13 March 2003

Yet another wintertime attempt to reach the summit of K2, the world's second highest mountain, has ended in failure. Polish expedition leader Krzysztof Wielicki decided Feb. 28 not to ascend to the peak, and so to end the expedition.

The failure was due to exceptionally unfavorable weather conditions, with very strong winds blowing on K2, and the exhaustion of the mountaineers, who spent over two months in the extreme conditions. Despite the failure, the fact that they pitched four camps and climbed to an altitude of 7,630 meters in the severe winter conditions is a major success, demonstrating the Polish climbers' determination.

The K2 expedition was part of the Program of Winter Exploration of the Himalayas and Karakoram, worked out and initiated in 1980 by the late mountaineer Andrzej Zawada. The objective was to reach the world's fourteen 8,000-meter summits in winter, the most difficult time of year. So far, the Polish climbers have reached seven of them: Mount Everest (8,848m), Manaslu (8,156m), Dhaulagiri (8,167m), Cho Oyu (8,153m), Kanchenjunga (8,589m), Annapurna (8,091m) and Lhotse (8,511m).

The winter Himalayan exploration program is highly regarded by the global mountaineering community. Poles have been hailed "ice warriors," but the program's completion still requires the successful ascent of seven peaks, first of all K2. The present K2 expedition is not the first attempt to reach the summit in winter. A Polish expedition led by Zawada first tried at the end of 1987. Unfortunately, the conditions were tough; K2 is very difficult to reach, the northernmost peak of such a height. The Poles didn't reach the top; they stopped at an altitude of 7,250m, forced to concede that the mountain had their advantage. Wielicki's expedition to Malaku, another peak of such an altitude, was also unsuccessful; a strong hurricane that blew almost uninterruptedly kept them below the 7,000m mark. The two winter expeditions led by Zawada in 1996-97 and 1997-98 on Nanga Parbat (8,125m), where they were to climb a vertical wall of 1,200m in 12 or so hours, also failed. During these expeditions, Krzysztof Pankiewicz lost all his toes, and Zbigniew Trzmiel the fingers of his right hand. The wall has claimed nearly 40 victims. Zawada wanted to organize a third expedition, and also thought about ascending K2 in winter. He used to say that he who reached K2 in winter would be a great man. Zawada himself didn't manage-he died Aug. 21, 2000 from a severe illness.

A late start

It was not Poles' good fortune to participate in the "golden era" of the first-ever ascent on the world's highest peaks immediately after World War II. Polish mountaineers actually organized their first Himalayan expedition as early as 1939, but the outbreak of war prevented them from returning to the country. During the first postwar years, through 1948, they succeeded in organizing several expeditions to the Alps, but a long break followed. One of Poland's leading climbers, Leszek Cichy, sadly admits that "for political reasons, the possibility of foreign trips by Polish climbers was not taken into account. Consequently, we didn't take part in the first expeditions, during the real conquest of the Himalayas but there still remained the 7,000m peaks to ascend, their number amounting to nearly 300. So, the goal-largely achieved-was to reach the highest of them. A second goal, suggested by Zawada, was to reach the 8,000m peaks for the first time in winter. We're good at it-only Poles have successfully scaled the seven highest peaks in winter. Winter expeditions open up new opportunities, but first of all they show man's adaptability." Cichy and Wielicki were the first to reach the top of Mount Everest in winter, Feb. 17, 1980. The expedition was led by Zawada.

Real challenges

Poles were able to return to the Himalayas in 1971, although organizing an expedition was not easy. Mountaineers at that time often belonged to the intellectual elite. They set about the conquest of Poland's highest mountain range, the Tatra Mountains, with peaks rising slightly above 2,000m. Rysy (2,499m) is the highest on the Polish side of the border. Their ambitions then shifted to higher mountain ranges. All the Polish Himalayan champs gained their first climbing experiences in the Tatra Mountains. "The early '70s were a special period for Polish climbing-a meeting of those Himalayan climbers who began to climb after the war and also the younger generations beginning in the '70s, like me. That momentous meeting of three generations set major challenges," added Cichy. "Many people wanted to climb, the competition was strong, and therefore we reached for the greatest possible success."

Poland's communist era, while posing obstacles, paradoxically became the "golden" period of Polish climbing. Many climbers spent time doing steeplejack's jobs, painting pillars, chimneys and factory halls-a well-paid business. Several months' work earned enough for an expedition. This kind of sideline allowed enthusiasts to raise funds in a country where the average monthly pay amounted to a mere $12.

The Polish Mountaineering Union (PZA) was established in 1974, providing financial support for major expeditions. Over 100 Polish climbers were to set foot on the world's highest peaks. In the late '70s, hundreds annually went to the Hindu Kush region, higher than the Alps. "The group was big enough to enable the selection of the best, who reached the highest summits in the most difficult conditions," said Cichy. Those trips also taught them a business-like approach to life. The Himalayan champs say that it wasn't worth the trouble to bring tents bought in Poland back to the country. It paid much more to sell them immediately after descending the mountains. Almost everything they managed to take down was immediately sold off. It was a genuine lesson in resourcefulness, which proved very useful in the wake of the systemic changes in Poland. Many Polish mountaineers only took a short time to find their place in the new economic system and establish a business of their own.

Janusz Onyszkiewicz, the PZA head-who has scaled one 8,000m peak, Gasherbrum 2, together with Cichy, breaking the then Polish climbing record-continues to climb lower mountains.

The former minister of national defense and Sejm deputy, Onyszkiewicz remembers that "support from industry and state enterprises was then unavailable. Our expeditions obtained financial support almost exclusively from abroad-from a few sponsors who were expatriate Poles. However, the bulk of the money had to come from public funds, and this was always a big problem: to gain the acceptance of the Chief Committee for Physical Education (GKKF). But even with these resources, it wasn't the end of trouble. I remember trying to persuade directors of large industrial works to make 20 pairs of special mountaineer's shoes for us. The director would say: 'Don't bother me, I'm not interested in your money, and 20 pairs is no order. If you order 20,000, then I might consider it.' So, first there was the question of getting money, then of spending it. And, last but not least, the question of obtaining passports."

The world has changed

Just a few years ago, climbing the highest mountains involved setting oneself against the power of nature. The general public learned about a climbers' success only after a considerable delay. "In those times, the allure of climbing consisted in everything taking place out of public view. It was a struggle with the mountain rather than doing something for show. Back then amateurs, like me, practiced climbing, but we could rival the professionals. Today, this has already become very difficult," said Onyszkiewicz.

It was possible to follow the latest K2 expedition live on the Internet or on television. These are the conditions enforced by sponsors and media patrons, and also requirements of the public, hungry for a story. Michał Jagiełło, a man in love with the mountains-he was a deputy minister of culture and is now director of the National Library-says that the man who led to this change was Reinhold Messner. The German mountaineer scored some brilliant triumphs and was the first to sell himself and mountaineering to mass culture.

A turning point was also the race for the Crown of the Himalayas-reaching all the 8,000m peaks-between Messner and one of the best Polish climbers Jerzy Kukuczka. In the end the Pole came second, in 1987. "Also the present Krzysztof Wielicki expedition, referred to as 'NetiaK2,' is one more step in this direction," said Jagiełło. "Perhaps soon you will have cameras fixed high in the mountains, on the ridge of K2 or Mt. Everest, to watch someone dying on live television."

Cichy agrees that "contemporary Himalayan climbing is different. Unfortunately, sponsorship has its ups and downs. I'm happy that I started climbing in the time when mountaineering addressed your inner thoughts and feelings rather than being for show. I believe that many climbers still want to reserve their innermost experiences in the mountains for themselves. Today, in order to survive we have to be more open, but I'm not fully satisfied with that. Mountaineers don't go to the mountains to meet sponsors' requirements, but only to be in the mountains."

Price of passion

Reaching mountain summits claims victims. Jagiełło admits that he is addicted to the mountains. The long-time head of the Tatra Section of the Volunteer Mountain Rescue Service (GOPR) counts on his fingers the names of close friends claimed by the mountains: "Wojciech Wróż perished on K2, Andrzej Czok in the Himalayas..." Like Jagiełło, they all loved mountains. Despite his achievements, he gave up climbing the highest mountains; he prefers mountain rescue. "Maybe I'm fabricating an ideology, maybe I chickened out, but I feared that my competitive instinct, my ego-the ego of a man who wants to reach the top, wants to achieve success as a climber-could have destroyed something extremely important to me. As a rescuer, after all, I need to give up my own ambitions and go down the hill with a colleague who doesn't feel well-I don't know if, close to the summit, I would have been able to afford to do that. I got scared of moral dilemmas, for how can one possibly live with something like that." The list of victims is disturbingly long: Tadeusz Piotrowski, Janek Franczuk, Mirosław Dąsal "Falko," Zygmunt Heinrich, Wanda Rutkiewicz. "The death of Tadeusz was a serious shock for me. He promised me he was going to the Himalayas for the last time. He went to K2 with Jurek Kukuczka and perished. Kukuczka also perished on Lhotse in October 1989. I was furious with Tadeusz for taking himself from me. After Wanda's death I wanted to scream at her-why didn't she back down, why didn't she obey me."

Right before Rutkiewicz's fatal expedition to Lhotse in 1989, Jagiełło talked with Poland's Himalayan climber for four hours. He doesn't wish to reveal the details, but it's known that he tried to stop her. The passion, however, proved stronger. The list of victims soon grows too long to count on one's fingers-over 40 names. Is it worth paying so high a price?

"Please understand me, I have a dilemma. On one hand, I admire them, as they keep doing something I withdrew from. After Tadeusz's death, I shouted, 'Why have you done this to me, I didn't ask you to reach K2 for me, I wanted to have you alive.' I admire them, but I'm an egoist, and I want them near me."

Onyszkiewicz also paid a high price for his love of mountains. "What pushes people to climb mountains? I think, a need to respond to a challenge posed by the mountains. People didn't really have to reach the poles or land on the moon, but a moon cannot think that man will not set his foot on it; the same goes for Mt. Everest, K2 and other peaks. I experienced two great personal tragedies. Along with many climbing colleagues, I lost two wives in the mountains. One of them perished in the Caucasus, the other in the Himalayas. I couldn't stop them. I have no right to say that I didn't understand them, that there was no point. But I do miss those people very much."

Cichy says that he doesn't seek adrenaline in the mountains. "I suppose I do everything to make climbing safe for me and for the partners I go with. The prize is making one's dream come true; many people would be ready to do almost anything for their dreams to come true. Besides the short stay on the top, there are memories. Even today, I can think and talk about Mt. Everest, where I was 23 years ago. A while on the top gives you a long time of satisfaction and very intense experiences. To this day, I can remember almost every minute of those two or three days, when we climbed Everest in winter. This experience changes people."

Mountaineering has an inherent lure. The highest mountains have already been conquered. Some of them even have multiple routes, but other mountains still await. One day, man will have reached all the peaks. But even then the mountains will still attract climbers, as none has reached all the summits, and for every climber the next peak is a new and special one. This is the mountains' magic; one that cannot be checked even by tremendous sacrifice. Wielicki is already planning a return to K2 in winter.

PROFILE

K2 is the hardest peak to conquer among those higher than 8,000 meters. Situated on the border of China and Pakistan, K2 is the highest mountain in the Karakorum range and, after Mt. Everest, the second-highest mountain in the world at 8,611 m. So far, fewer than 200 people have managed to ascend to its peak and no one has ever climbed it in winter. Polish mountaineers have marked out four paths leading to the peak. The first Polish Alpine climber to climb K2 was Wanda Rutkiewicz. K2 has three faces and its massif is surrounded by three glaciers-Savoy, Godwin Austen and K2. The Karakorum are the world's second-highest mountain range-only the Himalayas are higher. Over 100 peaks in the Karakorum mountains measure more than 7,000 m.

SEEKING NEW HEIGHTS

The history of Polish ascents of 8,000-meter-plus-peaks:

s Feb. 17, 1980-Mt. Everest (8,848m), Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.

s Jan. 12, 1984-Manaslu (8,156m), Maciej Barbeka and Ryszard Gajewski.

s Jan. 21, 1985-Dhaulagiri (8,167m), Andrzej Czok and Jerzy Kukuczka.

s Feb. 12, 1985-Cho Oyu (8,153m), Maciej Berbeka and Maciej Pawlikowski. Three days later the peak was reached by Zygmunt Heinrich and Jerzy Kukuczka climbing the same path.

s Jan. 11, 1986-Kanchenjunga (8,598m), Krzysztof Wielicki and Jerzy Kukuczka. During the last stage of the ascent, Andrzej Czok died in the third camp. He had topped Mt. Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Dhaulagiri.

s Feb. 3, 1987-Annapurna (8,091m), Artur Hajzer and Jerzy Kukuczka.

s Dec. 31, 1988-Lhotse (8,511m), Krzysztof Wielicki.
Andrzej Zawada was the leader of three of the expeditions.

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