I understood with the data! An unexpected pitfall of a popular mountain August 11 at 20:16
The summer season is at its peak, but what kind of mountain do you think of mountain climbing?
There are many attractive mountains such as Mt. Fuji and the Northern Alps, but in fact, it is not just these famous mountains that are visited by many climbers.
"Climbing app" that is rapidly spreading among climbers. Analyzing the big data collected from the user's behavior records, we can see "new mountain enjoyment" and "unexpected pitfalls of mountain climbing".
(Director of Network Press Akika Miyake, Jun Koubayashi NHK Global Media Service Director Takashi Ichikawa, Yoshihisa Mori, Yuri Fukushima Video Center Cameraman Kazuhiro Koyanagi, Satoshi Okabe Osaka Station Cameraman Yuma Torigoe)
“Climbing app” is spreading
Recently, "Climbing app" used by many climbers.
There is also an app that displays the planned climbing route and the actual climbed road on the map of the smartphone, and allows users to share a “climbing record”. Because of its convenience, the number of users is increasing year by year.
I understood with the data! "Now popular mountain"
So, I checked the mountain where the user of the mountaineering app is visiting.
This is a graph summarizing how many people have visited which mountain based on the location information of 1.5 million users of the “YAMAP” mountaineering app.
Looking at the mountains where many people visited during the last year, not only famous mountains but also low mountains that are unfamiliar to them. Of the top 100 places, 31 were below 1000 meters above sea level. Why are low mountains so popular?
What is the attraction of many climbers to “low mountains”?
Visited Mt. Mitake in Ome City, Tokyo, which ranked 9th.
Mitakeyama at an altitude of 929 meters overlooking the Kanto Plain.
When I talked to someone who visited here, I got an unexpected answer.
"I don't aim for the top"
“What is the top?”
What kind of mountain climbing is "I don't go to the top" even though I came to the mountain?
Where is the stop?
If you look at the place you stopped by from the data ...
▽ "Rock garden" where you can feel free to walk along the rocks along the river,
▽ A group fabric of "Rengageshouma", said to be a forest fairy, and
▽ Places where worshipers' accommodation facilities "Shukubo" are lined up,
As the mountaineer talked, I found that many people were visiting other than the summit.
Among them, Shukubo is an inn for people who have come to worship at Mt. Mitake, known as the mountain for studying.
Isn't it frugal and thorough and vegetarian? There was an image called, but there is a room comparable to an inn. They also served dishes using many local ingredients.
Recently, the number of guests is increasing year by year, with many families visiting.
Some staying at Shukubo came to be struck by a waterfall. Among those who experienced Takiyuki on that day, there were housewives and female office workers.
The mountain's charm is that you can easily experience an extraordinary world and enjoy nature.
When I asked Mr. Sei Ouchi, who told the charm of the low mountains throughout the country, I heard that there were shrines and Buddhist temples where you can feel the romance of history on the way to mountain climbing, but it is non- It ’s the great taste of the low mountains that make you feel like you ’re feeling everyday, and people who are attracted to the fun of these new mountains send and share them with SNS and apps, making it even more popular. It was said.
An unexpected pitfall! Risks in low mountains are highlighted
On the other hand, when analyzing the data of the mountain climbing application, it has been found that there is an unexpected risk in a low mountain where you can easily enjoy climbing.
Looking at the past two years' posts published by users of the mountaineering app “Yamareko”, there were 870 posts that included words related to “Lost”.
Of these, there were actually 271 cases of “I lost my way”.
Where are these “losts” happening? When I visualized it on the map, it happened a lot in mountains close to urban areas such as Kanto and Kinki. I also found that about 70% of the total happened in low places below an altitude of 1000 meters.
Fortunately, most of the cases of these “lost roads” have been achieved without the occurrence of major accidents or distresses, but the “low mountain risks” that have not yet appeared in the mountain distress statistics From the relief.
Why get lost in the low mountains?
Why is it easy to get lost in the low mountains?
We visited the scene with a man who lost his way in a low mountain and posted his experience on the app.
I went to the Miura Alps, which is located on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture.
The mountains are just 200 meters above sea level.
Why do you get lost in such places?
The man initially planned to go through the “major route” recommended by the local council shown in blue. However ... actually, I entered the wrong route shown in yellow, which leads to swamps.
Why did you make a mistake?
Looking around the area, there were many roads, including forest roads, wild vegetable harvesting paths, and work paths. There are branching points everywhere, and the man mistakenly saw the route to go.
There are many cases where many roads are mixed in low mountains. In addition, there seems to be a background that it is difficult to maintain mountain trails in the first place due to complicated land rights.
Rather, because it is a low mountain, there is a risk of getting lost.
Share your lost information
If you add the data of the route that not only this man but also many other app users walked ... Many "roads" that deviated from the blue "main route" were drawn as orange lines.
This time, the man said he wanted to share the “low mountain risk” with many people and posted his “lost” experience on the app.
Mr. Kazufumi Matoba, who runs the mountain-climbing app, said, “This is a low mountain risk that it is easy to get lost. This app should be shared with other users of the app and used for safe mountain climbing. "
Risk of lurking in low mountains To enjoy climbing safely
Risks that have become visible as convenient mountain climbing apps become more popular and more people enjoy low mountains.
What preparations and preparations are necessary for mountain climbing?
We asked Kazuaki Shimada, a mountain guide who is also the secretary general of the Japan Mountain Rescue Association.
Mr. Shimada pointed out the importance of the equipment, "It is important to carry not only a handy tool at a low altitude mountain but also a compass, a map, a light, an emergency rescue seat, etc. as a minimum equipment. '' To do. “It ’s important to climb to the height of your body and always enter the mountain with a sense of crisis, keeping in mind the risk of getting lost and sudden changes in the weather.”
Notes on using smartphones in the mountains
If you get lost or have a distress, there is no relief if you have a mobile phone or smartphone.
When using the app, the battery consumption is higher than usual, so it is also necessary to bring a mobile battery.
In addition, mobile phones are often out of service area in areas other than the ridges and mountaintops where there is good visibility, and in the event of a distress, there is an increased risk that the location will be difficult to identify.
Under such circumstances, the use of small transmitters called “coco helicopters” is also spreading.
This is a membership-based mountain search helicopter service operated by a company in Fukuoka City. When a climber is lost, a helicopter receives radio waves emitted from a small transmitter weighing 20 grams and identifies the location.
Transmitters can continue to transmit radio waves for about three months on a single charge, and in addition to six affiliated private helicopters, police air fleets and disaster prevention helicopters in 33 prefectures nationwide have also introduced receivers. It is.
Get ready to know the risks and have fun climbing
What I have seen in this interview is that if you take a step even in a low mountain, there is a mountain risk.
Get the latest mountain information, make a solid plan, and check your belongings.
In order to enjoy the attractive low mountain, please give us safety first.
This theme will also be reported in the “Good Morning Japan” feature on Monday, August 12th.