Asia Pacific Jun 5, 2021
Lakpa Sherpa has climbed Mount Everest seven times. But he says this year's season, which was marked by the coronavirus, cyclones and misinformation, was the most challenging of his career.
More Sports May 22, 2021
Claiming the summit without reaching the top
by John Branch
Revelations from a team of respected researchers have thrust a question into the open: Has anyone ever reached the top of all the world's 8,000 meter peaks?
Asia Pacific May 7, 2021
More than 30 sick climbers have been evacuated from the foot of Mount Everest, raising fears that coronavirus may scupper a hoped-for bumper season on the world's highest mountain.
World / Science & Health Nov 25, 2020
Climate scientists turn Mount Everest into a lab
by Eric Roston
Climate science started on mountaintops. John Tyndall was a mid-19th-century British scientist and devoted mountaineer who scaled several Continental peaks, making the first recorded trip up Switzerland's Weisshorn. He sketched out the glaciers he saw there, and how they moved. By 1859, he’d become ...
Asia Pacific / Science & Health Nov 10, 2020
Scientists watch as glaciers in China melt at 'shocking' pace
by Martin Quin Pollard
Glaciers in China's bleak Qilian mountains are disappearing at a shocking rate as global warming brings unpredictable change and raises the prospect of crippling, long-term water shortages, scientists say. The largest glacier in the 800-kilometer (500-mile) mountain chain on the arid northeastern edge of the ...
National | Regional Voices: Tohoku Oct 30, 2020
Due to depopulation and changing lifestyles, residents no longer take proper care of mountains, which some believe is causing bears to roam further.
National Sep 28, 2020
Monday's snowfall, the first this autumn, occurred two days earlier than usual and 24 days earlier than last year.
National Jul 5, 2020
Japanese alpine plants threatened by invasion of dwarf bamboo species
Alpine plants have come under threat of extinction from the sudden expansion of a species of dwarf bamboo in mountainous regions of Japan. Due to the effects of global warming, snow is melting faster and the soil is drying up in these regions, and the ...
National Jul 5, 2020
Nagano police issue compact tip cards to mountain climbers as accidents rise
The Nagano Prefectural Police have created tip cards for climbing each of 50 major mountains in the sprawling prefecture. The police have been distributing them to climbers to make them aware of risky locations on the trails and to help them choose mountains that more ...
National May 18, 2020
Mount Fuji to be closed to climbers this summer due to virus
For the first time it at least 60 years, Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures opt to not open all four trails to the top of the iconic mountain.
National / Science & Health Apr 23, 2020
Japan mountaineering groups ask climbers to stay away during pandemic
Four associations in Japan involved in mountain activities have released a joint statement asking people to refrain from climbing until the threat of COVID-19 subsides. They issued the appeal to climbers in a statement dated April 20, ahead of the Golden Week holidays that begin ...
National Apr 23, 2020
Defying virus warnings, crowds take to Japan's beaches and mountains
Some leisure spots near Tokyo have seen crowds of visitors recently despite government instructions to stay home amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, prompting local residents and municipalities to voice concerns about further potential spread of the virus. Although it was a weekday, a beach near ...