29-year-old Andrzej Bargiel is an extreme skier who is seeking to become the first person in the world to climb K2, the second tallest mountain in the world, and then ski all the way back down. K2 has only been climbed around 300 times in recorded history, and the mountain shared between China and Pakistan in the Karakoram Mountain Range measures approximately 28,251 feet above sea level. By contrast, Mt. Everest measure 29,029 feet and Mt. Kilimanjaro stretches 19,341 feet into the sky.
77 experienced climbers have died while attempting to summit K2, and it’s one of the deadliest hikes on the planet, but that isn’t deterring 29-year-old Andrzej Bargiel from attempting to become the first person to ski down K2. Andrzej is currently in the process of hiking up K2 and you can follow/track his progress over on Instagram:
According to the Daily Mail, there have been some skiers in the past who partially skied down the mountain but no skier has ever made it to the summit and skied all the way down.
Andrzej Bargiel is an accomplished climber already, so this feat is possible. In 2014 he set the speed record on Nepal’s Manaslu mountain by climbing it in only 14 hours and 5 minutes.