The WORST Mountain Disaster In History | Hakkoda Mountains Disaster
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- čas přidán 4. 11. 2023
- This is an educational and historical look at the infamous Hakkoda Mountains Disaster. In the lead-up to the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese army sent a regiment on a training exercise across the Hakkoda Mountains in the middle of winter to prepare for cold and mountainous climates. It would go on to be the worst mountain climbing disaster in history.
Attributions/Special Thanks for Photographs
Aomori Modern Literature Museum, Raita Futo
Writing and research by Rich Firth-Godbehere
DrRichFG
/ @horrourstories
Podcast ➡️ www.spreaker.com/show/scary-i...
Contact ➡️ sean@scaryinteresting.com
Discord ➡️ / discord
Instagram ➡️ scaryintere...
And a huge thank you to the Scary Interesting team of writers, editors, captioners, and everyone else who make this channel possible.
DISCLAIMER: The pictures, audio, and video used in the videos on this channel are a mix of paid stock, by attribution, royalty-free, public domain, or otherwise fall under the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement is intended. All rights belong to their respective owners. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to sean@scaryinteresting.com. I will respond immediately. - Zábava
“I’m confident in my navigation, map, and compass skills - we don’t need a local guide” is something we hear A LOT before a doomed expedition on this channel
"We've barely started and the weather is already unbearable, it's getting worse by the minute and we can turn back to safety right now. But we'll keep going further" is another staple.
Top three rules
1. Always ask for directions
2. Always take a guide or any help offered, unless you're getting sold a too-good-to-be-true shortcut trying to get to California
3. You can never, ever be too prepared. Take those extra rations, damn it!
@@chiefmofoooooof that damn Hastings cutoff 😬 people freezing to death while starving and lost on a mountain seems like the absolute worst way to go. Then add to that crossing a salt desert and all the other horrible shit the donner party went through
Ego kills
@@chiefmofoAnd a Norwegian one: Its not embarrasing to turn back
Wow! Only 5% of them survived, and 0.95% survived without needing a body part removed. Your storytelling is excellent! I'm always on the edge of my seat.
@@TheDogGoesWoof69Thats related to this, how?
Not me, it gave me anxiety and I felt it was difficult to catch my breath and I wasn't even there on the expedition!
Rest in peace soldiers.
@@TheDogGoesWoof69
Yeah, what does this have to do with this video ??
@@analyticalhabitrails9857 That's a mark of great storytelling.
Never forget Nanking
I love the irony of the recovery operation being much better planned and coordinated then the actual expedition
Many of the disasters on this channel begin with someone thinking "how hard can this actually be?!" and then when they fail miserably, a recovery mission is assembled with the people who actually know what they are doing and understand the gravity of the situation.
That's not ironic
i dont think its ironic. they knew the first time went wrong so ofc theyre gonna plan better for the second time
Every recovery/ rescue expedition is better planned than the original. That's logical.....not ironic.
Surely it'd be only ironic if the actual expedition was better planned than the recovery operation? And even then I'm not too sure if that can be considered ironic. The recovery being better planned is just... how it's meant to be.
Classic errors making a difficult task impossible. You plan the route in better weather so you know where you are going. The sledges were obviously too big: again training to use them, you want lighter loads to cross mountains. The biggest mistake was not turning back when the sleds got stuck, pressing on was pure stupidity.
Biggest mistake was not increasing rations for soldiers to account for increased spending of energy in mountains. Army marches on it's stomach, after all, and in difficult terrain soldiers need a lot more nutrition. Big sleds by itself aren't an issue, but when your soldiers are weak and exhausted, it does become a problem. Another mistake was not setting up camp, when it became clear, that situation is bad - sleds can be used as improvised walls against cold winds, so you can have fire protected from wind.
@@ceu160193 but they didn't run out of rations, their rations froze solid and became inedible.
@@modestalchemist I mean before whole mission. Soldiers clearly were exhausted and tired as early as first day, suggesting insufficient nutrition intake.
Also, did they forget to bring firewood with them to make a fire and melt their rations into edible condition?
@@ceu160193 yep the cold weather MREs we used in the mountains of Afghanistan were 3000+ calories each with like 600% over the daily value of stuff in most areas
Biggest mistake was the military mindset that they must succeed at all costs. Sometimes, that is true, but typically not for a training mission.
Whenever an expedition starts with “But So-and-So was confident that…” ya know things are about to get disasteriffic.
So many deaths caused by pure ego
Who needs warm clothes, they have their orders - of an officer, and a gentleman.
Disaterrific lol
Yeah... The first bit about the major thinking an eleven mile walk through the snow and over a mountain would be no sweat is mind blowing.
I'm assuming (since they weren't mentioned) that these troops had neither skis nor snowshoes. Moving through deep snow without some kind of flotation is extremely slow and exhausting. Trying to drag a heavy sled or carry a heavy pack only makes it worse. Add in a blizzard, brutally cold temperatures, and totally inadequate clothing and the result was inevitable.
Also it seems like they had no firewood or even basic tents to establish proper camp with shelter and warm food, which are necessary even in normal mountain operations, let alone when weather turns bad.
None of this matters as long as you have experience in such situations. Poor leadership was the most striking for me out of this whole story. A proper leader is a leader for a reason. Regardless of the difficulties various things couldve been done/tried. Simplest of all being, like another commenter already mentioned to lighten up the sled loads. No snowshoes - no problem. Take turns breaking trail and move in a colon. Take breaks often and rub up cold body parts to get the blood flowing. Even without tents you can separate into smaller groups in close proximity to one another and make little camps, hanging half the overcoats on branches sticking from the ground and the other half laying on the ground. Then everyone sleep close together to share body heat. As for food and water... yeah, plan better ahead. Crossing an ice cold river? Show me a river that hasnt froze at -40. Even niagara falls freezes (well not completely but we're talking about a river not a waterfall), and I've seen the amount of water falling down each second at niagara. So either the temperature wasnt -40, or the river was frozen solid. But lets say it was pretty damn cold and the river wasnt frozen. The way to cross it would be to strip completely naked, hauling your belongings above the waterline and cross as fast as possible. On the other shore you dry yourself as quick and as well as you can and you put on your dry clothes. Cross at a calm section of the river of course.
You dont know where you are? Youve got plenty of manpower. Set up groups of lets say 30 persons and send each group in a spread out fashion ahead (kind of like aircraft reconnaissance over vast water). Order each group to leave a man every 30 meters so nobody loses contact. This way you can recon 900 meters ahead and not lose a single soul. Once everyone is back you can make a decision based on the findings. Move 900 meters and repeat. They wouldve need to do this just twice and wouldve reached their target, guaranteed! With no losses. Not even a single grieving mother. And everyone wouldve been sipping that beloved fermented wine.
Leadership, yujin. Do you speak it?
I mean sorta, but simple objects and details like that kinda have a bigger and bigger difference the longer the trip is. Also crossing a river naked is easier said than done when it's well past freezing, especially after spending so long in a freezing environment to begin with. So it basically can be attributed to both lack of gear (cause let's face it, an army runs on it's stomach, and not being able to consume any they had stockpiled was probably the biggest killer in the long run) and poor leadership.@@Jean-vr7vj
Clothing yes, the cotton uniforms would become damp from sweat when pulling those sleds. Then it’s only a matter of time before hypothermia sets in. One should always stay uncomfortably cold when doing heavy work in those conditions. Then put the layers back on when work is done. The leadership here didn’t have the first clue about cold weather survival. In those conditions, deep snows….blizzard, small 2-3 man teams could have constructed snow caves to capture body heat. Frozen food brought in and thawed. Then wait out the miserable conditions until weather improved. -40 degrees is pointless to be trudging through with what they had. Get warm, eat, hydrate and rest until things improved.
It reminds me of an incident I read about in the Arctic. A fellow was traveling from one outpost to another. He was accompanied by an Inuit woman. They were operating a dog team and sled. They encountered a blizzard. The man, from the lower 48, had what was considered to be the best parka of the day, lined with squirrel skin. He panicked as he couldn’t consider anything but getting through the storm and to his destination. He worked and worked, trying to get the sled moving. He wore that parka the whole time. They found him dead in it.
The little Inuit woman just holed up in the snow, making a little cavity to shelter in and waited things out. She survived just fine.
Only tricky part is finding a way to make a cavity/hole when such temperatures tend to make the snow more powdery than anything else, but yea, definitely a solid point all around.@@twocyclediesel1280
I was stationed at Misawa and one of the first things they tell you is how dangerous the Hakkoda mountains are and how to stay safe, or as safe as possible, if you venture out in the winter. Lots of us snowboarded out there, absolutely beautiful...
It's surprising given how small they are compared to other mountain ranges
@@ScaryInteresting Small doesn't mean dangerous. People are still dying on mountains in the UK, especially in Winter.
@@zetectic7968”Small doesn’t mean *NOT* dangerous.” There, fify.
@@zetectic7968 im pretty sure he has a breakdown of the highest mountains in one of his videos and everest isn't the most deadly, which he points out.
@@HanTheProphet is it nanga parbat?
The commander didn’t have adequate experience for the expedition, lacked intimate knowledge of the area and still refused the guide for no god damn reason? Genius.
You don't say??
"A significate amount of snowfall?" The Hakkoda mountains in central Aomori are literally the snowiest place on Earth. I lived near Hirosaki for 3 years. It is mindboggling how much snow the Tsugaru region gets. Even on the Tsugaru plain, we got 60-90cm of snowfall every day in winter, at least. And within the Hakkoda mountains themselves, it's a lot more. They also have a lot colder temperatures than the plains and volcanic gases which can pool in low-lying areas. If you ever go hiking or skiing there, do NOT ever leave the marked trails.
I just went to a random Google maps image from that area and it was a fucking plowed road through what looked like 11 feet of snow lol
Yup...the houses in aomori have to be specially designed to not get crushed by snow. Its kinda crazy how the plowed roads look more like canyons
One winter when I was in the northern Cascade mountains mt Baker set a seasonal record of 90 feet of snow
As a professional, snowfall measure guy I agree
Sounds heavenly to me. That's where I plan on living once I retire.
I'm not a military expert, but dealing with unfamiliar extreme conditions is probably something you should do gradually.
If you told me I need replicate this in Death Valley, I'd be training troops in an Arizona parking lot first.
It's more that they were completely unprepared. Weather in mountains can be very unstable, but they seemingly planned only for quick march from A to B with zero precautions taken.
I'd call the crew that sets up Burning Man. They have the skillz.
Yeah “being unprepared” is exactly the point they were making.
Well, this is well over 100 years ago. Today every major military has dedicated cold weather training centers. For example the US Marine Corps has the Mountain Warfare Training center near Bridgeport California. The US Army also has a cold weather training center located at For Wainwright Alaska.
Ah yes, that old fashioned turn-of-the-century “we can beat nature with national pride and sheer force of will” flavor of hubris. It’s a shame it ended up costing so many men so dearly.
Ha you summed it up perfectly.
It didn't always turn out bad, look at Shackleton's expedition. Everyone survived.
Not so with ross before him... @@sunnyinvladivostok
Scott *@@sunnyinvladivostok
For real. And those are probably the best Ive seen to describe this kind of thing😩 turn of the century or not, strongman leaders always think national pride, self confidence, and possessing a penis is enough to help you survive the worst that nature and circumstance can throw you. Unfortunately for them it just never is.
This would make a fantastic film, the whole story plays out so dramatically, right down to the ‘lead’, the corporal, being one of the last ones alive, and eventually being found upright and frozen solid. The trumpet blower eventually freezing with the trumpet on his lips too. It would make a fantastic anti-war movie
You’re right! I would watch it. Sad story though.
The movie was made in 1979, big hit in Japan.
It's had 2 films
Or an anti-Winter movie!
Why would it be anti war?
I'm genuinely amazed at the quality and frequency of your uploads; you seem to pluck these stories out of the ether! I have a more-than-passing interest in a lot of the topics you cover (mountaineering, caving, diving) and you STILL find story after story that I haven't come across.
In Vietnam we used to say the most dangerous people were 2nd Lieutenants just graduated from West Point and sent to Nam with a map and a compass. Couldn’t tell them anything
Can you imagine being a peasant who has never seen snow? You get all patriotic and join the army, to end up dying in a training attempt up on a mountain.
Can you imagine not spoiling the story
@@gdub19777 what did you imagine was the plot of “the worst mountain disaster in history” was? Sunshine and meadows? Might alligators have got them?
Tell me about it gdub. I was really hoping that this worst mountain disaster in history story was going to have a happy ending.🤔🤔🤔
@@gdub19777 Can you imagine watching the video before going down into the comments to complain about "spoilers" like a clown
@@brandonshepherd7790 so…exactly the type that found themselves in imperial japans military?
I think my comment is fitting. Majority of Japan lived as peasants at this time. Majority of these souls lost, likely came from peasant families.
I used to do some mountaineering. We had been climbing all summer and had just gotten cocky. A buddy and I climbed Sloan Peak in the Cascade Mountains in WA, and on the descent got turned around in a dense fog. There was finally a brief window in the fog and we could see the ridge with our camp in the distance. By the time I took out my compass and pointed it north to our camp it said south. We were on the wrong side of the mountain, in a fog, with night falling. Lost in the wilderness is a feeling unlike any other. I do not recommend it. It only took us a day to bushwack down the mountain, then through a devils club swamp, then a bear trail, finally got to the valley floor to find no road or human trail. So we walked in the river for a few miles until we got back to a trail and then had to go face the biggest hazard of the whole trip. Our angry wives who were worried sick. We were both grounded.
On the other hand, another smaller troop consists of 38 soliders march at the same time on a 11 day trip. All of them survived the trip because they are properly prepared, wearing proper clothing and request help from nearby villages.
The aftermath of these two troops greatly help Japan army prepare for the later Russo-Japanese War.
As a former boy scout who was second in command for my group of scouts, I would like to add another reason as to why this failed, with that being that they didn't train the troops throughout spring, summer and autumn in the years leading up to this. If they had done that for a long period of time, they would have known the terrain like the back of their hands and so they would also have had a lot of ideas as to what it would take to make the logistics make sense across the mountains during the winter period. Worst part of this reason is that it isn't even something we've only found out in the last couple of decades. No, it's actually been known since ancient times that having a local regiment knowing the terrain in which they're stationed, like the back of their hands, is vital for securing a victory in those areas, if battles ever were to arise there. Even the fkn samurais knew this and they preceded this expedition. The Japanese Imperial Forces at this time literally disregarded the knowledge of their ancestors and decided they knew better. If that ain't stupid, I don't know what is.
That's truly exclusive boy scout knowledge!
They were training for fighting in the mountains in general and not in this particular spot. Knowing the Hakkoda mountains well, or Japanese topography in general, would not help because the Russo-Japanese war was conducted in Manchuria.
@@MK-lm6hbit would've helped them survive a training exercise
I love that you said as a Boy Scout as if that was somehow relevant 😂
Great insight!!!
This is pure HELL. So many things you can call hellish, but this would absolutely top it. That moment when all hell broke loose when the higher in command admitted they were lost all along and that every man was for himself, men scrambling to the river or the forest to build boats...any, any, anyway to just get out of there. Those poor, poor men. They must have cursed all the generals and officers as they lay there dying in the snow...
Brilliantly illustrated and narrated as always, Sean!. I don't know if you feel the same way as me, but I do think the spirits of the dead try and watch what we're doing and saying about them. I hope some of these young men look down favorably on you for drawing awareness to what happened to them on this expedition!
ironic how 150 men had already died before he told them they were lost and it was every man for himself
It's surprising how little people knew about nature expeditions in the past. Pride, ignorance, hubris and bad luck seems to have caused their downfall.
And a commie dictator government did that to peons
Indeed.
Like Captain Scott,R.N.,who would die in Antarctica less than a decade later.
Some people did know. But the leaders of expeditions ignored those people at their peril because they were not 'professionals'.
Ironically nowadays people seem to ignore advice because they are professionals/scientists.
Just like OceanGate!
They're no different from us, and the only reason we do things differently is by learning from their mistakes. It's like, the way we know which mushrooms are poisonous is because someone else tried it out first.
My parents lived in Japan for many years but never heard of this tragedy. Dude did get a badass statue
You know why that is, like South Korea and Vietnam as capitalistic and modern Japan is, it’s still a dictatorship. Don’t get me wrong, I have massive respect for the Japanese people but they don’t like to talk about things. Ask about unit 731 or a better example for me as a Canadian, my own government held all ukrainians of Eastern European decent (didn’t matter what country they came from, if they were ukrainians) they were held in interment camps across Canada during WWII, not quite unit 731 or gulags or concentration camps but they still were slave labour and starved to death, beaten, ræped..etc and our government tried to cover it up, destroyed almost everything and didn’t admit it until the 1980’s.
There is a great documentary called “it never happened” if you can find it. That was it, that’s all they pretty much did, apologies once and plaques
The script reads, “he got a statue of a statue.” 🤷🏻♀️
@@prairierider7569 *DESCENT
@@prairierider7569that is crazy man! I just read into it, I never would've guessed they'd do that.
I've watched about 10 CZcams videos of this disaster in Japanese. Search: 八甲田雪中行軍遭難事件
“The second night was the coldest night recorded in Japan” bruh I’m convinced that the second people set out on an expedition, nature literally takes it personally. The Franklin expedition stumbling into the coldest summers the Canadian arctic saw in thousands of years so their ships never got unstuck after 1847 and they all eventually perished, this Hakkoda expedition starting *2 days before the coldest night in japan’s history* causing 20% of the expedition to just freeze to death the second night and only 11/210 surviving the journey. It’s like Murphy’s law but specifically for the cold. Or maybe it’s normal Murphy’s Law but the things that go wrong in the cold are way worse than normal.
Paradoxical undressing deserves a more thorough explanation. When it's really cold, your body tries to save the heat for the vital organs by lessening the blood flow to skin and extremeties. That's why you can have your fingers and toes freeze solid but your core body temperature is still sorta-OK. When you get to late stages of hypothermia, your body at some point just plain gives up on trying to keep that sweet, sweet heat for continued survival and just says f it, the superficial blood vessels dilate and let the warmer blood all over your body instead of trying to conserve it. So you get a final flash of being hot before dying of cold.
So basically if you've been freezing and then suddenly get warm your body has just decided to call it and you know the end is near.
@@AyeliaGDorenpretty much, like a natural opiate to prepare you for the trip....
Probably amplified considering how the warm blood suddenly flows back to previously partially closed off areas, and as anyone can attest to, going from a really cold area to a warm one feels way hotter than it actually is, I imagine. So the body unintentionally sabotages itself by halfway warming up previously cold spots and internally going "oh shit this is way hotter than I'm used to"@@AyeliaGDoren
All by design
What design though?@@SunsetAssassin
The most dreaded thing in the military, an officer with a compass.
And here I thought it was the chicken dish at chow.
Finally! I’ve been researching about the Hakoda Mountain disaster but no CZcamsr has done an in-depth video until now! Thanks Scary Interesting!
This story is gut wrenching, dark, ominious, and downright murder!!
As a Canadian, I am horrified by the decision to cross a mountain in January as "training." That's not training, that's worst case scenario ever. They should have gone in October or early November so everyone could have safely learned DO NOT GET WET WHEN IT'S COLD and for the love of all that's sane, don't walk into a river. Then they should have gone again in March to solidfy lessons learned and learn new ones brought to them by slush. Then work up to January month by month.
Even Canadian military training exercises get frostbite incidents on occasion.
A video suggestion: It's not so much a story of a disaster, but the account of the search for what happened to the victims. In 1996 a German family ventured into Death Valley national park and disappeared. There was a large search and rescue effort but they couldn't be found and the search was called off. Tom Mahood was involved with the search for their remains from 2009 - 2010 and has a fascinating write up on his blog site otherhand. I think it fits the theme of what you do on your channel and a version of it narrated in your style would be fantastic.
If you haven't already, there's a suggestions email/discord channel that he lists in more recent videos, if I remember correctly.
One of the probable main reasons the Captain was in charge and not the Major was because this was a training exercise. I have no doubt that the Major, while providing assistance, also evaluated the Captain on his ability to lead and coordinate his lines of effort. Normally in training you have some kind of evaluator or adjudicator that’s a higher rank to evaluate the trainees.
Poor planning, poor leadership,and poor weather. The poor guys were doomed before they set foot in the snow.
I live in Aomori prefecture. I believe Aomori has record for the world's highest snowfall. When it snows here, you often cannot see anything, and the winds sweep through here from Siberia, chilling you to the bone. Even as I type this, the wind is howling outside and shaking my small office. Winter is late this year, but it is slowly, creeping colder and colder. While beautiful, Aomori is not a forgiving place for the unprepared in winter, and I say this as someone who used to live in Alaska.
The Hakkoda mountains are a popular tourist destination throughout the year. My wife and I went there last weekend to enjoy the same hot springs these soldiers were seeking. It haunts and saddens me to think how close to the life saving waters these men came.
Now that I have watched your video, I think will go and pay respects to the Corporal. He almost made it.
I say this to my very relaxed, ‘wing it’ kind of husband all the time; my anxiety and OCD-driven need for excessive preparation and planning, keeps us safe. Hyper awareness and being overly-cautious, though annoying, saves lives. I can’t imagine going about things the way they did. Insane
Think this scenario is a little different than leaving the toilet seat up.
@@alexrennison8070 that’s not at all the level I’m talking about, but sure
As long as you aren't so stuck in the preparation and planning that you keep going when you shouldn't. Somewhere in the middle would be good, so if you guys compromise, that's great!
@@pinkdiamonds9137 Don't mind the troll. I'm a planner and completely get what you're saying. The amount of times I've pulled something from my pack to provide comfort or prevent worse is uncountable.
1-2 times = uncountable
I've camped out in -35F and it hurts to breathe. Even in a sleeping bag rated to -40F I was waking up shivering. Making breakfast the next morning was an ordeal since I could only take my hands out of my mittens for a few minutes at a time to fiddle with the metal stove, then I had to get my hands back in my mittens and another 5 minutes or so to rewarm them.
The bag ratings seem to only indicate you might live through the night at that temperature, not that you'll be comfortable.
A lot of modern camping supplies are more targeted towards being as lightweight as possible and because of this require all sorts of “requirements” to function correctly. Sure you can buy the best down jacket/sleeping bag on the market but it needs to be washed in special formulas and dried in a specific manner between every use and you can never leave it compact for long periods of time. Additionally, you need a floor liner if you need your sleeping bag to reach that advertised “comfort” degree. Don’t get me wrong, modern advancements have a purpose but there is a reason that animal materials work the best. They are just ridiculously heavy.
MF .....KANAANA RMA TOHUGHT..........HE AGAIN FOUND MORE..ATER.S..OF BUSLIM.......COUNTRIES..LIKE THIS...ALL.HOME...........TO..PUT EM IN MORE DEEPER...JAIL..NOW.................ONLY..KANAAN MF.F....ARMIES .....MADHAB HIDED...THATS 2 CCIKS...AWAY.................ON ID THEN ON ABOUTS...IF..C.ANT..FIND........KINGS>>> THEN>>>> SITS
Geez, cutting it a little close with the gear there weren't ya? Were they out of -35.1F sleeping bags or what? If there was 5F between me and father frost I think I'd probably take my chances and just light myself on fire.
-40°F is crazy cold, I can’t imagine how bad it must have been for those soldiers.
I know Japan gets cold but keep forgetting northern Japan can get Siberia cold.
I've done cross country mountain biking and cold weather hikes before cell phones and GPS. My first real ride was a 108 miles each way along a river with a friend who was also 15. Now almost 40 years later I still keep a few large black garbage bags and a cutting tool as a bag has saved my life at least twice and made winters exploring so much better by wearing one over me and my pack plus I can pedal freely or hike up or down rough terrain wearing one. After falling through ice far from home or anything warm I put a bag on to keep what body heat I had while stripping down with a fire pit already awaiting which is another story in which it's an honor to be known as Fireman Dave. Just my comment on cold weather experiences using a tip passed along to me by my friend in high-school who loved the outdoors as much as I. Stay safe, stay warm and don't forget that Hefty Hefty Hefty.
Learned about it a long ago. Definitely something to remember for one intending to brave the cold
I always bring a few heavy-duty black garbage bags and Gorilla tape. I take some Gorilla tape and roll it around a popsicle stick. The uses for this are endless, and is weighs nothing.
...noted. I may start keeping a roll of strong black garbage bags in my car for winter use.
When you think it can’t get any worse, then it does. Again. And again. And again…
Truly horrifying. Those men were so ill equipped for the weather and I can’t even fathom why anyone would try something like this without dogs. Even my mile walk back and forth to work in winter (usually between 0-10°f with lake effect snow) on sidewalks required more than they were given.
Pride and arrogance mixed with ignorance and stupidity.
Imagine being in freezing weather in regular soldiers uniform. Maybe a great coat. Then add -40 to that.
Swedish uniforms at the time where more like wool jacket, pants, hat, helmet-cover, thermal shirt, baclava, vest, leather boots, and a winter coat to go OVER all of that.
That's like 4 layers of dense wool and cotton and leather AND thermal shirts. And we get like... -20. Mebbe more sometimes, but if you're high in the north then you get even more layers, both under and over, to prepare for those conditions
Being properly dressed is basically everything when surviving cold weather. Your usual stuff isnt gonna even come close to cut it. like, -40 is colder then your freezer!!
Dude, that made me nausea!! Colder, and colder than your freezer!!!!
S.m.h
-40 is otherworldly coldness. At that level, breathing air hurts! These poor men were not given a chance. The fact that someone survived that environment at all is a miracle in itself.
The fact that one guy managed to survive at all is incredible
-40, and with blizzard... Winchill factor is like🥶
"Because the mountains don't give back what they take."
I think you missed a chance to highlight the role of the Ainu (indigenous people of Hokkaido and Sakhalin/Karafuto) in the rescue efforts. (I'm a big fan of the manga Golden Kamuy and I'll talk about the Ainu any chance I get; it is set after the Russo-Japanese war and it includes a minor Ainu character who was involved in the rescue efforts for the Hakkoda mountains disaster as part of his backstory)
Yes Ariko! I'm a big fan of the manga aswell 😁
Thank you for sharing this story. So tragic, and I’d never heard of it.
Not tragic. The imperial army was a bunch of fascists
@@Vairlocomunnecessary suffering is always tragic.
Dismissing their suffering makes you as bad as them.
@@janelleg597 I don’t sympathize with fascists that rape and massacre people they deem inferior. If that makes me a monster, so be it
Thank you for discussing this story! Ever since I encountered this event in a game, I became extremely interested and tried to research as much about it as possible but extremely detailed sources were hard to find.
I genuinely enjoy your videos so much. I wasn't interested in diving, caving, or mountaineering disasters before I found your channel, and now I can't wait to see your uploads. You are very appreciated! Thank you for what you do!
👍👍❤️
I'd only heard(read) of this in a two sentence mention in a book on the Japanese Imperial Army. Nice job!
Holy cow, the rescue effort was amazing.
Yes very clever , such as damming the rivers to prevent bodies being swept away
So many mountaineering disaster stories take place hundreds of miles from civilization. It's shocking to hear about one that came within a Mile of salvation but still met such a grisly fate. Particularly because of how MANY people lost their lives. It goes to show how dangerous mountaineering can be that even such a relatively small and short climb can be so dangerous.
Shoot!!
I want to believe it wasn't that bad, but I'm most likely making that same fatal assumption that captain of the Army did!!
My jaw was dropped the whole time then you said it was coldest night ever recorded in Japan and I just had to walk away for a min. This is absolutely wild. How tragic.
On the way to 1 mil! I've been with you all the way! Congrats!
No other channel comes close to what you do for us. Thank you kindly.
Uhhh…. Morbid Midnight, Mr. Deified, Archie’s Archive, Terror Twin, Top Mysteries, Missing Person Mysteries, Waterline Stories, Dark Records, The Missing Enigma…the list goes on…
@@shysweetbunnygirlFascinating Horror
It's incredible that it all seemed to happen within a relatively small area.
Yeah, they didn't even get up the main mountain, or make it to the hot springs!
Me and my dad were trying to track a deer he shot. We ended up getting lost and spent all night trying to find our way out. Even though the forest is many many square miles, we had to be lost on much less than 1 square mile of it. I can believe it happened to them too
I came across this channel some months ago and have loved it ever since, having also found the podcast - my favorite videos are the cave exploring gone wrong, the mountain climbing disasters and a few of the interesting one off vids, love the channel - keep up the awesome work =D
Your videos keep getting better. You're really setting yourself apart from the rest of these channels. Love the podcast idea but moreso love that you're getting a couple vids out a week. Keep up the amazing work and I'll be back every time for more!
I’ll be travelling to Aomori soon, so this is a fascinating part of the prefecture’s history.
Hakkoda is brutal in winter - think 14m of snow brutal. The tree line is really really low due to the snow. The bright side is the onsens are epic.
The onsens there are indeed amazing. Ever been to Aoni Onsen? It's lit entirely by lanterns and gas stoves. My friend and I (both of us living in Aomori, her in Hachinohe, and me near Hirosaki at the time) went in April, but it snowed on us overnight. I didn't expect to enjoy a snowy rotenburo in April, so I was pleasantly surprised.
@@jessica_in_japan I've only been to Sukayu and it's probably my favorite onsen in Japan. I live in Sapporo now so it's pretty hard to make it to the mainland.
Those poor men. I can't imagine what it must have been like for those soldiers🙏🙏🙏🙏
Thank you so much! You’re the best narrator and the stories you choose to research and present to us are always interesting and fascinating!! ❤
I absolutely love your story telling style. Please keep up the good work, love your videos ❤
GOAT youtuber. MrBallen level
True indeed
Ballen is a storyteller, Interesting is a documentarian
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@@squeggit1511ballen is a sellout
@@omirrrrhe runs massive amounts of charity... you're just a hipster
What's up with the blacked-out eyes on the major's picture?
I absolutely love your videos. Quality and great narration plus a pleasant quantity of eerie vibes really make your content stand out.
Thanks for another great video. I always look forward to your new uploads.
Fascinating story and well told. Thank you.
It's remarkable that, of all the mountain disaster stories I've watched, I've never heard this one! Really interesting! Scary interesting ❤
As I listen to your voice, I so appreciate a human doing commentary versus all this AI BS that’s popping up!!
Easily one of the most fascinating and heartbreaking and best stories yet… as always thanks
Major respect for the camera guy braving the storm while soldiering the mountain and able to take great pictures of the men
Allways a good day when Scary Interesting uploads.
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20 minutes gone in a blink, great video, good dialogue, cinematics etc, Solid all-round 👍
@14:44 imagine going through all of this and then you suddenly have to carry this mfer. I can't imagine - the absolute worst made even worse. What a nightmare. It's difficult to imagine
Props for him recovering and continuing on his own
Never turn down local guidance….
OH ....MF KANAANA RMA ........ZERO...PASSAND NO TRIANNED NO DEEDS KNOWER...HOW.......................HIGH BEEM..F NAY MANJERO..AND PILOT..SIALOR.....??? ALL WORLDS MEDIA SINCE VER IS 1 MAN SHOW ALONG LINGO AND.....ALLA MDE .....YET ALL ARD WARE ..USED IN IT.....I SOTOLD..ALL.....MICRO MAKES LLA NE TOO ALL ON IT ADDS ALL TO IT...........THESE ALL......IF.NO.TELLING...NEWS NON--BUSLIM COUNTRIE SNO EIXTS CNAT PSEAK WOD OF NO LINGO.........KANAAIN........MF........FOR.THIER LIVES..BOSSHSIP..AND ...........LOOTS 600 YERAS AGO.SINCE THEN......SLAVING.AND KILLING......APP.............M WAS IF LAST WHO CRETAED THIS MODREN ERA WORLD........ASK....ASUE THIS NAME.........WHOA RMAS..??ONLY..OR CH GROUPS TOO.???? AND GET SHAPPY..?? 2 ACES ONLY..NAKIE LIVERS R..USLIMS....SINCE DAY ............1 BUTTON OF DAM...........MANGLA..WILL.FREE LAL.THE WORLD...............REASON.AGAIN...CLCIK ON ID THEN ON ABOUTS...............KINGS CNAT BE IF FOUND....>>>SIT
So I WAS going to talk shit about how inept they were - and they were. In a place where there is -10 winters on a regular basis, it's confusing seeing someone think they can just make it through with sheer determination.
Then you said it was -40 and the coldest winter on record.
The difference between -10 and -20 is STAGGERING. Most modern equipment isnt rated for that cold.
-30 is like an expedition to the North Pole.
I enjoy your channel very much and always amazed at the amount of detail you’re able to provide. This particular video was especially captivating. How do you come about having so much detail about decisions that were made during this horrific event? I see there were survivors so I assume they were able to fill in a lot of what occurred during those few days, in interviews?
This is my favorite voice and speech pattern, as well as script writing of all the storytelling to which I listen.
OH ....MF KANAANA RMA ........ZERO...PASSAND NO TRIANNED NO DEEDS KNOWER...HOW.......................HIGH BEEM..F NAY MANJERO..AND PILOT..SIALOR.....??? ALL WORLDS MEDIA SINCE VER IS 1 MAN SHOW ALONG LINGO AND.....ALLA MDE .....YET ALL ARD WARE ..USED IN IT.....I SOTOLD..ALL.....MICRO MAKES LLA NE TOO ALL ON IT ADDS ALL TO IT...........THESE ALL......IF.NO.TELLING...NEWS NON--BUSLIM COUNTRIE SNO EIXTS CNAT PSEAK WOD OF NO LINGO.........KANAAIN........MF........FOR.THIER LIVES..BOSSHSIP..AND ...........LOOTS 600 YERAS AGO.SINCE THEN......SLAVING.AND KILLING......APP.............M WAS IF LAST WHO CRETAED THIS MODREN ERA WORLD........ASK....ASUE THIS NAME.........WHOA RMAS..??ONLY..OR CH GROUPS TOO.???? AND GET SHAPPY..?? 2 ACES ONLY..NAKIE LIVERS R..USLIMS....SINCE DAY ............1 BUTTON OF DAM...........MANGLA..WILL.FREE LAL.THE WORLD...............REASON.AGAIN...CLCIK ON ID THEN ON ABOUTS...............KINGS CNAT BE IF FOUND....>>>SIT
The snow is so magical and beautiful it can be deceiving as to how unforgivable it really is
OH ....MF KANAANA RMA ........ZERO...PASSAND NO TRIANNED NO DEEDS KNOWER...HOW.......................HIGH BEEM..F NAY MANJERO..AND PILOT..SIALOR.....??? ALL WORLDS MEDIA SINCE VER IS 1 MAN SHOW ALONG LINGO AND.....ALLA MDE .....YET ALL ARD WARE ..USED IN IT.....I SOTOLD..ALL.....MICRO MAKES LLA NE TOO ALL ON IT ADDS ALL TO IT...........THESE ALL......IF.NO.TELLING...NEWS NON--BUSLIM COUNTRIE SNO EIXTS CNAT PSEAK WOD OF NO LINGO.........KANAAIN........MF........FOR.THIER LIVES..BOSSHSIP..AND ...........LOOTS 600 YERAS AGO.SINCE THEN......SLAVING.AND KILLING......APP.............M WAS IF LAST WHO CRETAED THIS MODREN ERA WORLD........ASK....ASUE THIS NAME.........WHOA RMAS..??ONLY..OR CH GROUPS TOO.???? AND GET SHAPPY..?? 2 ACES ONLY..NAKIE LIVERS R..USLIMS....SINCE DAY ............1 BUTTON OF DAM...........MANGLA..WILL.FREE LAL.THE WORLD...............REASON.AGAIN...CLCIK ON ID THEN ON ABOUTS...............KINGS CNAT BE IF FOUND....>>>SIT
It's hard to pick the stupidest decision. Climbing a snowed in mountain mid winter? Dismissed the local guide? Completely inadequate clothing? Decided to walk down a mountain at night in a blizzard? Should have trained first and not tried to do so much so fast.
Top notch story telling, I'm always surprised.
Thanks for the video. Love anything history that I didn't know.
I was just scrolling looking for a video to watch, thank you 😂❤
Its crazy how much safer they would of been if they used the snow to make shelter, and wait out the storm with their supplies.
Its crazy how so many people never think to use snow for shelter during harsh storms.
A snow shelter is better than trying to gamble on finding a better solution in the storm.
In the extreme cold, fresh snow is powdery, not packable or icy. It's easily blown away by wind. What you're suggesting doesn't work in a blizzard at -40.
I learned something new!
Perhaps they'd never heard of an igloo.
But like your first commenter said, I had no idea in -40° weather you're unable to make one.
I got cold just thinking about all this!
@@sweetmissypetuniawilson9206 You can make igloo in such weather, but you would need to make ice blocks to build wall against wind first. It requires preparation, so it's not an option for emergency shelter during snowstorm.
*IT'S *WOULD HAVE
It's crazy how many people don't know how to use simple English words.
Excellent doco, I've never heard of this before!
It’s a good day when there’s an awful tragedy I can hear about
Great video, thanks - but I got lost trying to understand the timeline as you were going. For example, one second it's Jan 4, then it's Jan 25? It would be great if you had (for example) a timeline running along the bottom of the video, so we can easily see how many days they're into the disaster, as things unfold.
How sad! To be sent out in weather like that. Horrifying! Great storytelling. and narrating!
OH ....MF KANAANA RMA ........ZERO...PASSAND NO TRIANNED NO DEEDS KNOWER...HOW.......................HIGH BEEM..F NAY MANJERO..AND PILOT..SIALOR.....??? ALL WORLDS MEDIA SINCE VER IS 1 MAN SHOW ALONG LINGO AND.....ALLA MDE .....YET ALL ARD WARE ..USED IN IT.....I SOTOLD..ALL.....MICRO MAKES LLA NE TOO ALL ON IT ADDS ALL TO IT...........THESE ALL......IF.NO.TELLING...NEWS NON--BUSLIM COUNTRIE SNO EIXTS CNAT PSEAK WOD OF NO LINGO.........KANAAIN........MF........FOR.THIER LIVES..BOSSHSIP..AND ...........LOOTS 600 YERAS AGO.SINCE THEN......SLAVING.AND KILLING......APP.............M WAS IF LAST WHO CRETAED THIS MODREN ERA WORLD........ASK....ASUE THIS NAME.........WHOA RMAS..??ONLY..OR CH GROUPS TOO.???? AND GET SHAPPY..?? 2 ACES ONLY..NAKIE LIVERS R..USLIMS....SINCE DAY ............1 BUTTON OF DAM...........MANGLA..WILL.FREE LAL.THE WORLD...............REASON.AGAIN...CLCIK ON ID THEN ON ABOUTS...............KINGS CNAT BE IF FOUND....>>>SIT
I can personally attest that it's not always altitude that can mess with your mental faculties, it can be the brutal cold. Even though my situation was nowhere near this nightmare, I fell through the ice while duck hunting as a teenager, well away from my friend's dad and the car we came in. 7 degrees F and while walking back to the car, only about a mile or so, I was totally in a mental fog. Fingers had minor frostbite and thawing out was suprisingly painful. Can't imagine what these guys went through.
Always love your content bro. Cant get enough of it, I’ve watched everything and wait in your posts!
Do you grab inspiration from Lemino by chance? I love the editing style!!
Yay 1st!! Scary interesting you're my new favorite channel! Ive been watching for the last few months and you never disappoint! Love from Boston MA❤
2nd lol 😊
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What is hard for many to grasp is that the distances sound so short, but when you’re lost, even being only miles from a town, road or shelter can be an impossible task. So many people leave a trail for maybe 20-50 feet, get lost and are never seen again.
Awesome storytelling! Glad I happened upon this channel.
I can't believe iv never heard of this one. Thank you for teaching me
For anyone wondering. The war lasted a year and 7 months, Japan won.
And for anyone interested in another disaster related to that war, Drachinifel has a two part series on the voyage of the Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron and lets just say that the Russian Navy handled the logistics of that fiasco about as well as the Japanese Army handled preparing to hike in the snow.
Oh man NA!! I've had enough! These stories are so, ao tragic, sad, and downright depressing! Excellent information, but at the cost men's lives! Too much to bear! :(
You should do White Friday in the alps as well!
Hadn't heard of this one. Great suggestion!
Great one S I enjoyed thank you 👏👏❤️
Love your channel so much thank you for your work
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Imagine joining a military only to die during a training section. You barely even served your country and died for nothing. A complete unfortunate irony. I feel bad for them.
Still happens to this day. Not uncommon, unfortunately. Field trainings will always include known fatal risks. Or you can get bit by a brown recluse in boot camp or some kind of injury and get an honorable discharge.
That's insane! That would put the body, mind and soul to the test! Respect!
Stuck at work and scrolling CZcams to see a new video! Thank you, you have no idea how badly I needed this today!
Get back to work.
@@youtubecensors5419I recognize your pfp.
Isn't that the Boeing employee, in Washington state, that didn't have a pilots license but took a plane and flew around until he crashed and offed himself on purpose?
@@sweetmissypetuniawilson9206 Correct.
Loving this content 🔥
Japan: Fighting Russia in the winter is a really bad idea
Hitler: Hold my beer...
This is the story of the Aomori 5th Regiment, but it is interesting to contrast it with the Hirosaki 31st Regiment, which took on Mt. Hakkoda at exactly the same time and returned alive!
No, that is the semi-fictional novel which confuses people.
I love the intro music for this channel. Fits so well
Hokkoda is now home to a gorgeous ski resort and on my list of international ski resorts id love to ski.
OH ....MF KANAANA RMA ........ZERO...PASSAND NO TRIANNED NO DEEDS KNOWER...HOW.......................HIGH BEEM..F NAY MANJERO..AND PILOT..SIALOR.....??? ALL WORLDS MEDIA SINCE VER IS 1 MAN SHOW ALONG LINGO AND.....ALLA MDE .....YET ALL ARD WARE ..USED IN IT.....I SOTOLD..ALL.....MICRO MAKES LLA NE TOO ALL ON IT ADDS ALL TO IT...........THESE ALL......IF.NO.TELLING...NEWS NON--BUSLIM COUNTRIE SNO EIXTS CNAT PSEAK WOD OF NO LINGO.........KANAAIN........MF........FOR.THIER LIVES..BOSSHSIP..AND ...........LOOTS 600 YERAS AGO.SINCE THEN......SLAVING.AND KILLING......APP.............M WAS IF LAST WHO CRETAED THIS MODREN ERA WORLD........ASK....ASUE THIS NAME.........WHOA RMAS..??ONLY..OR CH GROUPS TOO.???? AND GET SHAPPY..?? 2 ACES ONLY..NAKIE LIVERS R..USLIMS....SINCE DAY ............1 BUTTON OF DAM...........MANGLA..WILL.FREE LAL.THE WORLD...............REASON.AGAIN...CLCIK ON ID THEN ON ABOUTS...............KINGS CNAT BE IF FOUND....>>>SIT