Polish mountaineer and adventure skier Andrzej Bargiel has become the first person to climb Mount Everest and ski back down without the use of supplemental oxygen.
The 37-year-old completed the feat last week, marking the culmination of years of preparation and two previous unsuccessful attempts, he and his sponsors announced.
“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,” Mr Bargiel said.
“Skiing down Everest without oxygen was a dream that had been growing inside me for years,” he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
Above 8,000 metres – known as the “death zone” – there is only a third of the oxygen found at sea level. Climbers face risks such as altitude sickness, fluid in the lungs and even fatal brain swelling.
Despite this, Mr Bargiel spent nearly 16 hours battling the thin air during his final push to the summit.
Mr Bargiel reached the summit on Monday after a four-day climb from base camp and skied back down over the next two days.
Speaking after the achievement, he said: “I had never spent so much time at such an altitude in my life. Skiing down Everest without oxygen was a dream that had been growing inside me for years.”
Mr Bargiel broke up his return into stages, crossing the dangerous Khumbu Icefall at daybreak when it was more stable, according to The New York Times.
“I am on top of the highest mountain in the world and I’m going to descend it on skis,” Mr Bargiel said in a video posted on Instagram early on Thursday.
Mr Bargiel posted another video of the descent on Instagram. “Thank you all for keeping your fingers crossed! Thank you also to my entire team for being with me throughout this project.”
His brother Bartek reportedly used a drone to steer him through the shifting ice blocks and deep crevasses.
While more than 7,000 climbers have reached Everest’s summit, only around 200 have done so without bottled oxygen.
The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, wrote on X: “Sky is the limit? Not for Poles! Andrzej Bargiel has just skied down Mount Everest.”
This is not Mr Bargiel’s first record in extreme skiing. In 2018, he became the first person to ski from the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest peak.
Chhang Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, which led the expedition, said Mr Bargiel skied down to Camp 2, spent the night there, and then reached base camp the following day.
“This was extremely challenging and no one had done it before,” Mr Dawa Sherpa told AFP.
