Skier Andrzej Bargiel Just Did the Impossible on Mt. Everest
Few mountains, if any, have as much prowess for climbers, mountaineers, and skiers as Mount Everest. After all, it is the highest mountain on Earth at 8,849m (29,032 ft.). Summiting Everest is not just a wildly impressive athletic feat, but one that requires careful planning and on some occasions, comes down to the simplest details and stars aligning perfectly.
If the sheer magnitude of a task like summiting the Earth’s highest mountain wasn’t enough, on September 22, 2025, Andrzej Bargiel summited Everest, and then skied down to Base Camp using no supplemental oxygen.
The 37-year-old Polish athlete was already known as the only person to ski from the summit of every Karakoram 8,000m peak, including K2, which he holds the first and only full ski descent of, without supplemental oxygen. Now, Bargiel adds the only ski descent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen to the list as well.
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Watch: Andrzej Bargiel First Ski Descent of Mt. Everest Without Supplemental Oxygen
Bargiel followed an acclimatization protocol which required him to make several ascents and descents between the different Everest Camps. This protocol allowed him to adjust to the mountain’s extreme altitude before his final push.
On September 21, 2025, Bargiel left Camp IV at 11:24 p.m. and spent nearly 16 hours in the “death zone” above 8,000m, due to heavy, fresh snowfall. Bargiel summited at around 3:17pm on September 22, 2025, without supplemental oxygen.
Bargiel then clicked into his skis (let’s take a moment to picture putting skis on at the top of Everest), and began his descent. Bargiel passed the Hillary Step by 3:35 p.m. and was skiing along the ridge before reaching the Balcony and South Col at around 3:45. Just a couple hours later, he’d descended below Camp IV and continued left of the Geneva Spur to Camp II, where he arrived at 8:30 p.m.
It was already dark at this point, which made further navigation unsafe and impossible. Bargiel waited until 7:00am to continue down the mountain and by 7:50 a.m., he’d passed Camp I and continued on to ski the Khumbu Icefall without ropes or fixed lines. Bargiel reached the snowline at Everest Base Camp at 8:45 a.m.
“It’s one of the most important milestones in my sports career. Skiing down Everest without oxygen was a dream that had been growing inside me for years. I knew that the difficult autumn conditions and plotting the descent line through the Khumbu Glacier would be the greatest challenge I could ever face,” said Bargiel.
Bargiel’s accomplishment on Everest joins a long list of his ski mountaineering firsts such as the first ski descents of Gasherbrum I and II without supplemental oxygen, first and only full ski descent of K2 without supplemental oxygen, first ski descent of Braod Peak without supplemental oxygen, and first Pole to ski Manaslu with out supplemental oxygen in a record ascent and descent time.
A documentary about his accomplishment is set to be released in 2026.
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