10 climbers die on Hokkaido mountains

Friday 17th July, 01:08 AM JST

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fds at 11:10 AM JST - 17th July

both groups had guides. what were they doing? they should not have gone out without the gear to spend the night out on the mountain in the worst conditions. good case for professional negligence of the guides.
BurakuminDes at 11:26 AM JST - 17th July

Wow, the toll has just gone up. No doubt they will find even more bodies up there, so it could be many, many more. RIP to the climbers.

Maybe they just thought, being summer, there would have been no risks of cold weather. They probably didn't pack any warm clothes either.
Foxie at 11:37 AM JST - 17th July

Rule no. 1 of hiking mountains is check the weatherforecast. Blue sky now doesn't mean that it will be this way in 2 hours. They will never get it!
telecasterplayer at 12:40 PM JST - 17th July

Rule no. 1 of hiking mountains is check the weatherforecast.

Yeah, especially in a maritime climate that changes every 15 minutes..
timorborder at 01:51 PM JST - 17th July

The numbers just keep growing. At this rate, this incident is going to blow up into a major news story. I think these "guides" are going to come under the microscope regarding what they did or did not do. Getting 10 people killed reeks of incompetence. The feeding frenzy that is the mass media in this country are going to run with this story for all it is worth.
NeoJamal at 02:22 PM JST - 17th July

I bet many of them thought the summer peaks could be taken lightly.
sydenham at 03:30 PM JST - 17th July

and so they should run with it.
JenniferKim at 03:58 PM JST - 17th July

I live in Hokkaido (east of the mountain range in question) and it has been very windy the past couple days.
kolohe at 04:46 PM JST - 17th July

This is a situation also in Nepal where many senior-aged Japanese try their luck on climbing the Himalayas but only to find that it is not to their liking when they are partly up the mountain and then must be taken down. Many think that if they can do trekking with their friends on the weekend, it is easy anywhere else in the world.

Some destinations such as Switzerland designate levels of difficulty on their hiking/trekking courses to let travelers know what they are in for, or if they are suited to the terrain.
bamboohat at 05:12 PM JST - 17th July

I've been hiking in Scotland, and despite the relatively low elevation of the mountains there, people die every year due to extreme and quick changing weather conditions. It seems these poor folks didn't have much of an idea what they were getting into.
Apsara at 07:15 PM JST - 17th July

Even experienced hikers/climbers get caught out by sudden weather changes, no matter how well-prepared. In New Zealand this week two experienced hikers died of hypothermia in the mountains. Two friends of mine, very experienced climbers, died climbing NZ's highest mountain years ago because the weather changed without warning. It happens from time to time, and will continue to do so. It isn't always possible to blame the deaths on inexperience.
Sarge at 11:12 PM JST - 17th July

Don't people have anything better to do than climb freezing cold mountains? How about spending the day on the beach?
neverknow2 at 12:04 AM JST - 18th July

Did anyone else notice the age of these people??? No spring chickens here.
jigjapan at 12:42 AM JST - 18th July

ows....senior citizen climbers? anyway they can tour and have fun in different ways other than climbing mountains, the fact that they are elders...anyway sad news...a lesson for some elders and tour guides as well..may they rest in peace...
Icewind007 at 03:32 AM JST - 18th July

I hope I can be that hard-core when I get to that age. In any case, there is always risk when facing head-to-head with nature. While I do think they probably made some bad choices, accidents happen when you surround yourself with the harsher outdoors and dying is just a possible part of the package.