He Shut Out His Team After His Injury. They Didn't Give Up on Him

The plan said they would reach the summit of Mount Fuji by 11 a.m. on August 24, 2019. About 80 people were on the mountain. Most were men in their thirties who had once played rugby together at Keio University, and with them was the coach who had led the team back then. At the center was Hideyuki Sugita. At 19, a collapsed scrum had injured his neck, and doctors told him he would never walk again. On the day of that injury, the team's Fuji climb was called off, and the coach promised him they would all go together once he recovered. Now they had prepared a special off-road wheelchair built for mountain trails. The forecast for those days was the worst of three grades: strong wind and rain, unsuitable for climbing. They had been meaning to make this climb for 12 years.