Praying for his safe return

Matt Johnson, 33 y/o American male, has been missing on Mt. Fuji.
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/kalamazoo_and_battle_creek/portage-man-matt-johnson-mt-fuji-011712#.TxWslK6OXfl.twitter

Last week (16th-20th) even the base area had snow a lot.  I hope he's shelter himself from the severe weather.

Fatal accident

A body found at 6th station of Mt. Fuji on Dec. 10th was 33y/o American exchange student in Waseda Univ. from Lyon. He was supposed to go back to France on Dec. 22th. (Source from Sannichi Newspaper  http://www.fujisan-net.jp/news/2011/12/20/13.html )

Happy New Year!

Best wishes for the New Year!


I had a typical New Year's day, had osechi-ryori (traditional New Year's food), watched funny TV programs, played with my pet, ate half of my cake (it estimates about 2,000kcal! I have to run around Mt.Fuji to burn calories! hahaha...),etc...


I think many people want to climb Mt. Fuji on New Year's day. You must be so excited if you could see the sunrise from the top. But on the other hand, you must be careful when you tread on the icy surface of Mt. Fuji.

46 y/o Japanese man slipped from the top to the 8.5 station of Mt. Fuji today. He was carried to the hospital but is unconcious. I hope he will come back to life.

Fatal accident

A council member of Minami(South) Alps City in Yamanashi Pref. died on the 8th station of Gotemba descending trail.

http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~kikegawa/kikegawa.syumi.index.html

Accident

A bass player for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra died on Mt. Fuji yesterday. He started to climb with another Austrian from Yoshida trail in Yamanashi pref. and slipped around the 9th station of Subashiri trail, without any crampons, police said. He was visiting Japan for the performance tour from Nov. 1st to 10th, but there was no concert yesterday.

I understand that you want to climb Mt. Fuji when you visit Japan. But please don't do that out of season....

Then, why is it still open in snowy season? I have straggled with that matter since I worked at a tourist information center. I was frequently asked by tourists from overseas, mostly from Western countries though, about climbing Mt. Fuji in winter. Many of them took a risk even if I begged not to do that. And some of them wrote success stories on their blog after climbing. It makes people think climbing Mt. Fuji in winter is as if " fun and easy"....

Do you think climbing Mt. Fuji in winter should be banned by law or something?

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/vienna-philharmonic-member-dies-on-mt-fuji

Fatal accedents

A 71 y/o Japanese male climbed Mt. Fuji with his elder brother on 28th. He stayed at a mountain hut on Yoshida-trail 8th station. He restarted to climb next morning and fell on the ground after reaching the summit. He is said to be an experienced climber. ( He has been climbed over 50 years.) At that time, the weather of summit was windy & rainy.

Another 71 y/o Japanese male joining a climbing tour was dead around the 8th station today. More detail later.

A man called the police for help

A 22 y/o Japanese man happend to climb Mt. Fuji along Fujinomiya trail yesterday. He went there empty-handed, was wearing a shirt, jeans, and sneakers. He reached the 9th station but lost his way, because he had no lights. Then called the police. Six members of mountain rescue went there to help him. He was sheltered at the 6th station.

There's a body...

A decomposed body of uncertain age was found beside Toyo-kan mountain hut along Yoshida trail. He wears light clothes. Fujiyoshida police is looking into his background.

Accident

A 52 y/o American doctor from D.C. slipped from the 7th station of Mt. Fuji around 9pm of June 12th. He was rescued by other foreign climbers and carried to a hosp. by a helicopter. He complained of his back and right shoulder pain but is conscious, is not life-threatning injured.

Fujiyoshida police said that he came here for visiting with his family and started to climb in the early morining on that day with his son and daughter, and her friend. They wore light cloths, just for a hiking, and didn't submit a climbing schedule to the police.

Mt. Fuji had a new snow a few days before their climbing.

Again, please do not climb Mt. Fuji out of climbing season, PLEASE!

Accidents, accidents.....

Japanese "Golden week " is coming to an end. Eventhough it's not the official climbing season of Mt. Fuji yet, some people tried to scale the highest peak of Japan during this holiday season.

A 44 y/o woman from Tokyo was found died at Tsubakuro-sawa near the 7th station of Mt. Fuji yesterday. Hidetaka Arai, 35 y/o from Nagoya, and Yoshiji Sugiyama, 70 y/o from Saitama, slipped down around the 8th station and were severly injured.

The owner of Sato-goya at the 5th station of Yoshida trail says that the weather of yesterday was clear, but the surface around the summit was very icy due to the rain of April 30th.

A helicopter was taking off close by me when I was at a bakery in Kawaguchiko town yesterday. The helicopter seemed to have carried one of them from Mt. Fuji.
Sannichi Shinbun

Fatal accident

On April 13th, a 49-y/o-man started to climb Mt. Fuji from Gotemba Taro-bo. He was going to descend the next day. He didn't show up until 16th so his wife requested the police to search for him. His body was found near Gotemba 6th station. His COD was brain contusion.

Accident

An experienced climber from Saitama 200m slipped down by the strong wind at the 8th station on April 9th. He was frostbitten and broke his sidebone. Got back to Sato-goya on the 5th station in his own 2 days later. Local police couldn't believe that he was alive under the severe circumstance.

Mt. Fuji accident

Can you see the snow smoke around the south side of Mt. Fuji?

Former F1 racer Ukyo Katayama went to Gotemba area of Mt. Fuji yesterday to train for next week's Antarctica adventure. He brought two of his staff members. They were blasted by a gust of icy wind while sleeping in each tent. Ukyo found his staffs freezing outside and tried to warm them.... but finally he decided to descend alone for a help. (His interview)

Later he confessed to the police that they had seemed dead already when he left.

Fatal accident

A falling rock, about 1㎥ big, hit a man sleeping in a camper on the Fujinomiya 5th station of Mt. Fuji last night. There were many people waiting for the trail opening of midnight. The rock broke through the backsheet of the camper then hit another car and a fence. Yoshitaka Tsutsui, 68 y/o from Nara, died in this accident. He made a phone call 30min. before the accident and told his family that he wouldn't climb that night due to the strong wind.

videos
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/videonews/nnn/20090714/20090714-00000010-nnn-soci.html
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/videonews/jnn/20090714/20090714-00000029-jnn-soci.html

Fatal accident occured yesterday

Unfortunately, Fujiyoshida police found a body at Tsubakuro-sawa around the 6th station of Yoshida-guchi trail. A 24-y/o-Japanese-man from Tokyo was confirmed dead by his family. It was his 3rd winter climbing of Mt. Fuji this year, they said.
As I am showing in my website, April & May are the highest snow piled months of the year. (Maybe you can not see the chart now because my website's links are not working for maintainance for awhile...Sorry....) And the police announced that there were about 40 avalance-prone slopes on Yamanashi side of Mt. Fuji, which includes Yoshida-guchi and Kawaguchiko-guchi trails.
Even if you are an experienced climber, I don't think it's a good idea to climb Mt. Fuji out of official climbing season.