Andrzej Bargiel makes first complete ski descent of Everest without bottled oxygen

Seven years after his historic first ski descent of K2, Andrzej Bargiel has made history once again, this time by becoming the first person in the world to climb and then ski Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen. He did so with the help of a huge support team and in the post-monsoon season. The mountain - as can be seen in the stunning images - was laden with snow, enabling him to easily negotiate technical cruxes such as the the famous Hillary Step and the Khumbu Icefall.

According to details provided by his sponsor Red Bull, the 37-year-old ski mountaineer from Poland set off from Everest Base Camp at 04:30 local time on September 19. He made rotations through Camps I, II, and III which allowed him to adapt to the extreme altitude before establishing himself at Camp IV on the South Col (7,900 metres), ready for the final summit push. On 21 September, Bargiel set off on his summit push from Camp IV at 23:24 local time. Due to heavy fresh snowfall, which made trail-breaking more difficult, the ascent lasted much longer than expected, and after nearly nearly 16 hours in the death zone he summited shortly after 15:00 on 22 September. Bargiel spent only minutes on top before clipping into his skis and beginning his descent. By 15:35, he had passed below the Hillary Step, continuing on towards the South Summit. At 15:45, he was seen riding along the ridge before reaching the Balcony and later the South Col. By 17:20, Bargiel had descended below Camp IV and continued left of the Geneva Spur en route to Camp II. He arrived at Camp II (~6,400 metres) at 20:30 local time, by which point it was already dark, making safe navigation impossible. After resting for the night he resumed skiing at around 07:00 local time on 23 September, descending along the Mount Everest shoulder walls. By 07:50, he had passed Camp I, continuing across the slopes of Nuptse, crossing the treacherous Khumbu Icefall on skis, navigating a labyrinth of shifting ice and deep crevasses - without ropes or fixed lines, guided in part by a drone flown by his brother, Bartek. He reached the end of icefall and the snowline at Everest Base Camp at 08:45 local time, completing the first-ever ski descent of Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen.

Bargiel, who succeeded on his third attempt at Everest after previous failed expeditions in 2019 and 2022, stated: "It’s one of the most important milestones in my sports career. Skiing down Everest without oxygen was a dream that had been growing inside me for years. I knew that the difficult autumn conditions and plotting the descent line through the Khumbu Glacier would be the greatest challenge I could ever face."

Everest has been skied before in the past, but never before in this style. While Slovenia's Davo Karnicar skied the south face of Everest in October 2000, he did so after climbing the mountain with supplementary oxygen. In May 1996 Hans Kammerlander made an extraordinary solitary and oxygenless ascent of Everest via the North Col in just 16 hours 50 minutes, but unfortunately snow conditions prohibited him from making a complete ski descent. In 1992 France's Pierre Tardivel climbed from the south and skied off the pre-summit. The first complete snowboard descent was carried out by Marco Siffredi in 2001 down the Norton Couloir; the Frenchman climbed the mountain with O2.