Polish mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel became the first person to ski down from the summit of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. The 37-year-old athlete spent 16 hours in the "death zone" and, after a brief stop at the summit, embarked on a historic descent, Reuters reports, according to UNN.
Details
"Pole Andrzej Bargiel became the first person to ski down Mount Everest without an oxygen tank," his team announced on Thursday.
"The Pole spent 16 hours in an exhausting ascent in the death zone (at an altitude of over 8000 m) without the use of supplemental oxygen. He spent only a few minutes on the summit of the world's highest mountain before putting on his skis and beginning his historic descent, racing towards the setting sun," the statement said.
His team also reported that the ascent of Everest (8849 meters) took Andrzej longer than planned due to heavy snowfall.
Addition
Polish mountaineers gained fame in the 1980s thanks to the "Ice Warriors" — Jerzy Kukuczka and Wanda Rutkiewicz, who made daring winter ascents and blazed new trails. 37-year-old Andrzej Bargiel continued this tradition: in 2018, he was the first to ski down the world's second-highest mountain, K2.
A video posted on Facebook shows him gliding through a thick layer of snow against the backdrop of Himalayan peaks. Due to the onset of darkness and the inability to navigate safely, Bargiel stopped at Camp 2 at an altitude of about 6400 meters and continued his descent only at dawn.
"The sky is the limit? Not for Poles! Andrzej Bargiel just skied down Mount Everest!" Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on social media platform X.
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