A Polish adventurer has become the first person to climb Mount Everest and ski back down without the use of supplementary oxygen.
Andrzej Bargiel, 37, reached the summit of the world’s highest peak, standing at 8,849 metres (29,032ft), on his third attempt. Dangerous conditions forced him to abandon earlier efforts in 2019 and 2022.
“The summit itself was arduous and difficult. I’d never spent so much time at such an altitude in my life, so that was a challenge in itself,” he said. “Skiing down Everest without oxygen was a dream that had been growing inside me for years.”
According to the Himalayan database, more than 6,000 people have climbed Everest, but only around 200 have done so without bottled oxygen. While a handful of climbers have skied down sections of the mountain, none had previously completed a continuous descent without additional oxygen.
Bargiel spent nearly 16 hours on Monday climbing through the so-called “death zone” above 8,000 metres, where oxygen levels are perilously low. At the summit, climbers breathe only a third of the oxygen available at sea level, a condition that can cause brain damage, fluid in the lungs, or death.
On Tuesday morning, he began his descent, skiing through the Khumbu Icefall, a treacherous section of shifting ice towers and deep crevasses – before reaching base camp. He was assisted in this stage by a drone piloted by his brother, Bartek. “I split the descent into two parts, as navigating the technically difficult icefall in relatively safe conditions was only possible in the morning,” he explained.
His team described the feat as a “groundbreaking milestone in the world of ski mountaineering”.
Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, hailed the achievement on social media, writing: “Sky is the limit? Not for Poles! Andrzej Bargiel has just skied down Mount Everest.”
Bargiel is no stranger to record-breaking descents. In 2018, he became the first person to ski down K2, the world’s second-highest mountain. Reflecting on his career in a 2020 interview, he said: “No one thought it could be done; even my own brother had doubts. It taught me the value of patience and that nobody else can make your dreams come true.”
