New Delhi : Poland’s Andrzej Bargiel has become the first person to ski down Mount Everest without an oxygen tank, his team said on Thursday (September 25). Polish Himalayan mountaineering became renowned in the 1980s thanks to “Ice Warriors” like Jerzy Kukuczka and the late Wanda Rutkiewicz who ran pioneering expeditions, particularly daring winter climbs, and developed new routes.

Bargiel, 37, has kept up the tradition. In 2018, he was the first person to ski down the world’s second-highest mountain, K2.

Bargiel’s climb to the top of the highest peak in the Himalayas, standing at 8,849 metres above sea level, took longer than planned due to heavy snow, his team said in a statement.

“The Pole spent 16 hours on a gruelling climb in the death zone (at an altitude above 8,000m), without

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