Andrzej Bargiel and Jędrzej Baranowski, who explored two peaks in the Karakorum range in Pakistan – the virgin Yawash Sar II (6178 m) and Laila Peak (6096 m) – and skied down from them, are waiting in Islamabad for their return flight to Poland. They emphasized that luck favoured them. “Because of the weather, we had one chance on Laila Peak and we took it,” said Baranowski.
“There were good weather conditions for a short time, and it was coming up faster than forecast, so we had to act fast. The weather was good to us,” said Bargiel, who in 2018 became the first person in the world to ski down K2 (8611m), the most technically difficult eight-thousander.
The 33-year-old Bargiel skied down both Yawash Sar II and Laila Peak. On the latter peak, he was accompanied in his climbing and skiing struggles with snow and ice by free-rider Jędrzej Baranowski. It was a debut for him in the highest mountains.
“Due to the weather, we had one chance on Laila Peak and we took it. It’s very lucky to have made it. A nice reward at the end of the mountain activity. It was a great experience for me” – stressed Baranowski.
For seven years Bargiel has been carrying out his own project in the highest mountains, “Sunt Leones”, which aims at conquering high peaks at a fast pace, if possible, in the alpine style (without setting up camps) and then skiing down. In 2013 he climbed Shishapangma (8013m) in this way, a year later Manaslu (8156m, both in the Himalayas), in 2015 Broad Peak (8051m), located like K2 (2018) in the Karakorum. He was honoured with the “Kolos” award during the 21. National Meetings of Travelers, Sailors and Mountaineers and “Adventurer of the year”, an award given by the American edition of the “National Geographic” magazine.
Currently, the whole team has been in Islamabad for three days, waiting for the flight to Warsaw. The return is expected to take place on Wednesday evening Polish time.