Russian climbers and extreme skiers Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin aim to climb Everest and make the first complete ski descent, all without supplemental oxygen. The two Snow Leopards have already arrived in Nepal.
Photo: Death Zone Freeride
Last fall, Poland’s Andrzej Bargiel also attempted this project. He reached 8,000m but strong winds and heavy snowfall forced him to call off his summit push. This was Bargiel’s second attempt. The successful K2 skier first attempted his Everest ski in 2019.
Back in 1996, Hans Kammerlander made a no-O2 ski descent of Everest’s north side, but he started 300m below the summit. In 2000, Davo Karnicar of Slovenia made a complete ski descent of Everest from the south side but he used bottled oxygen.
Szilard Suhajda. Photo: Szilard Suhajda
Meanwhile, Szilard Suhajda of Hungary, who wants to climb Everest without O2 or personal Sherpa support, has already started acclimatizing by summiting 5,546m Chukkung Ri. The peak lies in the same region where David Goettler usually trains and acclimatizes. Last year, on his third attempt, Goettler successfully summited Everest in the same style that Sujada is attempting.
Before heading to Everest Base Camp in mid-April, Suhajda plans to train for 10 to 12 days at about 5,000m. He will then acclimatize on Everest for four weeks before launching his push for the summit in the second half of May. Suhajda has already summited Broad Peak, K2, and Lhotse without bottled oxygen or Sherpa guides.
