, the first man to ski down K2, has just become the first to ski all of the 8,000m peaks in the Karakoram range.
The Karakoram is the second-highest mountain range on Earth and part of a complex of ranges that includes the Pamir Mountains, Hindu Kush and Himalayas, spanning the borders of Pakistan, India and China and is home to the largest glacial system outside the polar regions.
Bargiel completed his feat after he reached the summit of Gasherbrum I, standing at 8,080 metres, at 4:15 am local time on July 26th without supplemental oxygen before undertaking his ski descent.
This incredible achievement establishes him as the first person to have skied from the summits of all four of the Karakoram eight-thousanders, marking another milestone in skiing and mountaineering history.
In 2015, Bargiel had been the first man to ski down Broad Peak (8,051 m), and in 2018, he achieved the seemingly impossible, skiing down K2 (8,611 m) without removing his skis or using supplemental oxygen.
Bargiel’s latest Karakoram journey began with his expedition to Pakistan on June 30. The goal was to scale both Gasherbrum peaks without supplemental oxygen and ski down from their summits. Andrzej and fellow climber Janusz Gołąb first climbed Khosar Gang (6,400 m) as part of acclimatization.
Andrzej first reached the peak of Gasherbrum II (8,035 m) and completed the ski descent on July 19. The lack of ample weather windows made a single outing traverse between the two peaks untenable however.
But a few days after that successful ski descent of Gasherbrum II the team started their ascent of Gasherbrum I. The summit attack started yesterday (July 25th) at 2:00 a.m. local time, with the push from the base camp straight to Camp 2. Bargiel reached the peak of Gasherbrum I at dawn on July 26, before starting his ski descent, taking a few hours to return to camp.
