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 (Polish: [ˈju.zɛf ˈjɛ.ʐɨ kuˈkut͡ʂ.ka]; 24 March 1948 – 24 October 1989) was a Polish mountaineer who is widely regarded one of the greatest high-altitude climbers in history. In 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 climbed all, except Lhotse, by new routes or in winter. He is the only person to have climbed two eight-thousanders in one winter and his ascents of Cho Oyu, Kangchenjunga and Annapurna were first winter ascents. His ascent of K2 was made in alpine style with Tadeusz Piotrowski, that route (the so-called "Polish Line") has not had a second ascent in over 35 years. Reinhold Messner, upon hearing that Kukuczka had completed all fourteen 8000ers, wrote to him: "you are not second you are great", a line which is reproduced as the epigraph of Kukuczka book and the Polish translation forms the title of a biography published in 2021. He died in 1989 while attempting to climb the south face of Lhotse.

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.