Pay if you wanna play…and mess up. Photo: Unsplash
Who should foot the bill if a hiker is rescued on a careless hike – the hiker or the taxpayers? One Japanese mayor, fed up with ill-advised attempts to climb Mount Fuji, thinks individuals should take responsibility and pay for their rescue services.
Hidetada Sudo, the mayor of a Mount Fuji-adjacent town, Fujinomiya, has appealed for new regulations that would require off-season hikers to foot the bill for their rescue. The official Mount Fuji climbing season, when snow level is at its lowest, runs from mid-summer to early fall.
“They are not listening to the warnings and selfishly choosing to climb (during the off-season),” said Sudo. “The cost of rescue operations is tremendous, so shouldn’t the burden of paying those costs be carried by the people requiring (off-season) rescues? They have a responsibility for the results of their actions.”
Sudo’s comments come several weeks after one off-season hiker had to be rescued twice in just five days. A 27-year-old student from China was airlifted off the mountain when his crampons broke, and then haphazardly returned to the scene days later to search for a lost cell phone, requiring another extrication by rescuers.
Summiting Mount Fuji during the climbing season requires a reservation, a newly increased fee of USD $27, and passing a test based on a short orientation class.
Last year, hikers rescued in Alberta, Canada in a closed section of forest were slapped with a court summons, where they faced fines of USD $18,000 per person. Authorities determined that the rescue they called for in an off-limits area was not warranted.
Similarly, in 2021, hikers in New Hampshire were given a $5,000 bill for being completely unequipped to hike and calling for a rescue. Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Vermont, and Oregon also have varying laws that allow them to pass rescue costs onto hikers depending on the circumstances.
