Descending Mount Fuji in the teeth of Typhoon 25, Team Endeavour faced conditions that tested every ounce of the charity’s resolve. Wind-driven rain transformed the volcanic trails into raging torrents, visibility collapsed, and every step became a battle against the mountain.
What began as a grueling descent after summiting alongside the Unknown Soldier quickly became something far more serious: a full-scale rescue mission.
The team first encountered a lone Jamaican traveler attempting to climb into the storm. She was severely dehydrated, showing clear signs of hypothermia, and completely unprepared for the conditions. With the mountain huts already full and turning people away, she had little realistic chance of reaching the summit—or making it safely back down.
The team immediately intervened. They stripped off their own spare layers to keep her warm, gave her food and fluids, and made the decision to evacuate her. Flanked and physically supported between two teammates, she was guided across slick, jagged volcanic scree as the storm continued to intensify. Slowly, with the team refusing to leave her behind, she regained enough strength to continue the descent.
Then they encountered an even more critical situation.
A French mother and her young son were stranded on the mountain. The mother was severely hypothermic, unresponsive, and rapidly deteriorating. With mountain rescue unavailable, leaving her where she lay was simply not an option.
Without hesitation, Team Endeavour stepped in.
For more than three and a half brutal hours, the team carried her down the mountain as daylight disappeared and darkness closed in. They descended approximately 1,000 vertical metres—from 3,000 metres to 2,000 metres—across loose volcanic rock and trails transformed by the relentless rain.
Teammates suffered multiple hard falls on the treacherous descent, but never once did they relinquish their grip.
And they didn’t stop there.
Along the way, the team encountered five more disoriented and terrified climbers who had been left exposed to the elements by passing groups. One by one, they brought them into the group and continued the descent.
Finally reaching the 5th Station, the team rushed the French mother directly into an awaiting ambulance, where she could receive the critical medical attention she desperately needed.
The true severity of the conditions became even more apparent shortly afterwards. On 9 September 2026, two male hikers were found unconscious in separate locations on the Fujinomiya Trail during the same period of severe, typhoon-like weather. One, believed to be in his 30s or 40s, was found near the summit, while the second, a man in his 60s, was found near the New 7th Station. Both were later confirmed dead after being brought down from the mountain by rescue teams. These were separate incidents from those involving Team Endeavour, but they underline just how dangerous and potentially fatal the conditions on Mount Fuji had become.
Our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones at this difficult time.
In total, eight people were brought safely out of the storm.
On a mountain being battered by a typhoon, in conditions where every additional step carried risk, Team Endeavour chose to keep moving—not just for themselves, but for those who could no longer make the journey alone.
In an unforgiving environment where others had looked away and hurried past, Team Endeavour lived up to its founding ethos in the purest possible sense:
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