Mount Everest
8,849 m a.s.l., August – September 2019, August – September 2022
On August 25, 2022, I returned to the Himalayas for the next stage of the EVEREST SKI CHALLENGE, part of the HIC SUNT LEONES project. The objective was clear: climb and ski down Mount Everest. Skiing from the summit of the world’s highest peak (8,849 m) is one of the toughest challenges in mountaineering — proving that a ski descent is possible even from the Roof of the World. This was my second attempt at this goal.
This time, I reached the South Col at nearly 8,000 meters, during the climb. However, with strong winds building and the forecast rapidly worsening, I was forced to put the summit push on hold and wait at Camp II, hoping conditions would improve. Instead, the weather window closed — heavy snowfall and increasing winds made a safe and responsible ascent impossible. In those circumstances, the only right decision was to call off the expedition.
The first attempt to climb and ski down Mount Everest took place three years earlier, in 2019, a little over a year after the success of the K2 SKI CHALLENGE. I set off for Kathmandu on August 27, 2019.
This attempt came to an end after five weeks in base camp. That season brought extremely difficult conditions — a prolonged monsoon, unusually heavy snowfall and rain, and above all a massive serac looming high above the route: roughly 50 metres tall and 30 metres wide, detached from the main wall and hanging 800 metres above the glacier. Faced with this objective danger, I made the decision to call off the expedition — aware of the risk it posed to both 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).
