Naomi Uemura

Naomi Uemura was the youngest of seven children on a farm in Hyogo prefecture. At university in Tokyo he joined the mountaineering club almost by accident and was so bad at it at first that he trained alone to catch up. After graduating he worked on farms in California and at a French ski resort to fund his climbing, and by the age of 29 he had stood on the highest peaks of five continents, including Everest in 1970 as the first Japanese climber to reach the top.

He preferred travelling alone, he said, because he hated the thought of being responsible for another person's death and did not think he was good at leading. In 1968 he built a raft and floated 3,700 miles down the Amazon by himself. In 1974 he set off from Greenland with a dog team and travelled for eighteen months to Alaska, wintering with Inuit families and learning from them.

In 1978 he drove his dogs alone from Ellesmere Island to the North Pole, 57 days over broken ice. A polar bear ripped his tent open on the way and ate his supplies while he lay still inside; he shot it when it came back the next day.

In February 1984 he made the first solo winter ascent of Denali in Alaska, radioed that he had reached the summit, and was never seen again. His body has not been found. A museum in Tokyo and an adventure prize carry his name.