A Polish ski mountaineer has become the first to descend from the highest point of Mount Everest all the way to base camp without supplemental oxygen. Andrzej Bargiel, 37, made his way down to the bottom of the 29,032-foot mountain on Monday, his team said. The mountain’s extreme altitude conditions are known as the “death zone,” where oxygen levels are very low and the risk of altitude sickness is high. The mountaineer has attempted the feat two times before; he did not complete his runs in 2019 or 2022. Bargiel, who is known for skiing down steep and “utterly deadly slopes, was also the first person to have skied down K2, the world’s second-highest mountain on the border of China and Pakistan. K2 has a high death rate, with approximately one-fourth of the people who reach the summit dying while attempting to climb. While describing the 16-hour climb up Mount Everest, Bargiel said, “The ascent was difficult because other expeditions are closed at this time of year. Much more work is required [and] the conditions are much more difficult.”
