Polish climber skis down Everest without oxygen after Lhotse success
Polish alpinist Bartosz Kacper Ziemski summited Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and skied down from the summit, expedition organizers said, days after completing a similar descent from neighboring Lhotse in what they called a historic first.
PC: Seven Summit Treks
Polish climber Bartosz Kacper Ziemski has summited Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and skied down from the summit, expedition organizers said Tuesday, days after completing a similar descent from neighboring Lhotse in what they described as a historic mountaineering feat.
According to Seven Summit Treks, Ziemski reached the 8,849-meter summit of Everest on May 19 in alpine style without oxygen or Sherpa support before skiing down toward Everest Base Camp.
The company said the climber had also summited and skied down Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest mountain, without supplemental oxygen on May 12.
"With this achievement, Bartosz becomes the first person in history to complete both Everest and Lhotse ski descents (both no O2) in a single season," the expedition organizer said in an Instagram post.
Ziemski’s Himalayan skiing career already includes ski descents from Annapurna I, Kanchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Makalu, Manaslu, Gasherbrum I and Broad Peak, according to the company.
The achievement comes during Nepal’s busy spring climbing season, which began after Sherpa rope-fixing teams opened the route to Everest’s summit earlier this month, marking the start of the annual summit push period.
So far, a total of 494 paying climbers have obtained permits for Everest alone this season, according to Nepal’s Department of Tourism. More than 200 climbers have already reached the summit despite delays earlier in the season caused by unstable ice conditions in the Khumbu Icefall and late rope fixing to the summit.
Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 mountains above 8,000 meters, remains a global hub for high-altitude mountaineering.
