Kathmandu: Polish adventurer Andrzej Bargiel has etched his name into mountaineering history by becoming the first person to climb and ski down Mount Everest without the use of supplemental oxygen.
The 37-year-old extreme skier reached the 8,849-metre (29,032ft) summit after nearly 16 gruelling hours in the so-called ‘death zone’, where oxygen levels drop to one-third of those at sea level. From there, he embarked on a continuous ski descent, navigating Everest’s perilous slopes without the aid of bottled oxygen.
“The summit itself was arduous. I’d never spent so much time at such an altitude in my life, so that was a challenge in itself,” Bargiel said.
While more than 6,000 climbers have reached the top of the world’s highest mountain, only about 200 have done so without additional oxygen, according to the Himalayan Database. A few have attempted ski descents, but none have ever managed the feat without supplemental air.
On Tuesday morning, Bargiel continued his descent through the Khumbu Icefall- a notoriously treacherous section of shifting ice towers and deep crevasses. He split the descent into two phases, carefully timing his passage through the icefall in the early hours when conditions were relatively stable.
Pierwszy w historii zjazd na nartach ze szczytu Mount Everestu bez użycia dodatkowego tlenu ⛷️🏔️
Dziękuję wszystkim za trzymanie kciuków! 🙌
Ogromne podziękowania dla teamu Seven Summit Treks, Chang Dawa, Speed Dawa – bez Was ten sukces nie byłby możliwy 🙏
Serdecznie… pic.twitter.com/udBliwDhZy
— Andrzej Bargiel (@JedrekBargiel) September 25, 2025
His brother, Bartek, aided the descent by flying a drone to help navigate the maze of ice. “I split the descent into two parts, as navigating the technically difficult icefall in relatively safe conditions was only possible in the morning,” Bargiel explained.
Bargiel’s support team hailed the achievement as a “groundbreaking milestone in the world of ski mountaineering.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was quick to celebrate the news, posting on X that, “Sky is the limit? Not for Poles! Andrzej Bargiel has just skied down Mount Everest.”
Bargiel is no stranger to rewriting records. In 2018, he became the first person to ski down K2, the world’s second-highest and notoriously deadliest peak. Reflecting on his career in a 2020 interview, he said that, “No one thought it could be done; even my own brother had doubts. It taught me the value of patience – and that nobody else can make your dreams come true.”
