In a first, Polish climber skis down Everest without supplemental oxygen

Andrzej Bargiel, a climber from Poland, has become the first person to ski down the world’s tallest mountain without using additional oxygen, according to his team and the expedition organizer.

After climbing to the top of the 8, 849-meter (29, 032ft) mountain on Monday, Bargiel sped down Mount Everest’s snowy slopes.

In a video that was posted on Instagram early on Thursday, Bargiel stated, “I am going to descend it on skis,” and that is the highest mountain in the world.

Everest has experienced a few ski descents, but there has never been a continuous downhill without additional oxygen.

Pierwszy w historii zjazd na nartach ze szczytu Mount Everestu bez uycia dodatkowego tlenu – Pierwszy w historii zjazd na nartach ze szczytu.

Wszystkim za trzymanie kciuków dzikuj! 🙌

Wasten sukces nie byby moliwy, agromne podzikowania dla teamu Seven Summit Treks, Chang Dawa, Speed Dawa, or

Serdecznie… photo https://twitter.com/udBliwDhZy

Slovenian Davorin Karnicar used bottled oxygen to make the first full ski descent from Everest’s summit in 2000.

Bargiel skied down to Camp 2, spent a night there, and then arrived at the base camp on skis the following day, according to Chhang Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, which organized the most recent expedition.

No one had ever done it before, Sherpa told the AFP news agency.

Due to the “death zone” and the high altitude sickness risk, heavy snowfall forced Bargiel to spend 16 hours above 8, 000 meters (26, 250 feet) due to thin air and low oxygen levels.

When he arrived at the base camp, he was given a traditional Buddhist scarf, the khada.

The sky is the limit, right? Not for Poles, please! According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Andrew Bargiel has just skied down Mount Everest.

In a statement, Bargiel’s team claimed that he had “made history” and that it had marked a “groundbreaking milestone in the world of ski mountaineering.”

A year after skipping Pakistan’s K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, in 2018, Bargiel became the first skier to do so. He immediately began to look for Everest.

However, he had to give up on his 2019 attempt due to a dangerous overhanging serac. He made a 2022 return, but bad weather prevented his plans.

The daredevil adventurer’s goal is to ski descend the world’s highest mountains using the Latin phrase “here are lions” (here are lions), which is used to refer to uncharted territory.

He skied off Nepal’s Manaslu and Shishapangma in Tibet and skied down all four of Karakoram’s mountains, which are higher than 8, 000 meters.