On Monday, Waldemar Kowalewski from Szczecin conquered Gaszerbrum II (8,035 m above sea level), located in the Karakoram, Pakistan. As PAP reported, he did it alone and without the support of additional oxygen from a cylinder. This is his 12th eight-thousander. Currently, the climber is descending to the lower camps.
Gasherbrum II, photo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv7ziIxWtWM
For 12 years, Kowalewski has been implementing a project to conquer the Crown of the Himalayas and Karakorum, i.e. 14 main peaks of peaks over 8,000 m.
On May 15, also without oxygen, he conquered the fifth highest eight-thousander - Makalu (8,485 m above sea level), located in the Himalayas.
To the collection of all mountains included in the Crown of the Himalayas and Karakorum, he is missing only Shishapangma (8,013 m) and Cho Oyu (8,201 m) located in China. If he managed to climb all 14 peaks, he would be the fourth Pole to achieve such an achievement.
His outstanding predecessors took longer to collect the Crown of the Himalayas and the Karakoram: Jerzy Kukuczka - 18 years (1979-87), Krzysztof Wielicki - 17 (1980-96), and Piotr Pustelnik - 21 (1990-2010).
In 2023, Kowalewski climbed three eight-thousanders: on May 25, Kanchenjunga (8,586 m) in Nepal, on July 2, Nanga Parbat (8,126 m), and on July 21, Gasherbrum I (8,080 m) in the Karakoram.
A year ago, the ba Gasherbrum II attack ended in failure due to difficult weather conditions. This year, too, the climber had to deal with unfavorable weather conditions, including: heavy snowfall, which forced him to leave the camp at 7,000 m at the beginning of last week, where he had been staying for over two days, and retreat to the base. (PAP)
source - PAP
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