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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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
What I remember about Thin Air was when Peach (perfect name) worked to save her stranded husband. She was in Texas. From Dallas, Texas, Peach was informed by the expedition’s base camp (via satellite phone) that Beck was alive but in grave danger. Recognizing the urgency, she leveraged her connections and organized a high-risk helicopter evacuation. She saved her husband’s life from half a world away.
As many wives of mountain climbers she hated his hobby. Since he was badly injured from the frostbite he stayed home after that.
Kind of reminded me of Ethan Fromr.
It's a big mountain - it's a big tomb.
Plus they leave their junk all over the place. It’s littered with mountaineer junk. I think they’ve worked to clean it up but mountain climbers are such ecology nutters then they leave their crap all over the place.
Plus of course the guides that come along do all the heavy lifting. Kind of exploitative - although the locals are happy for what are considered the high paying jobs in the area.
If I remember correctly the first helicopter that Peach arranged had to take a guy who was more severely injured than her husband do she had to arrange for a second helicopter trip to pick up her husband.
Peach was a peach.
I predict a chair lift on Everest.
Because it was there ... I guess ...
That’s insane. But based on what I’ve read about climbing Everest, my biggest surprise is that the slope wasn’t too crowded to ski on.
In my opinion, reading between the lines, what saved the doc from Peach’s wrath was a story he told about how he was driven to keep moving by hallucinations of Peach and their children. Wise man.
I stay away from mountain climbing. My dad survived an avalanche on Mt. St. Helens in 1975. Five others didn't.
People have tried to ski down Everest before. There is a documentary I saw a few years ago about a Japanese guy who had a parachute to slow him down coming down the South Face (the part leading to the South Col which is 800m below the summit). The South Face was icy the whole way down and the Japanese guy was unsuccessful, and was lucky to be alive. Snow conditions on the summit ridge looked very good for the Polish fellow. I'm somewhat surprised he didn't ski down the North Face, as that seems to be much more reasonable for skiing, and it is also how Rheinhold Messner solo'ed Everest back in the 1980s, in large part because it avoids the Khumbu Ice Fall.
Obviously, he would have descended the mountain quicker if he didn’t take the bunny trail. Like 32ft/sec2 quicker.
Wince said...
“Obviously, he would have descended the mountain quicker if he didn’t take the bunny trail. Like 32ft/sec2 quicker.”
Stopping at the bottom is always tricky on that route.
Oh, you’ll stop at the bottom, just harder to get back up.
It's good to be a peach.
I love watching hiking videos on the youtube. Mostly Colorado hiking... but...
At some point I became tired of watching videos on Mt Everest. So I switched to K-2. YIKES... then I switched back to Mt Everest.
Dang it! I was just about to di that, but now that he's done it, forget about it.
For many years I watched mountain climbing documentaries and read stories to figure out why they do what they do. On one level it's nothing but narcissism and self-indulgence. On another level, it's a whole lot of cold and danger. I get that they like a challenge, but why spend so much and risk so much? Your wife and kids will suffer.
Some sources say that the main difference between climbers and others is that they have no fear. They don't fear death or danger and it's a hobby.
Everest itself has turned into a disgusting theme park, filled with trash, feces, and corpses, as the Sherpas lay the lines, carry the tents, carry oxygen bottles, and literally cart rich people around.
In 2005 a French guy landed a helicopter on the top of Everest. A chair lift would indeed be next. If China acted like China usually does, they'd carve stairs, put in photo booths, add glass bottom walkways, and build pressurized heated lodging all the way up. Give them time. The China side will surely be a lot cleaner than the filthy Nepalese side.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle
My cousin was a mountain climber. He never climbed Everest but he did climb K2. He went to base camp at Everest several times but couldn’t organize his finances for a climb up Everest. He had a long suffering wife who was very vocal about her suffering. He wasn’t a very involved parent but he also was of the belief that people are the masters of their own fate. He provided food and board and figured his kids were responsible for the rest. He didn’t think his wife benefitted his kids more because she was always there for them (and in the case of his wife he was unfortunately correct). He was extremely strong willed, so the fights with his wife - and they occurred all the years he travelled - never deterred him. He was very confident of his abilities but never too confident. If he thought weather circumstances would prevent a summit, then he wouldn’t go forward. He never toughed it out and forced himself to continue. Several times his caution most probably saved his life. He never bragged, he never talked about his climbs unless he was asked. He talked about his climb up K2 with me but I didn’t realize what an accomplishment that was until I read about it myself. He didn’t really believe in God but climbing was a spiritual experience for him. He felt a closeness to the divine is the best way I can describe it. He couldn’t live without it. He climbed every chance he got. When the family visited, the visit had to include the Grand Canyon.
Also climbing tested his limits - he got to know what his body and his mind were capable of.
Sitting around watching tv not for him. A walk, doing pull ups at the kids playground, climbing a local landmark that was how he spent his hours until the next climb.
It did take a lot out of his family time because every weekend and that means every weekend was spent in the mountains. If his family wanted to come along that was great, if they didn’t he went alone.
He climbed K2.
K2 is even more difficult ...
His wife always said he was selfish and I suppose he was. He didn’t act like a selfish man. I have to say that of all the couples I remember as a child, they were the most couple-y. There was a spark between them I never saw in any of the couples of my childhood.
K2 is the savage Mountain.
Very few have climbed it.
the most exciting thing about Ann's video is the views. Love taht.
He climbed a lot of the mountains in the Himalayas and all around the world. He did it on the cheap, staying in hostels and skanky hotels but still it was an expensive activity. So there certainly was no money for their kids education. So his wife was right to be unhappy. But he really was an extraordinary man.
Climbing K2 the traditional way deserves massive respect for technical skills. It requires a very long hike through a cold wilderness, then one goes up an unprotected vertical pyramid covered with ice. One passage is known as "House's Chimney" -- formerly technical but now made easy with ropes and ladders. In addition, the excursion firms now fly people out, carry the tents, and have turned it into a new Everest...
My favorite mountain from its look and weird climb is Cerro Torre in Patagonia. Once you reach the top of a narrow spire, they must climb a giant mushroom made of crumbly ice. It has had big controversies (e.g., lies, using a motorized "compressor" to drill holes and get up). Reinhold Messner described that climb as "The Murder of the Impossible."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Torre
Always wondered about skiing down Everest. 3 guys from my male bonding backcountry ski group climbed up and skied down McKinley 25-30 years ago. They went up on skis a bit faster, and saved better than a day on the descent. They were on tele(mark) gear (heels free, only hooked to the skis at the toes). You’d need Alpine Touring (AT) gear for Everest. It’s a little heavier, but much safer and more effective on steep and/or in icy conditions. AT bindings let you ski normally (as most do) on the downhill, with your heels locked down, but when you freeheel (as you do with tele gear), ascending is much easier.
One of those guys tried to do Everest a couple decades ago, got part way up, but conditions didn’t permit. We all helped finance it. Too much money to try again.
Despite being a CO native, and spending a significant portion of my life at higher altitudes (>=9k’), I never had any interest in any of these climbs. We have a familial susceptibility to HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Endema). Knew a guy who died from it on McKinley.
I remember watching the original, "Man Who Skied Down Everest" movie about fifty years ago. I think it is probably still available on You Tube. (Yup, I checked.) It was pretty anti-climactic, since he mostly "Fell Down Everest" when his parachute collapsed. Insane Japanese fellow, luckily survived. If you want to have your anal sphincter tighten up, however, I recommend watching Alex Honnold do some free ascents up crazy sheer rock faces. That guy is... different. Or if insane skiing is more to your taste, try "The Ultimate Run" by Markus Eder or anything from Candide Thovex. Enjoy.
“Climbing K2 the traditional way deserves massive respect for technical skills.”
I think the reason my cousin climbed K2 rather than Everest was because the fees and costs were so much lower. $10 to $15,000 versus $25 to $40,000 for Everest.
BTW, rereading my comments, I really didn’t give his wife the support she deserved. His family was secondary in time but also in money. Short of divorce which was out of the question, she really had very few options. When they married they both enjoyed the outdoors but his interest in climbing came later when their kids were toddlers and then grew into an obsession.
Now lets see how many moneyed morons die trying to recreate this feat.
There really should be 24 hour cameras on Everest so we can watch failure in real time.
Take bets.
Glad he didn't become one of the dead bodies. That's nice.
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