Mount Everest
8,849 m a.s.l., August – September 2019, August – September 2022
On August 20, 2025, I returned to the Himalayas for my third attempt on Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. The goal of the EVEREST SKI CHALLENGE was to climb Everest (8,849 m) and ski from the summit without supplemental oxygen.
I started the final summit push from Camp IV on September 22, 2025. Deep snow and difficult trail-breaking made the ascent much slower than expected. I spent 16 exhausting hours climbing in the death zone, above 8,000 metres, without supplemental oxygen.
I spent only a few minutes on the summit before clicking into my skis and starting the descent, racing against the setting sun. By the time I reached Camp II, at around 6,400 metres, it was already dark. Continuing the ski descent safely was no longer possible, and neither was crossing the Khumbu Icefall, which can only be done safely in the early morning hours. I stopped at Camp II and resumed the descent at sunrise.
I skied through the Khumbu Icefall without using a rope or fixed lines, following a ski line that my brother Bartek Bargiel and I had prepared specifically for the descent. From there, I continued on skis all the way down to Base Camp altitude (5,364 m).
My second attempt took place in 2022. This time, I reached the South Col at 8,000 metres, but strong winds forced me to abort the summit push and descend to Camp II, hoping for another weather window. However, the forecast for the following days and weeks continued to deteriorate, with heavy snowfall and increasingly strong winds leaving no safe window for another summit attempt. Under these conditions, the only reasonable decision was to call off the expedition.
My first attempt took place in 2019, just over a year after the success of the K2 SKI CHALLENGE. Conditions that autumn were extremely difficult, with a prolonged monsoon and exceptionally heavy snowfall and rain. The biggest concern, however, was a massive serac — around 50 metres high and 30 metres wide — that had separated from its base and was hanging some 800 metres above the glacier. With the objective hazard simply too high, I decided to call off the expedition.
Team (2025): Tomek Gaj (expedition leader), Patrycja Jonetzko (doctor), Piotr Sadowski (physiotherapist), Jan Gąsienica-Roj (safety manager), Dariusz Załuski (alpinist, Himalayan mountaineer), Maciej Sulima (cinematographer), Bartek Bargiel (my younger brother, drone operator), Bartek Pawlikowski (photographer).
Team members (2022): Janusz Gołąb (alpinist, Himalayan mountaineer), Carlos Llerandi (cinematographer), Bartek Bargiel (my younger brother, drone operator) and Bartek Pawlikowski (photographer).
Team members (2019): Bartek Bargiel (my younger brother, drone operator), Grzegorz Bargiel (my older brother, ski-alpinist, Tatra Mountain rescuer (TOPR), international mountain guide IVBV/UIAGM/IFMGA), Kuba Gzela (cinematographer), Marek Ogień (photographer), Grzegorz Pajak (cinematographer), Jakub Poburka (Tatra Mountain rescuer (TOPR)) and Piotr Snopczyński (alpinist, Himalayan mountaineer, GOPR mountain rescuer).
