K2 summit ski descent

On July 22, 2018 ski mountaineering history was made! After making an ascent of  K2 the polish climber and ski mountaineer, Andrzej Bargiel, became the 13th Pole to climb the mountain and the first person to ski from the summit of K2 to basecamp. K2 is the world’s second largest peak at 8,611 meters it is only a meer 237 meters shy of Everest. K2 is located on the Pakistan-China border it is an incredibly remote mountain with the closest town being 75 miles away.  Many consider it the most techinical mountain to climb in the world. An ascent of this mountain is considered a feat in its own right.

This was Andrzej second attempt at skiing K2, last year he couldn’t complete the climb due to warming temperatures and poor avalanche conditions. After spending three and a half days climbing without oxygen Andrzej began the historic decent of the mountain. The descent took him over 7 hours and took him through steep technical terrain, under huge seracs, through crevasse fields, and at times poor visibility. The route taken was a combination of the Abruzzi Rib, The Cesen, The Messner Variant, and the Kukuckzka-Piotrowski routes. He skied the entire way except for one 50 meter rappel through the Bottleneck. Finishing the ski descent around 7:30 pm.

Check out the video below of the epic first descent of K2!!