Bargiel becomes first skier to descend Everest without supplemental oxygen

Event date: 2025-09-22

Polish climber Andrzej Bargiel became the first person to ski down Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, according to CBS News and his expedition team. The achievement added a new chapter to the long history of Everest descents and came after a climb that left him far above 8,000 meters for an extended stretch in the mountain’s so-called death zone.

CBS News reported that Bargiel reached the summit of the 8,849-meter peak and then skied down its snowy slopes to Camp 2 before spending the night and continuing to base camp the next day. The report said heavy snowfall forced him to remain above 8,000 meters for 16 hours, a punishing exposure level in an area where the air is thin and the risks of altitude sickness are severe.

The achievement mattered because Everest has seen ski descents before, but not a continuous downhill route completed without bottled oxygen. The CBS report noted that Slovenian Davorin Karnicar made the first full ski descent from summit to base camp in 2000, but used supplemental oxygen. Bargiel’s descent therefore appears to set a different benchmark: not just skiing the mountain, but doing so while breathing ambient air throughout.

Bargiel described the descent in social media posts quoted by CBS, saying he was on top of the world’s highest mountain and would descend it on skis. He later thanked his team for supporting the project. The packet did not give a full route map or technical breakdown, but it did make clear that the descent was tracked closely by his expedition and shared publicly as it happened.

The climb also carried the usual Everest hazards. The mountain remains one of the most dangerous environments in elite mountaineering because weather, low oxygen and long exposure can turn a summit push into a survival test. That makes the reported completion of a ski descent without oxygen notable not only as a sporting feat, but also as a logistical and physiological challenge.

The packet’s account was careful to attribute the record claim to Bargiel’s team and expedition organizer, which is important in a field where firsts are often contested until fully documented. Even so, the broad shape of the story is clear: the summit, the descent, the lack of supplemental oxygen and the long period in the death zone all point to a rare and dangerous achievement.

If confirmed as reported, Bargiel’s descent will stand as one of the most demanding ski mountaineering accomplishments ever completed on Everest.