He left his mark on the pages of history in an impressive way. He was the second Pole to achieve this
Piotr Krzyżowski conquered Mount Everest (8,848 m), the highest peak on Earth, without the use of additional oxygen. He did this just two days after climbing Lhotse.
Just as we will always remember the successes in the Himalayas of the legendary Jerzy Kukuczka and several of his outstanding colleagues, Piotr Krzyżowski will also have a golden card in the history of Polish climbing. A mountain rescuer and lawyer from Bielsko-Biała achieved a great feat. First, he conquered the fourth mountain in the world, Lhotse (8,516 m), and then climbed Mount Everest (8,848 m).
Krzyżowski on Mount Everest without bottled oxygen
Krzyżowski became the second Pole to conquer Everest without using oxygen from a cylinder. The first one was Marcin Miotk during an expedition that took place 19 years ago. While climbing the highest peak on earth, even the legendary Kukuczka had to supplement himself with oxygen for some time in 1980, although his supply had already run out during the summit attack.
As “Magazyn na Szczycie” reported on Facebook, Krzyżowski was the first person to conquer Lhotse and Mount Everest without the use of bottled oxygen, without the help of Sherpas and during one mountain ascent without descending between reaching the peaks to Everest Base Camp. Such cases are rare in the increasingly commercialized world of Himalayan mountaineering.
Details of Krzyżowski's ascent to Everest
The Wspinanie.pl portal reported that Krzyżowski showed unprecedented courage. All because, after conquering Lhotse, he stopped in camp IV on the South Pass (7,900 m), and it is the common point of expeditions to these two peaks. Then he decided to attempt to climb Everest without resting at the base camp, located at an altitude of approximately 5,300 m.
Krzyżowski repeated in interviews that he considers himself an ordinary person. However, there is no doubt that an ordinary person does not do such things in the highest mountains in the world. The climber has already conquered seven eight-thousanders in his life. Previously, apart from Lhotse and Everest, he also climbed Gasherbrum II (2021), Broad Peak and K2 (2022), Nanga Parbat and Gasherbrum I (2023).