The golden decade of Polish Himalayan mountaineering, besides the unquestionable personal accomplishments of Jurek Kukuczka, Wanda Rutkiewicz, Wojtek Kurtyka and others, also saw winter achievements that were a team rather than individual success. It was particularly noticeable during the winter expeditions how the whole team worked for the result. In Winter it is difficult to achieve success without teamwork. Climbing in the Alps or the Tatras in wintertime is no longer surprising to anyone: it was the natural course of things, an attempt to raise the challenge without raising the altitude. The same had to occur in high mountains too.

And it’s great that it was achieved by Poles. Jurek Werteresiewicz drew up a programme, Andrzej Zawada implemented it and many of us put it into practice, often successfully but there were failures as well.

In recent years a total withdrawal from wintertime climbing could be observed in the Tatras, the Alps as well as the Himalayas. The late Andrzej Zawada would remark: “Tell me what you’ve done and I’ll tell you who you are (that is to say, what you're worth). Winter experiences were valuable, however. Meanwhile the standards have been lowered by the rat-race to easy and quick successes (which actually has been the case in every field).

No-one dreams of climbing the great walls of the Himalayas, of new routes, traverses… The attitude is to climb Mt. Everest if you have cash and if not, another easy 8000-metre mountain, as long as it’s fast and easy. When, after many years, I met Elisabeth Hawley in Katmandu in January this year, we began reminiscing the 1970s and 1980s, when the Japanese, Poles, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Russians and the Slovenians would come with sports programmes, in order to compete with the others, to reach places that had not been reached so far, to go down in the history of conquests of the highest mountains. There is the same number of expeditions as before but they lack ambitions goals. The ambitious ones can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Generally, there is a fad for easy and pleasant climbing, preferably at weekends because it does not require sacrificing your time or career. It has to be fun. It has to be cool.

As for our Polish scene, the Sports Committees, if they exist at all, lack creativity. Committees and boards tend to accept programmes aimed at a quick, usually personal success of the Himalayan climbers that God still keeps alive. I realize that we live in times when each success has to be associated with a name, with individuals who easily lend themselves to the requirements of the media. But why is it a problem to proclaim: “Poles have climbed Sisha Pangma or K-2 in winter"?

According to the old rule, you should do what you do best. We were successful in high mountain winter explorations. After all, half of fourteen 8000-metre peaks were climbed by Poles, within just eight years (1980-1988) to boot. Six unconquered peaks are waiting for us, but volunteers are nowhere to be seen.

Let the nickname “Ice Warriors”, given us by Englishmen, be inscribed in the history of Himalayan climbing for ever.

We missed out on the great exploration of the Himalayas irreversibly, and it is more and more difficult to find new (logical) routes. We could still improve our style, and we could revive the best moments of wintertime experiences. I know that for some people wintertime climbing is “the art of suffering” but I also know that for others it is a male adventure, with teamwork, the rule "one for all and all for one", brotherhood and common goals. Those who have experienced that do not need to be convinced, whereas the majority of adversaries of wintertime Himalayan climbing can be found among those who simply have not tried it or are unable to work in a team, are afraid to lose their “libero” position, afraid of a violation of their individuality. We are going separate ways! We have done one half of the job. Now it’s your turn to finish it: you the young, angry and ambitious. We are giving you eight years, the same time as we needed. It’s fair enough, isn’t it? If you could pull it off, wouldn’t it be great? Can you imagine that? All 8000-metre peaks conquered for the first time in Winter, all by Poles. There is a chance for success. It is a game worth devoting time, money and efforts. Now is the time to make decisions. This proposal is addressed to the Polish Mountaineering Association: how to create the right environment, how to make “the young” interested in this idea? You may count on my generation, on our help, our experience, even our active participation. The choice is yours! If you do not take up the challenge, we shall have to take it on our old shoulders, without a guarantee of success. K-2, Makalu, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II, Broad Peak are waiting for you (or us).

Let’s join Europe, with our head held high and with self-esteem. There is little time left!

*Manifesto on 2002 r - Polski Związk Alpinizmu

2007 Winter Nanga Parbat: It’s over - http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=15523

Pierwsze wejścia

Lp.	Nazwa	Wysokość m n.p.m.	Data zdobycia	Pierwsi zdobywcy	Data zdobycia zimą	Pierwsi zdobywcy
1	Mount Everest	ok. 8850	29 maja 1953	Edmund Hillary (Nowa Zelandia), Norgay Tenzing (Nepal)	17 lutego 1980	Krzysztof Wielicki i Leszek Cichy (Polska)
2	K2	8611	31 lipca 1954	Achille Compagnoni i Lino Lacedelli (Włochy)		niezdobyty zimą
3	Kanczendzonga	8586	25 maja 1955	George Band i Joe Brown (Anglia)	11 stycznia 1986	Jerzy Kukuczka i Krzysztof Wielicki (Polska)
4	Lhotse	8516	18 maja 1956	Fritz Luchsinger i Ernst Reiss (Szwajcaria)	31 grudnia 1988	Krzysztof Wielicki (Polska)
5	Makalu	8463	15 maja 1955	Lionel Terray i Jean Couzy (Francja)		niezdobyty zimą
6	Cho Oyu	8201	19 października 1954	Sepp Joechler i Herbert Tichy (Austria), Psan Dawa Lama (Nepal)	12 lutego 1985	Maciej Berbeka i Maciej Pawlikowski (Polska)
7	Dhaulagiri	8167	13 maja 1960	Kurt Diemberger i Albin Schelbert (Austria), Nawang Dorje (Nepal)	21 stycznia 1985	Andrzej Czok i Jerzy Kukuczka (Polska)
8	Manaslu	8156	9 maja 1956	Toshio Imanishi (Japonia), Gyaltsen Norbu (Nepal)	12 stycznia 1984	Maciej Berbeka i Ryszard Gajewski (Polska)
9	Nanga Parbat	8126	3 lipca 1953	Hermann Buhl (Austria)		niezdobyty zimą
10	Annapurna I	8091	3 czerwca 1950	Maurice Herzog i Louis Lachenal (Francja)	3 lutego 1987	Artur Hajzer i Jerzy Kukuczka (Polska)
11	Gasherbrum I	8068	4 lipca 1958	Andy Kauffman i Pete Schoening (USA)		niezdobyty zimą
12	Broad Peak	8047	9 czerwca 1957	Hermann Buhl, Kurt Diemberger, Markus Schmuck i Fritz Wintersteller (Austria)		niezdobyty zimą
13	Gasherbrum II	8035	7 lipca 1956	Sepp Larch, Fritz Moravec i Hans Willenpart (Austria)		niezdobyty zimą
14	Shisha Pangma	8013	2 maja 1964	Hsu Ching (Chiny)	14 stycznia 2005	Piotr Morawski (Polska) i Simone Moro (Włochy)

Winter Nanga Parbat - zimowa wyprawa Wielickiego z 2007r ; niestety wyprawa nie zakończyła sie sukcesem , himalaistów pokonała pogoda o czym napisze już niebawem....

The MARABUT tents were successfully used by the following international expeditions into the Himalayas:
two Winter Expeditions to Nanga Parbat (8.125 m) in 1997 and 1998, headed by Andrzej Zawada - generally believed to have pioneered the concept of making winter ascents onto the Himalayan summits.

Winter Expedition to K2 (8.611 m) in 2003, headed by Krzysztof Wielicki, one of the very few mountaineers who can proudly claim the “Crown of the Himalaya” (i.e. having climbed all mountain summits above 8.000 m in altitude) to their credit.

Polish-Italian winter expedition to Shisha Pangma (8027m), 2005 - the first ever winter ascent of this mountain, Piotr Morawski and Simone Moro.

more : http://www.piotrmorawski.com/

Surowy test namiotu Marabuta - Khumbu

Podczas zakończonej wielkim sukcesem zimowej wyprawy na Shisha Pangma ( 8027 m npm), 14 stycznia 2005 szczyt zdobyli Piotr Morawski (Polska) i Simone Moro (Włochy), testowany był najnowszy /wówczas/ namiot Marabuta - Khumbu. Sukces Piotra to jednocześnie kontynuacja wielkiej tradycji i sukcesów Polaków w zimowych wyprawach, wystarczy zobaczyć liste zimowych zdobyczy szczytów z korony Himalajów. Poniżej przedstawiam fotogalerie tamtej wyprawy z namiotem khumbu w roli głównej / Fot: Piotr Morawski /

Tenzing Norgay (Nepali: तेन्जिङ नोर्गे शेर्पा) GM (May 1914 – 9 May 1986), often referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer. He and Edmund Hillary were the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953.

Early lifehu

Tenzing came from a peasant family from Khumbu in Nepal, very near Mount Everest, which the Sherpas call Chomolungma. At the time he climbed Everest it was generally believed that he was born there, but in the 1990s it emerged that he was actually born and spent part of his early life in the Kharta Valley region in Tibet to the east of Mount Everest, but this had been kept secret for political reasons.

His exact date of birth is not known, but he knew it was in late May by the weather and the crops. After his ascent of Everest on 29 May, he decided to celebrate his birthday on that day thereafter.

He was originally called "Namgyal Wangdi", but as a child his name was changed on advice from the head lama and founder of the famous Rongbuk Monastery - Ngawang Tenzin Norbu. Tenzing Norgay translates as "wealthy-fortunate-follower-of-religion". His father, a yak herder, was Ghang La Mingma (who died in 1949) and his mother was Dokmo Kinzom (who lived to see him climb Everest); he was the 11th of 13 children, most of whom died young.

He ran away to Kathmandu twice as a boy, and, at age 19, eventually settled in the Sherpa community in Too Song Bhusti in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.

Mountaineering - Tenzing Norgay's monument

He took part as a high-altitude porter in three official British attempts to climb Everest from the northern Tibetan side in the 1930s.

Tenzing also took part in other climbs in various parts of the Indian subcontine

nt, and for a time in the early 1940s he lived in what is now Pakistan; he said that the most difficult climb he ever took part in was on Nanda Devi East, where a number of people were killed.

In 1947, he took part in an unsuccessful summit attempt of Everest. An eccentric Englishman named Earl Denman, Ange Dawa Sherpa, and Tenzing entered Tibet illegally to attempt the mountain; the attempt ended when a strong storm at 22,000 ft (6,700 metres) pounded them. Denman admitted defeat and all three turned around and safely returned.

In 1952, he took part in two Swiss expeditions led by Raymond Lambert, the first serious attempts to climb Everest from the southern Nepalese side, during which he and Lambert reached the then record height of 8,599 m (28,215 ft).

Success on Mount Everest

In 1953, he took part in John Hunt's expedition, his own seventh expedition to Everest, in which he and Hillary became the first to reach the summit. Afterwards he was met with adulation in India and Nepal, and was even worshipped by some people who believed him to be an incarnation of Buddha or Shiva.

He was awarded the George Medal from the British Government for his efforts with the expedition.

"It has been a long road...From a mountain coolie, a bearer of loads, to a wearer of a coat with rows of medals who is carried about in planes and worries about income tax."—Tenzing Norgay

Tenzing and Hillary were the first people to conclusively set their feet on the summit of Mount Everest, but journalists were persistently repeating the question which of the two men had the right to the glory of being the first one, and who was merely the second, the follower. Tenzing stressed the unity of such teams and of their achievements. He shrugged off the allegation of ever being pulled by anyone, but disclosed that Hillary was the first to put his foot on the summit. He concluded: "If it is a shame to be the second man on Mount Everest, then I will have to live with this shame."

Another interesting aside of this ascent was that all the photos that existed of the mountaineers on the top showed only Tenzing. When asked why there were no photos featuring Hillary, Sir Edmund replied, "Tenzing did not know how to operate the camera and the Everest top was no place to start teaching him how to use it". Hillary and Tenzing remained on friendly terms throughout their life.

Family life

Tenzing was married three times. His first wife, Dawa Phuti, died young in 1944. They had a son, Nima Dorje, who died at the age of four, and two daughters, Pem Pem, whose son Tashi Tenzing climbed Everest, and Nima, who married a Filipino graphic designer, Noli Galang. His second wife was Ang Lahmu, a cousin of his first wife. They had no children, but she acted as stepmother to his daughters. His third wife was Dakku, whom he married while his second wife was still alive, as allowed by Sherpa custom. They had sons Norbu, Jamling and Dhamey. Other relatives include his nephews Nawang Gombu and Topgay who took part in the 1953 Everest expedition.

Tenzing never learned to read or write, but he spoke several languages. His native language was Sherpa but he spoke fluent Nepali and had a working knowledge of English, Tibetan, and a few other languages of the Indian sub-continent.

After Everest

Tenzing later became director of field training for the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. In 1978 he founded Tenzing Norgay Adventures, a company providing trekking adventures in the Himalaya. As of 2003 the company was run by his son Jamling Tenzing Norgay, who himself reached the summit of Everest in 1996. Tenzing died of a bronchial condition in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India in 1986.

Tenzing House is a Primary Wing House at St Paul's School, Darjeeling in India, named in his honour.

Tenzing Norgay (ur. 15 aja 1914, zm. 9maja 1986) - himalaista nepalski, Szerpa z Solukhumbu, który wraz z Edmundem Hillarym 29 maja 153 dokonał pierwszego wejścia na Mount Everest - najwyższą górę Ziemi.

W latach 1935, 1936 i 1938 pracował jako tragarz dla brytyjskich wypraw usiłujących zdobyć Everest od tybetańskiej, północnej strony. W 1951 brał udział jako sirdar we francuskiej wyprawie na Nanda Devi wchodząc wraz z L. Dubostem na jej wschodni wierzchołek, zdobyty przez Polaków w 1939. Uważał potem to wejście za swoją najtrudniejszą wspinaczkę. W 1952 był sirdarem i zarazem członkiem szwajcarskiej wyprawy na Mount Everest i wraz z R. Lambertem osiągnął rekordową podówczas wysokość około 8600 na południowej grani.

W 1953 wziął udział w brytyjskiej, kierowanej przez Johna Hunta, wyprawie na Everest od południowej strony i 29 maja, wraz z Edmundem Hillarym stanął na jego wierzchołku.

Po zdobyciu Everestu osiadł w Dardżylingu (Indie), gdzie był kierownikiem Instytutu Górskiego i prezesem Stowarzyszenia Szerpów.

* zobacz : Album - Zdobywanie Mt. Everst

* zapraszam do subskrypcji mojego bloga :

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

I would like to invite you on viewing of new photo gallery which pictures the story of the discovery and climbing the Mt Everest ..
Zapraszam na pokaz zdjęć z odkrywania i zdobywania Everestu :

Sherpa people

The Sherpa are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalaya. In Tibetan shar means East; pa is a suffix meaning 'people': hence the word sharpa or Sherpa. Sherpas migrated from eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 500 years. A female sherpa is known as a "sherpani".

The term 'sherpa' (the preferred spelling with a lower case first letter) is also used to refer to local people, typically men, employed as porters or guides for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas. They are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and experts in their local terrain, as well as having good physical endurance and resilience to high altitude conditions. However, a sherpa is not necessarily a member of the Sherpa ethnic group.

Native territory

Most Sherpas live in the eastern regions of Nepal Solu, Khumbu or Pharak. However, some live farther west in the Rolwaling valley and in the Helambu region north of Kathmandu. Pangboche is the Sherpas' oldest village in Nepal, and is estimated to have been built over 300 years ago. Sherpas speak their own Sherpa language which in many ways resembles a dialect of Tibetan. They traditionally are traders and farmers, cultivating their high altitude fields of potatoes, barley, wheat and buckwheat. Some live near Namche Bazaar. The Jirels, native people of Jiri, are ethnically related to the Sherpas. It is said that the Jirels are descendants of a Sherpa mother and Sunuwar (another ethnic group of the eastern part of Nepal) father. In India, Sherpas also inhabit the towns of Darjeeling and Kalimpong and the Indian state of Sikkim. The 2001 Nepal Census recorded 154,622 Sherpas in that country, of which 92.83% were Buddhists, 6.26% were Hindus, 0.63% were Christians and 0.20% were Bön.

Famous Sherpas

The most famous Sherpa is Tenzing Norgay, who climbed Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary for the first time in 1953.

Two Sherpas, Pemba Dorjie and Lhakpa Gelu, have recently competed as to who can climb Everest from Basecamp the fastest. On May 23. 2003 Dorjie summitted in 12 hours and 46 minutes. Three days later, Gelu beat his record by two hours, summitting in 10 hours 46 minutes. On May. 21 2004 Dorjie again improved the record by more than two hours with a total time of 8 hours and 10 minutes.

On May 16 2007 Appa Sherpa successfully climbed Mt. Everest for the 17th time, breaking his own record for most successful ascents.