Polish Mountaineer Bartek Ziemski Skis Everest Without Oxygen, Days After Conquering Lhotse

Getting to the top of Mount Everest is widely considered one of the hardest physical feats on Earth, but skiing down it is another realm entirely. Polish mountaineer Bartek Ziemski has just rewritten the history books by completing a ski descent of the world's highest peak without the use of supplemental oxygen or guide support.

The 31-year-old software engineer and ski mountaineer reached the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit on the morning of May 19, 2026. Despite heavy climbing traffic on the mountain, he successfully clicked into his bindings and skied nonstop back to Base Camp in roughly five and a half hours, carrying all of his own gear.

A Solitary Feat

Ziemski is only the second person in history to ski down Everest without bottled oxygen. The first was his countryman, Andrzej Bargiel, who completed the run in September 2025.

However, the style of the two descents differs significantly. While Bargiel was backed by a major sponsor and accompanied by a comprehensive, multi-person support crew (including drone operators guiding his route through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall), Ziemski made his descent entirely unsupported and alone. He hauled his own tent, supplies, and skis up the mountain and navigated his own path down.

The Historic Double Descent

What makes Ziemski’s accomplishment truly staggering is the timeline: he achieved the exact same feat on neighboring Lhotse just seven days prior.

On May 12, Ziemski scaled Lhotse (8,516 meters)—the fourth-highest mountain in the world—and completed a full summit-to-base-camp ski descent without supplemental oxygen. His ascent was the first of the season on Lhotse, forcing him to break trail and climb self-supported before the Sherpa teams had even finished fixing the ropes for commercial clients.

No one has ever skied both Lhotse and Everest in a single season, let alone in a single week without oxygen.

The MAD Ski Project

Ziemski's back-to-back descents of Lhotse and Everest mark the eighth and ninth peaks in his ongoing "MAD Ski Project"—a quest to ski down all 14 of the world's 8,000-meter peaks without supplemental oxygen.

To date, his resume of 8,000-meter ski descents includes:

• 2022: Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II

• 2023: Annapurna I and Dhaulagiri

• 2024: Makalu and Kangchenjunga

• 2025: Manaslu

• 2026: Lhotse and Mount Everest

With only five peaks remaining—Cho Oyu, Shisha Pangma, Gasherbrum I, Nanga Parbat, and K2—Ziemski has firmly established himself as one of the most capable and self-sufficient high-altitude ski mountaineers in the world today.