Japanese police have dispatched a rescue team to the country’s Northern Alps to search for two missing climbers, including a 30-year-old man from Hong Kong, after they were stranded on treacherous slopes.

Gifu Prefecture police on Tuesday confirmed that a team of four rescuers, comprising police officers and civilian experts, set out from the mountain base at dawn in an attempt to reach the duo on foot, according to local media.

A disaster prevention helicopter from neighbouring Nagano Prefecture police was also set to conduct a search.

The incident was first reported at 4pm on Sunday, when a 22-year-old man from Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward contacted the Hotakadake Sanso mountain hut in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, saying he and the 30-year-old Hong Kong hiker were stranded due to deteriorating weather.

The duo were scaling the Gendarme, a notoriously rocky ridge sitting at an altitude of 3,163 metres (10,377 feet), according to local media.

An appeal posted on social media platform Threads on Monday said that the men had exhausted their food supplies amid extremely cold temperatures, adding that one of them had already lost consciousness.