The Japanese authorities are warning that people could die on Mount Fuji, as they prepare for a record number of visitors preparing to climb the 3,776m volcano.
Even before the season opens on Saturday, mountain huts that provide a place of rest for climbers are fully booked. Local governments are warning against the dangerous practice of “bullet climbing”, in which hikers rush up and down in two days without a rest, adding to the risk of exhaustion, falls and hypothermia.
Towns near the mountain are pleading for a cap to be put on the number of people allowed to make the ascent, who could exceed 300,000. “The number of hikers is expected to be unlike anything seen before,” Shigeru Horiuchi, the mayor of Fujiyoshida, said.
Climbers watch the sunrise over Tokyo from the summit in August last year
PHILIP FONG/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
He told Mainichi Shimbun, a daily newspaper, “When people remain on mountain routes or at the peak for a period of time, the risk rises for things like rockfall accidents or hypothermia. People have died from rockfalls in the past.”
The fear is that a tragedy would have the effect of driving away visitors and ruin business. “I’m happy that so many people want to climb the mountain, but if an accident happens it would be a total loss,” said Osamu Nakamura, who owns mountain huts that open during the two-month climbing season. “We want people to have fun within reason.”
The climb up the mountain begins about half way up, where the road ends, and can be done along various trails. The most popular method is to climb during the night, rest in a hut, and complete the ascent before dawn to the see the sunrise from the summit.
There were fewer climbers during the Covid pandemic, but this year the number could exceed the 2013 record of 300,000. In that year Fuji was designated as a World Heritage Site.
AloJapan.com