My Vertical World: Climbing the 8000-metre PeaksMy Vertical World is the story of a quiet family man from Silesia who was also a single-minded schemer, sailing close to the bureaucratic wind in Poland as well as Pakistan and Nepal, painting factory chimneys and thinking of Lhotse, juggling for most of the time with meagre hard currency, scarce food and indifferent gear to achieve the starting point western climbers took for granted. Slow to acclimatise, once he had done, Kukuczka's stamina and drive were formidable. Preferring where possible to climb alpine-style with one companion, among his more remarkable achievements are his solo ascent of a new route on Makalu; a first traverse of the North and Middle Summits of Broad Peak; climbing two 8000-metre peaks over 3000 kilometres apart in winter within twenty-five days; and making a new route up the middle of the South Face of K2 as a two-man team. His narrative takes the reader behind the catalogue of achievements to discover a diffident man, anxious for his good name, sobered by loss of friends, who can still view the antics of the international climbing circus with good humour, and climbed because his passion for his vertical world was an enveloping as it was infectious. |
Contents
Everest the Polish Way | 17 |
A Stolen Mountain | 44 |
A RunOver Snake | 68 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
acclimatisation achieved alpine-style already altitude Andrzej Czok Andrzej Zawada Annapurna arrived Artur Hajzer avalanche bivouac Broad Peak Carlos carry chance Cho Oyu climbers climbing cook couloir crampons crevasse decided descended Dhaulagiri eight-thousander equipment Everest everything feel felt fixed ropes Gasherbrum Gasherbrum II glacier hard Herrligkoffer Himalaya hundred metres ice axe Islamabad Janusz Jurek Kangchenjunga Kathmandu knew Krzysiek Wielicki Kukuczka Lhotse liaison officer looked Makalu managed Manaslu Messner metres Ministry of Tourism morning mountain Nanga Parbat night normal route organised ourselves packed piton Poland porters problem Przemek radio reached the summit realised Reinhold Messner rest ridge rock rucksack Rysiek Warecki sérac set up Camp Shisha Pangma simply sleeping bags slope snow South Face started step stopped Swiss Tadek Tadeusz Tatra tent things took turned waiting wall Wanda Wanda Rutkiewicz wanted weather wind winter ascent Wojtek Zyga Heinrich