Horror as dad ditches son, 7, on Mount Fuji because he wanted to reach the top

The dad said he made a "rash decision". 17:58, Sat, Aug 22, 2026 Updated: 17:59, Sat, Aug 22, 2026 The man ditched his son on Mount Fuji during a hike (Image: Getty)A dad has been admonished after ditching his seven-year-old son halfway up Mount Fuji so he could reach the summit. The 48-year-old set off with his two sons on Thursday, but when the youngest grew tired, the father left him at the sixth checkpoint on the Fujinomiya Trail, roughly 8,169ft above sea level, which is higher than Machu Picchu.The boy was told to "wait here" by his father who wanted to reach the 8,000ft summit in Japan, meaning the boy would have been alone in challenging conditions for hours, had a worker not saved him. According to the Mount Fuji climbing website, it takes more than five hours to reach the summit