We’ve been following Andrzej Bargiel for years and when he announced his intentions to be the first to ski Everest without unstrapping his skiing and without additional oxygen we knew if there was one dude up to the task it’d be Andrezej. The Polish ski mountaineer scored the first descent of K2 last year and has set his sights on Everest immediately. He is currently setting up camp and we are sending him the best of luck in this historic endeavor:
Here are few excerpts from the interview he did with Red Bull About skiing everest: 
WHY CHOOSE SEPTEMBER FOR THE TRIP:
“In autumn I go mainly because of the better skiing conditions then. Then there are not many people there and it is fun. Now we associate Everest with queues, lots of people who are trying to reach this peak. Congress is a big threat, because I could throw an avalanche on people. Besides, I’m looking for peace in the mountains. I think this trip will show this place a little differently, that you can find peace and space to implement your plans, despite the fact that exploration of this mountain is quite intense and really loads of people on it. It also looks like these walls are very large and you can do a lot of things there – it doesn’t have to be just about sliding down or climbing the easiest way.”
WHEN ASKED WHY NO OXYGEN:
“It’s almost the same difference as with diving with and without oxygen (laughs). Reality changes with oxygen. The agencies, which lead out basically normal people going through some short preparation process, provide them with Everest 5-6 oxygen bottles. Thanks to this, they can have more oxygen in the air they breathe than in our Tatras. The barrier disappears. There is no limit to breathlessness. If you have fitness, you can go there. On the other hand, when you run out of oxygen, you die. Climbing without oxygen is that you need to prepare your body so that it can function at such an extreme height and that’s all the art. This reality is completely different. The pace is also changing. It’s like doping in sport. Of course, oxygen is a natural thing, but in sporting entrances, among climbers, those who do this professionally do not use oxygen. This is how it works.”
WHY ARE YOU GOING TO SKI ANOTHER EIGHT-THOUSANDER:
“Skiing is my greatest passion and I still feel that I’m developing. I feel that I have a few more years ahead of me in which I would like to do it and make my biggest dreams come true. Later, it will probably turn into an exploration of the lower mountains and wilder areas. As long as my performance is at a high level, I feel it makes sense and it’s worth doing.”
READ FULL RED BULL INTERVIEW HERE
