Pole to climb and ski down 8000-metre peak
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
11.05.2015 09:06
Mountaineer and alpine skier Olek Ostrowski wants to make the first Polish downhill run from Gasherbrum II, the 13th highest mountain in the world.
Olek Ostrowski on Cho Oyu in 2014. Photo: Facebook/Olek Ostrowski
Ostrowski, who skied down Cho Oyu in the Himalayas a year ago, intends to team up with Piotr Śnigorski for the challenge in the Karakorum.
“Together we wish to climb the peak following the route of the first conquerors from the Pakistani side and then ski downhill as low as possible,” Ostrowski told Polish Radio.
The skier has had trouble finding sponsors for the project, so he is repeating the method he used in his first expedition, by asking the entire mountaineering community for support via the polakpotrafi.pl website.
He believes the amount he needs to raise is PLN 40, 000 zloty (EUR 10, 000 ). Even if he fails to collect the entire sum, he says he is going anyway, after taking loans.
Ostrowski added that the total cost of the expedition is actually double the amount. If everything goes according to plan, the expedition should start in mid-June of this year.
At 8,035 metres Gasherbrum II is the lowest peak of the Karakorum, and it was first scaled in 1956 by a team of Austrian climbers. (mo/nh)