All good things come in threes, people say. On his third attempt, Andrzej Bargiel succeeded in scaling Mount Everest without bottled oxygen and skiing from the summit back down to base camp. “It’s one of the most important milestones in my sports career. Skiing down Everest without oxygen was a dream that had been growing inside me for years,” said the Pole.
He had abandoned his first attempt in fall 2019 because a monster serac around 50 meters high and 30 meters wide was hanging over the Khumbu Icefall and threatening to break off. His second attempt ended in fall 2022 at the South Col at almost 8,000 meters, where the wind was so strong that it was impossible to pitch a tent.
“I knew that the difficult autumn conditions and plotting the descent line through
the Khumbu Glacier would be the greatest challenge I could ever
face,” Bargiel summed up after his coup.
It was the first time that a mountaineer had climbed to the summit via the Nepalese south side without bottled oxygen and then skied down to base camp, also without a breathing mask.
From South Col to summit in 16 hours
According to Bargiel’s sponsor Red Bull, the 37-year-old ski mountaineer reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain at 8,849 meters at 3:17 p.m. local time on Monday (22 September). The supplied pictures and videos show that Andrzej was accompanied at the summit by a companion wearing a breathing mask.
Bargiel reportedly took almost 16 hours to climb from the South Col at around 7,900 meters to the highest point. After a few minutes at the summit, he began his ski descent. At around 8:30 p.m. – a good five hours after starting his descent – Bargiel arrived at Camp 2 at around 6,400 meters.
Ski descent interrupted due to darkness
As it was already dark at this point and it was impossible to continue safely, he spent the night there and continued his ski descent on Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. At 8:45 a.m. local time, Andrzej finally arrived at the snow line above base camp, it said in Red Bull’s press release.
According to the Himalayan Times newspaper, Bargiel’s project was supported by a total of 16 Nepalese mountaineers.
Previously, only Slovenian Davo Karnicar – who died in 2019 in a forestry accident in his homeland – had successfully skied down from the summit of Everest via the south side of the mountain to base camp. However, for his ascent in 2000, he had used bottled oxygen from the South Col onwards, as well as for the first section on skis to the South Summit. Karnicar took four hours and 40 minutes to descend to base camp.
Seven eight-thousanders without breathing mask and with ski descent
Bargiel is the first ski mountaineer to summit the two highest mountains in the world without a breathing mask and to descend them entirely on skis. In 2018, he also achieved this feat on the 8,611-meter-high K2 in Pakistan.
Andrzej has now stood on seven of the 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen – followed by a ski descent. In addition to Everest and K2, he also succeeded in doing so on Shishapangma in Tibet (in 2013), Manaslu in Nepal (in 2014), and in Pakistan on Broad Peak (in 2015), Gasherbrum I and II (both in 2023).
Update 11 November: Click here to see a more detailed video of Bargiel’s ski descent from Everest.
What an absolutely staggering feat! Bargiel skiing down Everest without oxygen – and taking his sweet time at it, apparently sleeping overnight! Honestly, I admire the sheer audacity, but perhaps a watch with an alarm would have been a useful gadget? 😉 Kudos to the 16 Nepalese mountaineers, though; they clearly have patience! Being the second person ever to pull this off without breathing – and Davo Karnicar being the first, tragically – is impressive, though I do wonder what his estate thinks of this new benchmark. Still, seven 8000ers done this way is some serious bragging rights for Bargiel. Maybe next he can ski down to get a coffee? The man is either a machine or has very, very slow feet!Free Nano Banana