Naomi Uemura - Disappearance

Disappearance

On February 13, 1984, he spoke by radio with Japanese photographers who were flying over the mountain, saying that he had made the top and descended back to 18,000 feet (5,500 m). He planned to reach base camp in another two days, but never made it.

There appeared to be high winds near the top, and the temperature was around −50 °F (−46 °C). Planes flew over the mountain but did not see him that day. He was spotted around 16,600 feet (5,100 m) the next day (presumably on the ridge just above the headwall). However, complications with weather made further searching difficult.

It was likely that Uemura was running out of fuel at this point but because of his reputation, nobody wanted to send a rescue party for fear it would offend him. Doug Geeting, one of the bush pilots who had been "Uemura spotting" over the previous week, said "If it were anybody else, we'd have somebody on the mountain already".

On February 20, The weather had cleared and Uemura was nowhere to be found. There was no sign of his earlier camp at 16,600 feet (5,100 m), and no evidence that caches left by other climbers nearby had been disturbed.

Two experienced climbers were dropped at 14,000 feet (4,300 m) to begin a search. Though another storm came in, they stayed on the mountain until February 26, finding a cave in which Uemura had stayed at 14,000 feet (4,300 m) on the way up, but no sign of the climber himself. A diary found in the cave revealed that Uemura had left gear there in order to lighten his load on the summit push. He had also left his self-rescue poles back at 9,500 feet (2,900 m), knowing he was past the worst crevasse fields. Most people figured he had fallen on his descent of the headwall and been hurt, died, and was buried by snow. Another theory is that he could have made it to 14,200 feet (4,300 m) (which is the base of the headwall) and then fallen into one of the many crevasses there and perished.

A group of Japanese climbers arrived to look for the body. They failed, though they did locate much of the man's gear at 17,200 feet (5,200 m).

The diary found in the 14,000 feet (4,300 m) cave has been published in Japanese and English. It describes the brutal conditions that Uemura suffered – the crevasse falls, -40° weather, frozen meat, and inadequate shelter. The diary entries showed him to be in good spirits, and documented the songs he sang to stay focused on his task.

The last entry read,

"I wish I could sleep in a warm sleeping bag. No matter what happens I am going to climb McKinley."