I'm reading "Polish Skier Climbs Everest and Skis Down Without Extra Oxygen/Andrzej Bargiel, 37, became the first person to complete the feat" (NYT).
In the videos, Mr. Bargiel is... seen peacefully gliding through pristine snow, almost as if he were a recreational skier.... But he is also seen navigating tricky and dangerous situations, like narrow ridges, nearly sheer mountain faces and drop-offs.... The most dangerous part of the journey came near the end, Mr. Bargiel’s team said, at the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, not far above base camp. The team described him “navigating a labyrinth of shifting ice and deep crevasses — without ropes or fixed lines.”... Despite his exertions, Mr. Bargiel reported: “I came back safe and strong. I’m healthy, fit and happy.”
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11 comments:
Finally. Somebody doing something interesting on Everest besides dying.
Take my word for it, not as easy as it looks
“I came back safe and strong. I’m healthy, fit and happy.”
And super-lucky. Head for Vegas - the Force is with you.
One more thing not on my to-do list. Very impressive, both ways.
Hard to believe. I wonder what percentage he actually skied down.
If only I'd been a more perfect mountaineer and a more perfect skier and a much better athlete all together . . . . . ohhhh and more prone to taking well prepared risks, I could have done that.
Great story and video, Thanks posting it.
Incredible story. What a range of humanity on display. On one hand, Perelman "I'm crying over my doodles that I call "art", give me 400 million" and then there's this guy. Guess I'll climb Mt. Everest and then ski down. No big whoop!
One of the best books I have ever read about climbing Mount Everest was Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster. It's a 1997 bestselling nonfiction book written by Jon Krakauer. It details Krakauer's experience in the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, in which eight climbers were killed and several others were stranded by a storm. Krakauer's expedition was led by the famous Everest guide Rob Hall. Other groups were trying to summit on the same day, including one led by Scott Fischer, whose guiding agency, Mountain Madness, was perceived as a competitor to Hall's agency. The climb ended in disaster, but the book is a fascinating but harrowing account of trying to climb a mountain that was not meant for humans to climb.
Good for him. I wish I were as healthy and fit, but I am happy. I also wish they would drastically reduce (90%) the climbers on Everest.
Another great one (also made into a movie is
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. It’s the true story of British mountaineers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates’ 1985 attempt to climb Siula Grande (21,000 feet) in Peru’s Cordillera Huayhuash range in the Andes mountains of South America. During their descent, Simpson suffered a severe leg injury and later fell into a crevasse. Yates, unable to pull him up and fearing his own death, cut the rope, effectively leaving Simpson for dead. Against all odds, Simpson crawled and hopped over 5 miles back to base camp, surviving for days with a broken leg, no food, and extreme exposure
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