frostbitten without food or water tetsu shiohara kept pushing toward the peak of Mount Fuji he streamed his unauthorized climb live until he slipped at over 3,700 M the feed spiraled into chaos flickering images and sounds and then silence tetsu had summited Fuji before but this time he went with zero preparation did he really risk his life that recklessly or was there more to this story that meets the eye what you're about to hear is pretty intense so viewer discretion is advised it's like tetsu was cursed from a young age he went to school in the
US yet back in Japan he failed the bar exam twice blocking him from a decent career stuck in a cycle of low-paying jobs he had to borrow money from his parents years passed but nothing improved even by the time he was 40 he was unemployed without a family or even friends tetsu felt like a disgrace he lived alone on Japan's smallest major Island in a tiny apartment socially isolated and lonely however in 2015 tetsu discovered streaming that was 4 years before the disaster he could never have imagined tetsu began broadcasting his simple life online gaining
his first viewers they encouraged him to get outside more and be socially active and eventually he met a woman Soden who was a regular viewer in 2017 she suggested they climb the legendary mount Fuji together and he agreed that summer they made it to the summit and it seemed like things might turn around for tetsu yet his life didn't improve he faced Relentless criticism Online for being a ronin a social failure as it's often put in Japan and Soden for unknown reasons stopped inviting him to meet up even though she continued chatting with him on
his streams nevertheless tetsu developed a passion for trekking and began climbing Fuji annually in 2019 he climbed the mountain just after the official season ended on September 7th only days before the first snow a month later while streaming one viewer commented that they wanted to see the view from Fuji in Winter tetu paused even though he had summited three times in the warm season a winter Ascent was different and required mountaineering skills he didn't have plus climbing after September wasn't officially allowed despite everything he took up the challenge bent on showing his audience Fuji in
the winter this was 22 days before the accident Mount Fuji an active Strat volcano on Japan's largest island honu Rises 3,776 m above sea level it's Japan's tallest mountain and a world famous tourist spot Fuji's infrastructure is topnotch and even beginners can reach the summit there are four official routes of varying difficulty with Yoshida as the easiest featuring 10 stations and 18 Mountain Huts equipped for safety and comfort however it's crucial to follow certain rules wear trekking clothes and proper shoes bring poles hike slowly stay hydrated and most importantly climb only in the designated season
from July to mid-september then the Summit is snowf free with mild and manageable weather outside this window as tetsu planned his climb Fuji is buried under meters of snow temperatures plummet below freezing rains coat Jagged rocks in ice and Fierce winds make it unwelcoming only certified climbers are allowed winter ascents requiring specialized gear and skills even with all the precautions the dangers of Fuji are always there steep slopes sharp volcanic rock and sudden landslides all covered in thick clouds for instance in 1954 a rockfall injured 16 and trapped 15 people alive in 1970 one claimed
the lives of 31 people and injured 7 2 many of them students on a school trip yet this isn't the only lethal danger that lurks for tourists on Fuji another Hazard is the unpredictable weather sudden storms bring rain and ferocious winds making it easy to slip sustain injuries or freeze in 1972 an Abrupt storm injured 63 climbers and claimed the lives of 14 and though no similar mass tragedies have happened since about 10 people pass away on Fuji each season most are are unprepared suffering from hypothermia and altitude sickness the thin air at Fuji's Summit
deprives the body of oxygen causing headaches nausea dizziness and fatigue even Japan's Guardian Spirit the goddess saki Aime who is believed to watch over Fuji couldn't protect tetsu from what was coming as he still decided to climb the mountain in almost winter conditions the top was already covered with snow with the temperature dropping noticeably nonetheless he set out convinced he wouldn't just survive it wouldn't even feel the cold on October 28th early in the morning about 8 hours 30 minutes before the tragedy tetsu headed for Fuji perhaps he had a premonition of some kind as
the doubts started to creep in on the way to the top when he noticed he was the last one left on the bus to the Mountain's base he felt an overwhelming fear suddenly weakened tetsu had this nagging desire to go home yet he persisted stepping off at the fifth station of Yoshida Trail starting his stream and talking to viewers of about his plans with only 4 hours left before the tragedy viewers already started worrying tetsu had only a phone a power bank trekking Poes and gloves that were so low quality that they tore as he
put them on he wore light sneakers a fleece jacket and casual pants his first complaint on the stream was that his ears were freezing likely from a poor quality hat or even no hat at all viewers found his behavior strange he'd had a month to prepare yet he came so unready was he over really confident or had he underestimated the mountain or was something else going on with 3 hours and 48 minutes left he stepped onto the oshida trail showed a no entry sign and walked right past it chatting non-stop with viewers he dismissed concerns
joking that he wasn't about to lose his life on the mountain then just 30 minutes into the climb he mentioned he was hungry but left his energy bar at home to carry less this odd remark shocked his viewers could he really have set off on a 10-hour Trek without food it turned out he did worse he hadn't even brought water just some cold green tea his actions over the next hours stirred even more anxiety he ignored another no entry sign and claimed he'd shorten the climb from 10 hours to 6 meaning he'd have to move
faster with little rest viewers warned him this could cause altitude sickness but tetsu replied he wanted to get there fast before the evening chill this still meant he'd be descending in darkness and he hadn't brought a flashlight maybe he thought his phone light would suffice but the path ahead was filled with landslides because of the unstable Rock washed away by The Rains just one misstep especially with low visibility could prove fatal strangely tetsu was aware of all the dangers during the stream he repeatedly acknowledged his lack of equipment and admitted it was too challenging instead
of turning back he joked again that he tried not to die and if he did at least he wouldn't know it unlike his viewers tetsu's followers weren't laughing though they began to wonder if he'd come to the mountain unprepared on purpose to end his journey there you see at that point everyone knew he had stage 4 cancer with only a 7% survival chance in a way he was standing at death's Edge long before this climb given his life's circumstances some thought he might feel he had nothing left to lose or perhaps he just wanted one
last intense experience or maybe he just had no strength to fight left in him he f 3 hours and 23 minutes before the tragedy tetsu Breathing heavily reached the first Hut only to find it predictably locked there was no help in sight the whole time he was almost non-stop chatting with viewers which only made him more short of breath a female voice from the AI would read the viewers comments aloud to him however 2 hours in 50 minutes before disaster struck tetsu suddenly heard an actual voice hi how you doing two tourists resting near the
seventh station asked if he was headed to the summit he replied yes and asked if they were going too their answer was unsettling only 5 hours of daylight remained and he was still 1,000 M from the top the tourists added that they weren't equipped for such a climb so they just wished him luck wish you good luck yeah thanks which he desperately needed the further he went the steeper the slope became with with more and more snow covering it just 1 hour and 11 minutes before the tragedy tetsu could no longer see the trail only
deep prints remained in the high snow ice crust had formed on top and tetsu complained about constantly slipping on it viewers then asked if he had brought an ice ax and crampons he admitted to his shocked followers that he had forgotten them the deal is that on the Steep snow covered slopes of Mount Fuji gear is absolutely crucial without it stopping a slide or saving himself from the fall would be impossible so could tetsu really have forgotten such life-saving equipment if he knew it's importance and planned a safe journey would he also have skipped food
if he had read that climbers burn up to 700 calories per hour and what about his parents who were also watching his Wild stream tetsu didn't care though he was going to reach the summit no matter what yet things only got worse by Station 8 it was hard for him to speak to the viewers as he struggled to catch his breath he reached it with 57 minutes to go before the tragedy but by then he was behind schedule risking a descent in complete darkness meanwhile his fingers began to go numb because his thin gloves couldn't
protect him from the wind and cold and the weather was only growing harsher the sun above Fuji Shone brightly blinding him yet offered no warmth still tetsu stubbornly kept moving along the trail until past station 8.5 it disappeared entirely no markers were left just a steep slope and Footprints leading downward there was nothing to stop tetsu from falling over the edge and each step risked sending him plunging into the abyss and ahead lay even more dangerous terrain worse still he wasn't sure if he was going the right way what if the person who left the
tracks was heading back after hitting a dead end there was absolutely no shelter here not even from the brutal wind let alone a spot to rest if needed the cold had fully set in his fingers were almost senseless and any attempt to warm them were futile nevertheless when he spotted the final station and an untouched path to the summit tetsu perked up he began chatting more with the viewers including his parents but they stopped watching the stream soon after was tetsu's burst of energy really a new found strength could hypoxia caused by the rapid altitude
change dehydration and cold trigger his sudden excitement why else would he keep removing his gloves to check his phone risking frostbite in just 30 minutes under such conditions he no longer had any chance of descending Fuji before dark though he could still call for help instead tetsu chose to continue scrambling up frozen snow Mounds to reach the summit slipping on the icy surface every few minutes but refusing to stop although it might look manageable in the video he was kept from a drop off by a low wire fence which was better than nothing just a
few dozen meters from the summit and minutes before the tragedy tetsu's energy seemed to wne he kept repeating how difficult and dangerous it was and complained about the nearly unbearable pain in his frozen fingers a few meters from the end of the metal fence tetsu slipped again this time there was a note of panic in his laughter suddenly a female voice warned him don't come some viewers saw this as a sign from sakoh the guardian goddess of Mount Fuji was it just a com in the chat read by AI or was the goddess really urging
tetsu to stop well he didn't halt one bit stepping forward and then shocking his viewers by announcing he planned to take a photo right on the edge with his frozen fingers then tetsu slipped and couldn't catch himself the stream continued as he tumbled down the steep slope toward the Mountain's Edge unable to stop himself 11 horrifying seconds passed the camera froze St viewers waited with baited breath hoping he would lift the shattered phone and assure them he was okay but that never happened minutes later they alerted the police of the accident tetsu's fate was unknown
still even if he survived the fall he wouldn't last long without warm clothing water or food rescue operations started almost immediately yet by the end of the day tetsu was nowhere to be found helicopters continued to search the summit the next day as the hope of finding him alive quickly faded only 47 hours and 10 minutes after the tragedy a body was found on the mountain nearly 2 km below the summit near station 7 given the low temperature and the body's condition it was impossible to determine how long tetsu might have survived after the fall
moreover no one could confirm it was actually him the face and body were so damaged by the impact that it was unrecognizable nothing in his pockets or backpack help police identify the deceased only over 2 weeks after tetsu shiohara was reported missing did an investigation confirmed that it was indeed his body found on Fuji slopes the following year tetsu was awarded the Darwin Award for the dumbest death by accident mind you he was the first Japanese to receive this satirical prize yet many disagree with the idea that tetsu's death was stupid in any way he
may have lived recklessly facing a terminal illness but he was no fool what if he didn't want to wait to fade away from cancer and decided to take matters into his own hands this perspective makes the story even more tragic in the end we may never know the truth
