This Monday marked the 45th anniversary of a monumental achievement in mountaineering: the first-ever winter ascent of Mount Everest.
Braving brutal sub-zero conditions, on February 17, 1980, Polish alpinists Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki reached the summit of the world’s highest peak at 8,848 meters, a feat that had only been achieved during the warmer months.
Their success wasn’t just an individual triumph but part of a groundbreaking 20-person Polish national expedition led by Andrzej Zawada, a pioneer of winter Himalayan exploration.
Since then, only five other climbers—three Japanese and two Koreans—have achieved this feat, with the most recent winter ascent occurring in 1993.
To mark the occasion, on Monday evening the surviving members of the expedition gathered at a special anniversary gala held by the Andrzej Zawada Polish Himalayan Mountaineering Foundation at the Olympic Center in Poland’s capital, Warsaw.
Reflecting on their history-defining achievement, Cichy and Wielicki told the Polish Press Agency: “It started our Polish exploration of the Himalayas and a great era in the highest mountains,” Cichy said.
“We were the first in the world to break barriers. It certainly had an impact on us, but we treated it as something great for Poland.”
Wielicki, whose contributions to mountaineering are widely celebrated, added: “I think that conquering Everest had a greater impact on the entire Polish mountaineering community than on us.
“History has proven that this is how the golden era of Polish winter Himalayan mountaineering began.”
Their success wasn’t just an individual triumph but part of a groundbreaking 20-person Polish national expedition led by Andrzej Zawada, a pioneer of winter Himalayan exploration.
Since then, only five other climbers—three Japanese and two Koreans—have achieved this feat, with the most recent winter ascent occurring in 1993.
To mark the occasion, on Monday evening the surviving members of the expedition gathered at a special anniversary gala held by the Andrzej Zawada Polish Himalayan Mountaineering Foundation at the Olympic Center in Poland’s capital, Warsaw.
Reflecting on their history-defining achievement, Cichy and Wielicki told the Polish Press Agency: “It started our Polish exploration of the Himalayas and a great era in the highest mountains,” Cichy said.
“We were the first in the world to break barriers. It certainly had an impact on us, but we treated it as something great for Poland.”
Wielicki, whose contributions to mountaineering are widely celebrated, added: “I think that conquering Everest had a greater impact on the entire Polish mountaineering community than on us.
“History has proven that this is how the golden era of Polish winter Himalayan mountaineering began.”
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