Polish Skier Andrzej Bargiel Attempts Descent of Everest For 3rd Time

Climbing Mount Everest is a challenge in and of itself, but skiing down it is a whole other level. That’s exactly what Polish skier and mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel is attempting for a third time. Bargiel had previously attempted climbing up and then skiing down the world’s highest peak in 2019 and 2022, but both times was forced to end the expedition due to weather.

Everest is part of Bargiel’s “HIC SUNT LEONES” project (“Here Are Lions” in Latin), where he has tried to complete ski descents of the world’s highest peaks. On his website, Bargiel says of the project that he seeks to prove “that skiing is possible even on the Top of the World.” Since 2013, he has completed 8 peaks including K2, Manaslu, and Shisapangma—all 8,000 meters plus. Bargiel climbed and skied down these mountains all without supplementary oxygen, an approach he will most likely use on Everest as well.

Bargiel announced his Everest expedition on an Instagram post, captioned only with “Keep Fingers Crossed.” Accompanying him on the expedition are a team of filmmakers and staff supporting him from basecamp, like physical therapist Piotr Sadowski. Bartek Bargiels, Andrzej’s brother, will also work on the expedition as a drone operator.

The team will set off this fall, with Bargiel sharing an Instagram post on Sunday that he and his team have already arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city, to begin heading towards basecamp. Bargiel has chosen to attempt the descent in the fall season to avoid the crowds that swarm Everest in the peak climbing season, which runs from March through May. In addition, as Everest is actually much safer to climb and ski down after the summer monsoon season, since crevasses are covered with snow. 

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If successful, Bargiel would become the first person to ski nonstop from the summit of Everest to base camp, cementing his place in the history of both high-altitude mountaineering and extreme skiing. Yet the challenge is not only physical. Bargiel has warned in the past that climate change is rapidly transforming conditions on the world’s highest peaks, making glaciers more unstable and crevasses harder to navigate. That means opportunities for such descents may be shrinking. His fall expedition is more than a personal quest; it’s a dance with the fragile future of Himalayan climbing and skiing as warming temperatures reshape the mountains themselves.