Japanese Explorer Uemura meets his demise at Mt. McKinley in 1984
Many of you will recognize the name of Japanese explorer Noami Uemera as being the first person to arrive at the North Pole by dogsled on April 29, 1978. Uemera had scored quite a few expeditions and records under his belt in the years leading up to his untimely demise in 1984 after scoring a victory over Mt. McKinley. The Kansas City (Missouri) Times reported on Tuesday, February 21, 1984, with excerpts as follows:
TALKEETNA, Alaska (AP) Pilots took advantage of a clear sky Monday to look for overdue Japanese adventurer Naomi (sic) Uemera--the first person to climb to the top of Mt. McKinley alone, in winter. At least three planes and a helicopter buzzed the icy flanks of North America's tallest peak, and by late in the day searchers had located Mr. Uemura's snowshoes in a basin at the 14,000-foot level where he had left them on his way up. He was supposed to have retrieved the snowshoes on his descent. (.....) Pilots managed to reach Mr. Uemura's base camp Sunday at the 7,200 foot level. There was no sign of him, and they said they believed he had not descended from the 16,000 foot level where he was spotted by pilots last Thursday. Mr. Uemura had been expected back in his base camp last Wednesday, and it was believed that high winds may have pinned him on the mountain's upper reaches. Pilot Doug Geeting last saw Mr. Uemura on Thursday waving from outside an ice cave that he was all right.
A Related Flight Cover
Flight cover from 27 January 1984, documented by Doug Geeting, the last person to see Uemura alive. Flown in C-185, N1047F. Geeting operated Talkeetna Air Taxi Service. I think this cover may actually have been a pre-mission support flight on behalf of Uemura, but was unable to verify that. Geeting did not post this cover until early March; suspect he was preoccupied with the air searches.
Uemura was never found, and his remains are presumably committed to the spirit of mighty Mt. McKinley. His death was, and remains, a grim reminder of the hazards faced by polar explorers.
Back to My Main Polar Philately Page
NOTE:
DISCLAIMER: NOT IN THE PUBLIC
DOMAIN Any
photographs, graphics, icons, web page devices or images used or depicted herein
are either personally owned by me under license of software purchase; believed
to be within the public domain; used with specific permission; obtained from a
publicly-funded website or from websites that granted or of which I could
reasonably understand as giving implicit permission for subsequent re-use. If
you are the copyright holder of a device or photograph used herein, are aware of
any copyright infringements or similar restrictions in my usage or have a
concern about any of the web page devices used here, please
e-mail me
with full
details. Please do not just make an entry in the guestbook and claim
infringement and ask for removal by leaving a guestbook entry. I will not
consider such a notice "received" unless it is sent to me by electronic mail. I
will remove any offending items or devices upon demonstration of valid ownership
and objection. Likewise, if you are wishing to use any of the textual
descriptions, photographs or cover scans that appear herein for philatelic,
historical or research purposes only, common philatelic courtesy reigns and I
will most likely grant specific permission if you request the same in advance.
Please
e-mail me with the details of your request, including intended usage.
Otherwise, note that all rights are reserved,
and no "public domain" status or endorsement is granted or intended by their
publication on this web page in pictorial or written form. Reproduction of this
web page in a "mirror" format or the exact duplication of/ copying of HTML and
pictorial content herein, either in part or whole, to produce a new web page in
any language, residing at a different server is prohibited.
QSL.net/KGØYH page last updated 01 August 2009 1734Z