Jerzy Kukuczka

Eight-thousanders[edit]Kukuczka is widely considered among the climbing community to be one of the best high-altitude climbers in history. He ascended all fourteen mountains in just under eight years, a shorter time than any climber before (Reinhold Messner included, whom it took 16 years) or since. In the process, Kukuczka established ten new routes and climbed four summits in winter. He was one of an elite group of Polish Himalayan mountaineers who specialized in winter ascents. He established 9 new routes on the eight-thousanders, 4 of which were winter routes (compared to 6 new routes of Messner's, none of them during winter).YearLocationMountainRouteComments

1979NepalLhotseWest FaceNormal Route

1980NepalMount EverestSouth PillarNew Route

1981NepalMakaluVariation to Makalu La/North-West RidgeNew Route,Alpine Style, Solo.

1982PakistanBroad PeakWest SpurNormal Route, Alpine Style.

1983PakistanGasherbrum IISouth-East SpurNew Route, Alpine Style.

1983PakistanGasherbrum ISouth-West FaceNew Route, Alpine Style.

1984PakistanBroad PeakTraverse of North, Middle and Main SummitsNew Route, Alpine Style.

1985NepalDhaulagiriNorth-East SpurNormal Route, First Winter Ascent.[1]

1985NepalCho OyuSouth-East PillarNew Route, First Winter Ascent, Second Summit Team.

1985PakistanNanga ParbatSouth-East PillarNew Route.

1986NepalKanchenjungaSouth-West FaceNormal Route, First Winter Ascent.

1986PakistanK2South FaceNew Route.

1986NepalManasluNorth-East FaceNew Route, Alpine Style.

1987NepalAnnapurna INorth FaceNormal Route, First Winter Ascent.

1987ChinaShisha PangmaWest RidgeNew Route, Alpine Style, Ski Descent.

1988NepalAnnapurnaEast SummitSouth FaceNew Route, Alpine Style.

He climbed all summits except for Mount Everest without use of supplemental oxygen.Kukuczka died attempting to climb the unclimbed South Face ofLhotseinNepalon 24 October 1989. Leading a pitch at an altitude of about 8,200 meters on a 6mm secondhand rope he had picked up in a market inKathmandu(according toRyszard Pawowski, Kukuczka's climbing partner on the tragic day, the main single rope used by the team was too jammed to be used and the climbers decided to use transport rope instead), the cord either was cut or snapped from a fall, plunging Kukuczka to his death.