Temperatures dropping below -30°C, sharp winds, endless snow flurries, but also the enchanting aurora borealis and the beautiful Nordic landscape. The polar regions are beautiful in calm weather, but during blizzards they quickly turn into a dangerous place that is not to be trifled with. We bring you the stories of 6 Czech polar explorers who have mastered the frozen regions.
1) Miroslav Jakeš
Miroslav Jakeš has a number of firsts and incredible performances to his credit. His adventurous journey began in 1982, when he became the holder of the Czechoslovak winter altitude record. Together with polar explorer Jaroslav Pavlíček, he climbed Mount Cho Oyu to a height of 6,500 m above sea level. But it never ends with the first adventure. Two years later, Miroslav Jakeš claims another great success when he crosses Greenland with the first expedition.
Further successes were not long
in coming. In 1986, he became the first Czech to climb the highest
mountain in South America, Aconcagua (6,961 m above sea level) solo.
In 1993, he became the first Czech to reach the North Pole on skis,
and three years later he made a solo crossing of Greenland from east
to west, during which he refused all help and undertook the journey
without any connection to the world. This tenacious adventurer has
conquered the North Pole a total of 19 times.
2. Miluše Netolická
We mentioned the first Czech man who reached the North Pole, so we certainly cannot forget the first Czech woman who undertook this dangerous journey. Miluše Netolická became the first Czech woman to reach the North Pole on foot individually on Wednesday, April 9, 2008. However, her return to the base was somewhat complicated. Due to fuel problems and adverse weather conditions, she had to be picked up by a helicopter on the way back.
3. Josef Sekyra
And let's add the South Pole. Josef Sekyra became the first Czechoslovak at the South Pole, somewhat by accident. Josef devoted his whole life to mountain climbing. But he adds in one breath that he did everything mainly for the sake of scientific activity. He focused on rocks that were exposed to extreme climatic conditions.
He first reached Antarctica in 1966-1967, when he carried out exploratory flights and climbing expeditions to mountains with a height of over 3,000 meters. He took a second look at Antarctica with the American Deep Freeze expedition, during which the remains of a 200-million-year-old lizard were discovered. The unprecedented find supported the theory of the breakup of the protocontinent, as the bones of this lizard have also been found in Africa and India.
And how did Josef Sekyra find himself at the South Pole? At the McMurdo base, one of the researchers jokingly asked if a Czech had ever been to the South Pole. Of course, Josef replied that not yet, and so a plan for a surprise for the Czechoslovak adventurer was born in the commander's head. As part of an aerial survey, Josef Sekyra was brought to the South Pole, where his colleagues prepared a small welcome for him, during which they hung the Czechoslovak flag on the spot.
Did you know that the first Czech, Josef Sekyra, happened to be at the South Pole basically by mistake? However, he had valuable scientific discoveries to his credit.
4) Czech polar station
But Josef Sekyra was far from the only Czech who appeared at the South Pole. It has been almost 17 years since the Johann Gregor Mendel Czech Science Station began operating in Antarctica. Czech scientists live here in a building with an area of about 300 m2. The entire building is designed to withstand the extreme climatic conditions typical of the South Pole region. Inside the main building there are twelve bedrooms, two common offices, as well as a dining room, kitchen, sanitary facilities and a drying room. Scientists at the base focus on, for example, research on endemic species, fossils and also on assessing the level of pollution in Antarctica, both in the case of microplastics and pesticides.
The Mendel Polar Station, officially the Johann Gregor Mendel Czech Science Station, has been in operation since 2007 and is located on the coast of James Ross Island.
5. František Běhounek
A number of interesting personalities figure in the history of the conquest of the North Pole. Few of them have such an interesting and unusual story as František Běhounek, who was the first Czech to fly over the North Pole in an airship.
František was to complete his very first flight with the airship team Norge. Commander Amundsen, however, unfortunately rejected his participation. Thus, only Běhounek's apparatus participated in the expedition above the North Pole, thanks to which he obtained the much-needed research data. But luck smiled on Běhounek during the second expedition of the airship Italia. He was chosen as one of the twenty members of the expedition led by General Nobile and thus became the first Czech to fly over the North Pole. Do you think there might be a catch? You're right. On May 23, 1928, there was another, third expedition, which ended tragically for 11 crew members.
The airship Italia reached the North Pole on its third expedition in May 1928, but then it was wrecked and the surviving crew members were left to fend for themselves in the middle of the icy regions.
Imprisonment on the ice ridge
Although the expedition managed to successfully reach the North Pole in an airship, they were immediately overtaken by bad weather. Strong winds and heavy snowfall made landing at the North Pole completely impossible. The airship's crew sullenly threw down the flag with the wooden cross and set off on their return journey. The wind was getting stronger and the airship turned into one big uncontrollable colossus due to the cold. After several attempts at emergency maneuvers, it was clear to everyone that the crash could no longer be prevented.
After hitting the frozen sea, the cabin of the airship separated, and the rest of the structure, as if suddenly changing its mind, rose into the air with several crew members. None of them could ever be found despite numerous attempts. The rest of the crew camped on the ice ridge. With low food rations and a small tent, they spent 49 days on the ridge. Some decided to leave the circle and went in search of land. However, they ended up the same as the crew of the airship, which was stuck in it on impact. No one ever saw them again.
However, the story of František Běhounk has a happy ending. The polar explorers managed to get the radio operational, the signal of which was picked up by a Russian radio amateur. Within hours, the world began planning an international rescue mission to bring the adventurers back home. The crew was finally rescued by the Russian icebreaker Krasin, which was the only one able to fight the thickly frozen ice around the North Pole.
6) Uncle Eskimo
Jan Eskymo Welzl is one of the most bizarre characters among Czech polar explorers. His incredible story begins in 1868 in Zábřeh na Moravě. Adventure has attracted him since childhood, so at the age of 16 he set out on a journey through Austria-Hungary. In 1892, he gets a job as a laborer on the border between Russia and China. But he soon leaves his job and goes through Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Verkhoyansk to the Novosibirsk Islands, which became his home for an incredible 28 years.
Welzl's story from the Novosibirsk Islands is described, for example, in the book Thirty Years in the Golden North, which is still the subject of controversy. The polar researcher of Icelandic origin Vilhjalmur Stefansson became the biggest opponent, who points out a number of inconsistencies in Welzl's narration. But the story of Uncle Eskimo is so unique that it undoubtedly cannot be missed among Czech polar explorers.
Statue of Jan Eskymo Welzel at the railway station in Zábřeh na Moravě. This eccentric adventurer lived for almost 30 years on the Novosibirsk Islands and was elected an Inuit chief.
Life among the Inuit
Welzl is said to have spent his first winter on the Novosibirsk Islands in a cozy cave he found. He had already spent the second winter in a self-dug hut, which was much more spacious than the first. On the Novosibirsk Islands, Welzl made a living as a hunter and fur trader. Last but not least, he played the role of a judge who, according to his story, was governed by Indian customary law. When fighting crime, Welzl was very cruel, often publicly lynching criminals. Uncle Eskimo describes himself as a skilled businessman. His business contacts were to extend from Franz Josef Land to northern Canada. Medicines, food and ammunition became the main items with which he supplied mainly hunters and gold diggers. Among the long list of activities, Welzl also included the delivery of mail with dog sleds.
It is said that Uncle Eskimo was very popular among the Inuit. He went by the nickname Bear Eater, but it's hard to tell if he gave it himself or if he really enjoyed polar bears. For all his merits, Welzl was elected Inuit chief. But everything would have remained a secret from the world forever if it had not been wrecked off the west coast of the USA in 1924.
After the Seven Sisters shipwreck off San Francisco, the Americans discovered that Welzl actually had no documents. They therefore exiled him to Europe. Welzl wandered around Hamburg for a while, earning his living by painting scenes from his travels. In 1928, Welzl moves to his native Zábřeh in Moravia and begins to tell his story to the editors of Lidové noviny. The books Thirty Years in the Golden North and Troubles of an Eskimo Chief in Europe are based on the narration of Welzl's experiences in the Arctic. Čapek himself inspired and created the character of Captain van Toch with the uncle Eskimo when writing the book The War with the Newts.
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