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UK Couple Rescued From Hokkaido Mountain in T-Shirts, Shorts
A couple’s vacation to Hokkaido turned out worse than expected when they got stuck at 1,750 meters elevation in street clothes.
By Jay Allen
If I had 100 yen for every time someone got stranded on a mountain in Japan with inadequate climbing gear…well, I’d probably be able to afford a nice steak dinner, actually. This time, the culprits are two foreign tourists who were apparently unaware that summer clothes aren’t adequate climbing gear.
Mountain madness
The pair, a 30-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman, were a British couple reportedly visiting Hokkaido together. They decided to attempt a hike up Mt. Yōtei from the town of Kutchan on May 13th, despite having no experience with such forms of high-altitude climbing.
The woman was reportedly wearing short sleeves and long pants. Conversely, the man was wearing long sleeves and shorts.
The pair apparently got to the Ninth Station, at approximately 1,750 meters (5,741 feet) elevation. It was around this point, at 6:10 pm, that the man called the 110 emergency line to report that they were cold and couldn’t find shelter.
A rescue helicopter took them to safety an hour later.
