Mount Everest
8,849 m a.s.l., August – September 2019, August – September 2022
On August 25, 2022, I decided to return to the Himalayas for the latest EVEREST SKI CHALLENGE expedition as part of the HIC SUNT LEONES project. The goal of this expedition was ascent and a ski descent down Mount Everest. The descent from Mount Everest (8,849 m above sea level) is a real challenge, showing that skiing is possible even on the Roof of the World. It was the second attempt to meet this challenge.
This time I managed to reach the South Pass at an altitude of 8,000 m above sea level, but due to strong gusts of wind, I had to decide to suspend the mountain action, designing to the second camp in the hope of improving the weather, but the forecast for the following days and weeks was getting worse and worse. The expected heavy snowfall and increasing wind did not make it possible to implement the ascent responsibly and safely. Unfortunately, the most sensible decision in these circumstances was to end the expedition.
The first attempt to ascent and ski descent Mount Everest took place 3 years earlier, in 2019, just over a year after the spectacular success of the K2 SKI CHALLENGE project. I left for Kathmandu precisely on the 27th of August 2019.
Due to extremely tough conditions, including the prolonged monsoon this year and exceptionally abundant snowfall and rain this fall, and above all, a vast serac (about 50 meters high, 30 meters wide, separated from its primary structure and hanging 800 meters above the glacier), after five weeks in the Everest base camp I decided to stop the expedition, aware of the risks to the team and myself.
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).
