Poland’s Andrzej Bargiel has change into the primary climber to ski down the world’s highest mountain with out supplemental oxygen, his crew and expedition organizer mentioned Thursday.
Bargiel glided down Mount Everest’s snowy slopes after reaching the summit of the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) mountain on Monday.
“I’m on prime of the best mountain on the planet and I’ll descend it on skis,” Bargiel mentioned in a video posted on Instagram early on Thursday.
Bargiel posted one other video of the descent on Instagram. “Thanks all for protecting your fingers crossed!” he wrote. “Thanks additionally to my complete crew for being with me all through this challenge.”
Everest has seen a handful of ski descents however by no means a steady downhill with out further oxygen.
In 2000, Slovenian Davorin Karnicar made the primary full ski descent from Everest’s summit to base camp utilizing bottled oxygen.
Chhang Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, which organized the newest expedition, mentioned Bargiel skied all the way down to Camp 2, spent an evening after which reached the bottom camp on skis the subsequent day.
“This was extraordinarily difficult and nobody had completed it earlier than,” Sherpa instructed Agence France-Presse.
Heavy snowfall compelled Bargiel to spend 16 hours above 8,000 meters, referred to as the “dying zone” as a result of skinny air and low oxygen ranges heighten the danger of altitude illness.
He was greeted with a khada, a standard Buddhist scarf, when he arrived on the base camp.
“Sky is the restrict? Not for Poles! Andrzej Bargiel has simply skied down Mount Everest,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X.
Bargiel’s crew mentioned in an announcement that he had made historical past and known as it a “groundbreaking milestone on the planet of ski mountaineering.”
Bargiel began eyeing Everest a 12 months after he turned the primary individual to ski down Pakistan’s K2, the second-highest mountain on the planet, in 2018. On the time, Bargiel devoted the feat to the one hundredth anniversary of Poland regaining its independence, BBC Information reported.
Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto through Getty Photos
However a harmful overhanging serac compelled him to desert his 2019 try. He returned in 2022 however excessive winds hindered his plans.
The daredevil adventurer has been on a quest to make ski descents of the best mountains on the planet underneath his Hic Sunt Leones challenge, a Latin phrase for “listed below are lions” and used to discuss with uncharted territories.
In Pakistan, he has skied down all 4 of Karakoram’s eight thousanders. He additionally has skied off Nepal’s Manaslu and Shishapangma in Tibet.
Autumn expeditions on Everest are uncommon due to snowier terrain, shorter and colder days and a slim summit window in comparison with the busy spring.
Earlier this 12 months, famed Sherpa information Kami Rita reached the summit of Everest for the thirty first time, breaking his personal report for essentially the most climbs to the highest of the world’s highest peak.
