Off-season climbers who need helicopter rescue on Mount Fuji will face a bill from next year, Yamanashi prefectural authorities announced, and anyone planning a winter ascent will be required to submit a detailed climbing plan. The measures are intended to deter unprepared or reckless attempts on the northern side of the peak, officials said.
Yamanashi Governor Kotaro Nagasaki framed the changes as a public-safety step. "We ask the general public to refrain from climbing during the off-season. We hope that these measures will cause people to rethink what climbing Mount Fuji during the winter is like," he said on Monday.
The prefecture pointed to a rise in off-season and unplanned climbs that have left hikers stranded. Officials in neighbouring Shizuoka prefecture, which governs the southern slopes, also report increased off-season activity and say they will impose penalties on people who fail to register attempts and step up efforts to keep climbers out of restricted areas. Shizuoka has not announced a helicopter rescue fee.
Yamanashi did not publish a specific price for rescue lifts, but said it will use a nearby precedent as a reference. Saitama prefecture currently charges 8,000 yen per five minutes for helicopter rescue operations in its mountainous zones, a rate Yamanashi officials will consider when setting their own fee.
The change lands against the mountain’s defined schedule: the authorised climbing season runs from July to early September, when around 200,000 hikers reach the summit each year. Outside those months ascents are allowed only up to the fifth of ten stations, and most mountain huts and toilet facilities are closed. Authorities emphasised that weather and trail conditions become more severe off-season, which increases both rescue risk and operational complexity.
The new rules come into force next year and will combine financial deterrents with registration and enforcement measures. Officials say the goal is to reduce avoidable rescues and make it easier to identify and prevent hazardous off-season climbs on Japan’s highest peak.
