and I was off the trail, so I knew I had to go back up to where I had fallen to find the trail again. It was getting light and not too far from there to the summit, where I watched, alone, as the sun rose over the skyscrapers of Shinjuku. As I descended I greeted climbers in full mountain gear coming up, and realised just how badly equipped I had been for such a climb. Luckily, I had enough money with me to get back to Tokyo.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

The video is sobering. Just another walking livestream on a nice sunny day, then whoops... How quickly fortunes can change.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Sadly it is being reported that they have found a body, very possibly the guy who fell off the path.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/pickup/6341066

5 ( +5 / -0 )

It's snowy, slippery and freezing up there. We must give thanks to the search and rescue teams who put their lives on the line in often terrible conditions trying to help people.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

The mountain was closed but are people allowed to climb mt Fuji a different way? Or does closed mean forbidden to climb entirely?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Not saying it happened in this case, but you could fall off a mountain if it was a sheer drop

3 ( +3 / -0 )

gogogo, they found a body 800 yards from the Taiyo no Yakata, around the 7th station.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

zichi Oct. 30  11:37 pm JST

A_cross

you were just abandoned by your friends? They would surly look for you or alert the authorities that you were missing?

Zichi,

Thanks for your concern. You are probably right, although I never thought of it like that. After I got back, I contacted them to make sure they weren't worried about me. I think the plan was to meet up with another car, which included the people I actually knew. They assumed I had gone back with them. This was a time when we did not have mobile phones or email and backpackers did not carry meishi, so they probably never even knew my full name .....

3 ( +3 / -0 )

thanks @alex

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This is why a dedicated cameraman should be used. The "live streamer" should be mindful of where he's walking and guide the cameraman or have support staff to do so.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

People climb mountains with snow and ice all the time. They are called Mountaineers. But sadly it seems this fellow didn't properly prepare with a GoPro camera mounted to a climbing helmet and I am guessing wasn't wearing crampons on his boots. I have friends who are really good at climbing mountains and one of them skied down Fujisan a couple years ago, but they have all the right gear. Still it doesn't make you immune to accidents if you aren't paying full attention to what you are doing. Poor guy.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Sceptical, he was at the top, and I know the exact place where he fell because I've seen the video and recognise the rock. It's between the Yoshida descending trail and the Gotemba trail. Here is a Google street view link of the place

https://bit.ly/31TNWEs

The sad part is that he'd already climbed the most dangerous part. I wonder if he was just trying to be dramatic when things took a turn for the worse.

Here is a link to the video. It's not especially grisly, but the mods may chop this bit off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoUJ7mLGFzA

2 ( +3 / -1 )

to : GarthgoyleOct. 30 08:19 pm JST

People need to understand that Fuji is not a picnic walk. It could be extremely dangerous even during the peak season. Two people died last year during summer (I unsuccessfully tried CPR on one of them) and two this year.

CPR in the mountains without any equipment is shure very hard with an low positive outcome. I had only a HS student with an injured leg and gave him some grams of Paracetamol and Novaminsulfon. But I have never need an CPR in the mountains on ships or regular aircrafts. MD of Cardiology , General internal medicine and Critical care medicine . Cardiological consultant of TELEMEDICAL MARITIME AsSISTANCE SERVICE MEDICO CUXHAVEN.

Well the trails are not picnic in Nov/Dec. Was myself in Nov 2005 on this trail. But 2005 the police/authorities ask for a form with names and contact datas of all mebers of the hiking party and an hiking plan ( date time up/down ). Also they ask fer ham radio licences/calls/technics( trx ) ( smart phone using rate was lower in 2005 ). We had a 5 Wtts FT470 144/440 Mhz FM handhold trx and an 25 Wtts PA and my JA-CEPT licence. But lucky we had no problems. Also we must declare to cover all searchers costs if we need any help.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

despite how serene and gently sloped Mt Fuji can appear from afar, it is still Japan’s highest mountain. The elevation at the peak is 3,776 meters, far above where anything close to stable conditions can be expected. Attempting to climb it alone, poorly equipped, or out of season are all bad enough ideas on their own, and definitely not the sort of risks worth staking on top of each other.

A couple of hundred meters before the entrance to the peak, there's a steep narrow path. If he climb from Shizuoka side..then this might be where he took his plunged. You have to balance your weight between large boulders of rocks. Slippery especially if there's already a snow.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Being stupid does not equal a death sentence. How can they not find him considering that there are fixed trails up Mt. Fuji?

Alas, sometimes it does. As he slipped and fell off a narrow trail while climbing alone without proper equipment, much less a satellite-inked signaling device, the question seems odd.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

He died doing what he loved. Sliding uncontrollably down the side of a mountain for hundreds of meters, smashing his body against rocks and trees.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Well, poor guy, but I would say that his unpreparedness costed him his life. As someone who is doing lots of outdoor activities including snow mountain climbing I immediately spotted several details. No crampons - the first and the most important piece of equipment. I wonder how he managed to have enough traction to even climb that high without them. No ice axe - if he had one he could probably self arrest himself without slipping all the way down. Those are the things that I could see from the video. I could guess that he didn’t even have proper gloves because he was complaining a lot about cold fingers.

Also he climbed the north face of Fuji which turns into ice early in the day and even climbing that route wit the proper equipment would be tricky. For winter ascending it is advisable to use Fujinomiya trail on the south.

Any experienced mountaineer can scale winter Fuji if the weather window is good enough. If you don’t have mountaineering experience, go and climb Fuji during the season.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Fuji is dimmed and the sky cloudy in the photo. Appropriate selection and matches the story well.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Thanks, ClippetyClop

So, he passed already the entrance to the peak.What a tragic accident.If there is any consolation, at least he will receive a lot of views on you tube.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

RIP young man, you died living life to its fullest, hats off to you, bon voyage.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

What a tragedy and so easily avoided. I was disturbed to see that there were rugby fans over here, entertaining similar escapades without knowledge and/or experience of mountain hiking. RIP to the victim.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

From ClippetyClop's post of the street view of the trail, it doesn't look like a very treacherous section in summer months. However, with snow/ice, it is extremely dangerous section. Personally, I wouldn't climb it in the snow/ice but it is definitely a sobering reality of climbing in the snow/ice.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Cant the police determine the location from the video? Has literally anyone searching looked at it?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Hmm, no trace of him and it almost seems orchestrated? Just as he talks about it's so difficult he falls down, and how the hell did he make it so high with improper clothing? I just hope this is some stupid stunt for social media and this isn't an actual tragedy...I haven't seen the actual video though so maybe if I were to I'd not think this way.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

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