Mount Fuji climber is rescued twice in one week after returning for lost phone
TOKYO — A climber was rescued twice in one week from Japan’s Mount Fuji after he went back to search for his lost phone, police said Monday.
On Sunday, rescuers carried the climber on a stretcher from a station on the Fujinomiya Trail, which sits about 10,170 feet high, Japanese news outlet Nippon TV cited the local police as saying. The man appeared to suffer from altitude sickness but was not in life-threatening condition.
Five days earlier, on April 22, the same climber called the police and was airlifted from the peak of Mount Fuji after he lost his crampons — spiky metal frames that are attached to shoes to make it easier to walk on ice and snow — and fell sick with nausea.
He then returned to the peak on Saturday in a bid to retrieve his cellphone, among other personal belongings he left behind during the first hike, according to the police.
The man, who has not been publicly identified, is a 27-year-old university student and Chinese national who lives in Tokyo, police said.
Police in Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture were alerted that he had returned on Saturday when another climber reported spotting the student on the trail, “lying on the ground and shaking with abrasions.” The next day, rescuers carried the injured man down about 2,600 feet on a stretcher before handing him to an emergency team.
It was not clear whether he had successfully retrieved the phone.
The rescued student was scaling Mount Fuji outside of its official climbing season, which is scheduled to start in early July and end in early September. There is no penalty for off-season hiking or the need for rescue.
Police in Shizuoka and Yamanashi, the two prefectures that the mountain straddles, were unable to provide additional details when reached for comment on Tuesday, which was a national holiday in Japan.
Mount Fuji, a national symbol of Japan, is 12,300 feet above sea level. It is a pilgrimage destination and UNESCO World Heritage site that attracts hikers from all over the world.
Hikers are required to make prior reservations and pay a mandatory fee of 4,000 yen ($36) to climb Mount Fuji, according to its official website. The charge was introduced in July 2024 to limit tourist numbers to 4,000 a day after growing complaints of litter, pollution and dangerously crowded trails.
Climbers are advised to train in advance before going up Mount Fuji, whose shortest trail takes five hours to ascend and three hours to descend.
Local police said last year that six climbers had died on Mount Fuji in July 2024 alone, exceeding the total number of fatalities in 2023, according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
Arata Yamamoto reported from Tokyo and Peter Guo reported from Hong Kong.
