MOUNTAINEERS from Poland

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Polish Mountaineers of all time. This list of famous Polish Mountaineers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Jerzy Kukuczka (1948 - 1989)

With an HPI of 61.60, Jerzy Kukuczka is the most famous Polish Mountaineer.  His biography has been translated into 33 different languages on wikipedia.

Józef Jerzy Kukuczka (24 March 1948 in Katowice, Poland – 24 October 1989 Lhotse, Nepal) was a Polish mountaineer. He was born in Katowice, his family was ethnically Silesian Goral. On 18 September 1987, he became the second man (after Reinhold Messner) to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders in the world; a feat which took him less than 8 years to accomplish. He is the only person to have climbed two eight-thousanders in one winter. Altogether, he ascended four eight-thousanders in winter, including three as first ascents. Along with Tadeusz Piotrowski, Kukuczka established a new route on K2 in alpine style (the so-called "Polish Line"), which no one has repeated.

2. Krzysztof Wielicki (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 53.95, Krzysztof Wielicki is the 2nd most famous Polish Mountaineer.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Krzysztof Jerzy Wielicki (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkʂɨʂtɔf vjɛˈlit͡skʲi]; born 5 January 1950) is a Polish mountaineer, regarded as one of the greatest Polish climbers in history. He is the 5th man to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders and the first ever to climb Mount Everest, Kangchenjunga, and Lhotse in winter. He is a member of The Explorers Club.