By MITSUMASA INOUE/ Staff Writer
October 24, 2023 at 18:49 JST
Mount Mitsumatarengedake, a peak in the Northern Japan Alps, straddles Nagano, Gifu and Toyama prefectures. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
OMACHI, Nagano Prefecture–Two missing climbers were found safe after they survived on river water for days in the Northern Japan Alps, police said.
One climber, a 26-year-old from Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, sought help after descending the mountains on his own to the Nanakura trailhead here on the night of Oct. 23.
Around 6:30 a.m. the following day, a Nagano prefectural police helicopter located the other climber, a 23-year-old university student from Inagi, Tokyo, on the border of Nagano and Toyama prefectures.
He was found near the Higashisawatani river running west of Mount Mitsudake at an altitude of about 2,200 meters.
The student was sent to a hospital in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, where he was well enough to have a conversation, police said.
The two climbers said they brought three days of food for what was initially supposed to be a two-day climbing trip.
They started the journey at the Nanakura trailhead on Oct. 18. They emailed their families on the following evening to let them know that they would stay in the mountains for one more night.
That was the last time their families heard from them.
After their food ran out, they survived by drinking river water, the climbers told police.
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