Mountain rescue teams across multiple countries are reporting rising numbers of call-outs involving hikers who set off without adequate gear, training or planning, according to separate reports from Japan, the United States and a new academic study conducted in Colorado.
Japan’s Mount Fuji crowds and a rising toll
At Mount Fuji’s fifth-station trailhead, many visitors arrive dressed for the beach rather than for a peak that rises to 3,776 metres and into sub-zero temperatures even in July, This Week in Asia reported. Japan recorded a new high in mountain emergencies last year, with 3,623 people rescued and 332 deaths, according to National Police Agency data.
Tatsuo Nanai, a veteran climber and until recently secretary general of the Fuji-san Club, said he was already worried about the toll the climbing season would take before trails close in mid-September. “Too many people underestimate Mount Fuji,” Nanai said, This Week in Asia reported.
A near-fatal rescue in New Hampshire
In the United States, two out-of-state hikers had to be rescued overnight from Mount Lafayette in New Hampshire’s White Mountains after developing hypothermia in cold, wet and rainy conditions, NBC Boston reported. The hikers had no lights, no visibility and no warm clothing when a crew from the Appalachian Mountain Club located them below the summit.
One hiker was unresponsive when found and was carried through the night to the Greenleaf Hut by multiple search-and-rescue teams, arriving early the next morning before being taken to hospital by ambulance. A second, separate group of hypothermic hikers was rescued from the same mountain the same night.
What the research says about preparedness
A study published in the journal Wilderness & Environmental Medicine found that most hikers overestimate their own readiness for the trail. Researcher John Lambert of Boston University surveyed 654 day hikers and trail runners at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and found that nearly 88% considered themselves adequately prepared, yet only about 16% met the study’s criteria for wilderness preparedness, On Scouting reported.
“It was a larger gap than I expected,” Lambert said, according to the report. The study found that just over half of participants carried a map, and roughly a quarter had not told anyone where they were going or when they expected to return, information that can be critical for search-and-rescue teams.
The research also found that preparedness did not reliably increase with experience or trail familiarity, suggesting that overconfidence, rather than a lack of opportunity to learn, is contributing to the gap.