FUJIYOSHIDA (Yamanashi Pref.): Mount Fuji will open to climbers in July amid concerns over an increase in “bullet climbing,” or climbing to the peak through the night, by those who failed to book alpine huts.

The tallest Japanese mountain at 3,776 meters, straddling Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures, will mark its first climbing season since the government downgraded COVID-19 to a lower-risk category under the infectious disease law in May.

Mountaineers have been booking mountain cottages on routes to the top of the mountain at a faster pace than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. The mountain recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its registration as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

On the popular Yoshida trail on the Yamanashi side, staff began on Saturday preparing for the opening of an alpine hut at the eighth of the mountain’s 10 stations.

The hut was almost fully booked in June, a month earlier than usual, after its accommodation capacity was cut to 120 from 250 before the pandemic because all rooms were made private last year, changing from shared use, as part of efforts to reduce infection risk.

According to an association of alpine hut operators on the Yoshida trail, one hut was fully booked three to four days after it began taking reservations.

Yoshimasa Yamaguchi, head of a mountaineering association on the Fujinomiya trail on the Shizuoka side, expressed concerns.

“Reservations were full one to two months earlier than before the pandemic,” he said. “Many climbers who could not book may attempt bullet climbing and get ill.”

Climbing all night without getting proper rest at huts increases the risk of altitude sickness.

“Mountain sickness happens to anyone regardless of age,” said Fumiaki Iwase, a doctor at the Yamanashi Prefectural Central Hospital who takes care of patients at a first-aid base on the eighth station.

“Mountaineers are advised to get used to the low oxygen environment by taking a rest at a hut rather than climbing without a break,” Iwase also said.

Aiming to stop bullet climbing, the Yamanashi prefectural government decided to continue shorter opening hours for the Fuji Subaru Line, a tollway leading to the start of the Yoshida trail at the fifth station, which had been open around-the-clock before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, it is difficult for the prefectural government to legally restrict entry to the mountain.

“The prefecture will boost the number of patrol staff at weekends when congestion is expected,” in order to address the problem of bullet climbing, Yamanashi Governor Kotaro Nagasaki said.

Mount Fuji will open on Saturday on the Yamanashi side and July 10 on the Shizuoka side, until Sept. 10 on both sides.

“Sunrise can be viewed even if you are not at the top of the mountain,” said a Yamanashi prefectural government official involved in the promotion of Mount Fuji as a World Heritage site. “Those who can’t book accommodation are advised to refrain from bullet climbing and instead climb without hurrying.”

JIJI Press