About

ABOUT

I was born on 18^th April 1988 in Łętownia, near Jordanów in south Poland. Being the ninth of eleven children of Maria and Józef Bargiel, it was clear especially for my parents, my high energy level has been a constant stream within me since my early childhood. My teachers at school and parents, had their work cut out trying to keep my grounded. Their backyard household career path they envisioned for me, simply wasn’t the chosen path for me.

The backyard sports subconsciously built the foundations to my future career. Running after the ball, climbing the tallest of the tallest trees, swimming and roaming the mountains was what I liked the most.

In junior high school it became clear that the only way to tame my energy was regular sports training. I started riding horses and mountainbiking in the mountainous terrains, with some small successes at competitions. Unfortunately, my bike wasn’t built to handle the job and fell apart quite often. Our sports club did not have enough budget to buy a new bike, and my parents could not afford such a luxury. Looking back now, I guess the cycling career path just wasn’t meant for me.

After attempting various sports, I had a natural pull to go back to skiing. Before I continue, let’s rewind the clock, as I feel it’s a good time to tell my story from the very beginning…

I bought my first skis from my neighbor when I was nine years old and I felt I had made the “deal of my life.” I exchanged table tennis paddles, and with heavy heart added a pocket knife, for wooden skis with a screwed edge, plastic sliding (height 190 cm), and shoes in size 44! I was so excited that I had many sleepless nights. The uncontrolled excitement and endless obsession confirmed this is my real passion. As soon as the first snow fell, my buddies and I made our way to the hills near my house.

Together, we made the ski runs and built the first ski jumps. This place will always have a sentimental value, as I took my first steps into the discipline known colloquially as the “freeride.” I often escaped school or strange made-up ailments, thanks to which I could free myself from classes. Looking back I can say now that it was my private investment in my sports career.

Winter existed only for skis!

ACHIEVEMENTS

In the cadet category, I won the Połonin Cup, which was a part of the Polish Cup, the Memorial of Piotr Malinowski, and the General Classification of the Polish Cup. I was second in the Polish Cup in Pilsko and in the Central European Cup.

In the cadet category, I won first place in the Polish Cup, in the Polish Championships, in the Połonin Cup – edition of the Polish Cup, in the Memorial of Piotr Malinowski, in the Central European Cup in the Czech Republic (cadet) and the Central European Cup Łomnica Wysokie Tatry.

I took 1st place in the junior category in the Polish Ski Championships and the Połonin Cup – edition of the Polish Cup. I was fifth in the Austria Dachstein Xtreme European Cup, and in the general classification of the European Cup, I took 6th place.

I took 3rd place in the World Cup in Madonna di Campiglio in Italy (junior), 1st place in the Czantoria Cup, edition of the Polish Cup (junior), 1st place in the Run to Kasprowy Wierch (junior) (49 minutes skiing in winter and 45 minutes in summer), 2nd place in the run-up Józef Psotka Memorial in Slovakia (senior), 2nd place in the Alpin Sports Ski Tour Race in Zakopane (junior), 3rd place in the World Cup in Štrbské Pleso (junior), 3rd place in the Memorial of Piotr Malinowski (senior), 4th place in the Pierre Menta competition in Areches-Beaufort (junior), 5th place in the Dachstein Xtream World Cup (junior), 8th place in the Ski Alpine World Championships.

I took 3rd place in the Dachstein Xtream World Cup (category – espoir, i.e., U-23) and 5th place at the European Ski Touring Championships in Tambre, Italy, 1st place in the Polish Championships (senior), 1st place in the Young International Cup Štrbske Pleso (espoir), 2nd place in the Memorial of Piotr Malinowski (senior), 2nd place in the Alpin Sports Ski Tour Race in Zakopane (senior), 3rd place in the General Classification of the World Cup in alpine skiing (espoir).

I won the prestigious Elbrus Race, breaking the world record belonging to Denis Urubko by as much as 30 minutes. I took 9th place in the Pierre Menta ski mountaineering competition in Areches-Beaufort in Savoie (senior). I won the Polish Seniors Cup in alpine skiing in Zakopane and the Polish Championships in the Jaworzyna Krynicka Run. In the espoir category, I took 5th place in the World Cup competition in Arvieux in France and 6th place in the general classification of the World Cup.

I won 1st place in the Polish Cup in alpine skiing in Zakopane (senior), 1st place in the Polish Cup – Memorial of Strzelecki (senior), 3rd place in the Alpin Sports Ski Tour Race in Zakopane (senior), 6th place in the sprint, 7th in vertical and 8th in the individual race (all in the espoir category) at the World Championships in Claut in Italy. After this year, I gave up taking part in the competitions.

For the first time, I set off to the Himalayas as a participant in the unification expedition of the Polish Mountaineering Association, organized as part of the “Polish Winter Himalayan Mountaineering 2010-2015” program.The goal of this expedition was to reach the Manaslu summit. Due to bad weather conditions, the attempt was unsuccessful, but I managed to climb to an altitude of 7,600 m a.s.l. The descent, which took 9 hours for others, I did on skis in half an hour. It turned out that skiing works well in high mountains! During the expedition to Lhotse, the conditions were also not favorable, and the accident of one of the team members thwarted the summit attack. Also here, I was able to check whether ski touring is possible in the high mountains, descending from 7,900 m a.s.l. to the height of the first camp located at 6,000 m a.s.l.

I started the Hic Sunt Leones project, aiming to prove that skiing is possible even on the world’s roof. During the first expedition of the project, on which I went to Tibet with my brother and friends, I climbed alone the central peak of Shishapangma (8,013 m a.s.l.) and became the first Pole to descend the 8,000-meter peak to its base without taking off his skis.

I added two world records to my achievements – reaching the Manaslu summit in 14 hours 15 minutes and skiing, thanks to which I also broke the record on the base-peak-base route. The way from the base to the Manaslu peak (8156 m a.s.l. and back took me 21 hours 14 minutes.

I stood at the top of Broad Peak (8051 m a.s.l.), and then as the first man in history, I skied down to base camp. It took me eight hours to climb to the top and three hours to go down. By the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland, I was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit for the development of Polish ski mountaineering and for promoting Poland in the world.

In a record time of fewer than 30 days, I reached the five highest peaks of the former USSR, winning the Snow Panther title and thus beating the record of Denis Urubko and Andrei Molotov set in 1999 by 12 days. From all the peaks – Lenin Peak, Chan Tengri, Korzhenevskoi Peak, Ismail Somoni Peak (former Komunizma Peak) and Pobeda Peak – I skied down partially or fully. In the Traveler competition organized every year by the Polish branch of the National Geographic Traveler magazine, I was named the Man of the Year 2016. I also received the Colossus for 2016 in the mountaineering category for reaching the Snow Leopard in record time.

The first time I found myself at the foot of K2. Due to bad weather conditions, the summit attack was not successful. I continued training in the Alps, where I could descend with the greatest classics, such as Mallory’s Couloir on the north face of the Aiguille du Midi.

This year brought the realization of one of my greatest dreams. I became the first person in history to ski from the top of K2 (8,611 m a.s.l.) to the base camp without taking off my skis.

After descending from K2, my next goal was to descend from the highest mountain in the world – Mount Everest. However, after a few weeks, I decided to stop the expedition due to the life-threatening danger caused by the vast serac hanging over the Khumbu glacier. The National Geographic magazine appreciated my other activity – skiing down K2, and I have been awarded the National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year 2019.

I went on an exploration expedition to the Karakoram, during which I skied down two six-thousanders – the virgin peak of Yawash Sar II and together with Jędrek Baranowski from Laila Peak, rightly considered the most beautiful mountain in the world. We were also the first Poles who managed to ascend this peak. I received the award of the Promoter of Poland awarded by the Foundation of the Polish National Emblem “Teraz Polska.”

I set off for the Himalayas again to make my second attempt to reach the top of the world’s highest mountain – Mount Everest and ski down without supplementary oxygen. This time I managed to reach the Count Pass at 8,000 m above sea level. Due to the strong gusts of wind and deteriorating weather, the expedition was interrupted again this time, as it was not possible to achieve the goal in a responsible and safe manner.

I skied down from two eight-thousanders, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II. This achievement made me the first person in the world to ski down from all four eight-thousanders located in the Karakoram – Broad Peak, K2, Gasherbrum I, and Gasherbrum II.