It was a wonderful and great achievement. On 30th June 1983, Krystyna Palmowska became the first woman in the world to climb one of the most demanding peaks in the Karakorum – Broad Peak.
Exactly 39 years ago, Krystyna Palmowska made an ascent in Alpine style, taking part in a two-person expedition with Anna Czerwińska. It was one of many marvellous achievements of Polish female mountaineers, many of which she accomplished during joint expeditions with Wanda Rutkiewicz, Anna Czerwińska or Halina Krüger-Syrokomska.
Even though the ascent was made by two Polish women, only Krystyna Palmowska reached the summit. Anna Czerwińska reached only the Rocky Summit pre-mountain and, convinced that it was the main summit, started the descent. She was not the first to make such a mistake. Palmowska, however, knew about previous cases and climbed further along the ridge until she reached the main summit on her own.
In her career, Palmowska climbed the peak of Nanga Parbat (8125 metres) in a Polish women’s team in July 1985. Krystyna Palmowska, Wanda Rutkiewicz, and Anna Czerwińska reached the summit on July 15 via the 1962 German Diamir Face route. Moreover, on 5th July 1979, she climbed Rakaposhi (7788 metres) via a new route. At that time, she also was the first woman to reach the top. She has also taken part in three attempts to climb K2. In 1982, she reached the height of 7000 metres. Then, in 1984 she reached 7350 meters and eventually, in 1986, she reached the height of ca. 8200 metres via a new route to Magic Line together with Anna Czerwińska and Janusz Majer.
Krystyna Palmowska was born on 11th November 1948 in Warsaw.
Broad Peak is a mountain in the Karakoram on the border of Pakistan and China, the twelfth-highest mountain in the world at 8,051 metres (26,414 ft) above sea level. It was first ascended in June 1957 by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl of an Austrian expedition. In 1983, however, there was the first ascent by a woman – Krystyna Palmowska.