Anna Tybor has become the first woman to reach the top of Manaslu in Nepal without oxygen and ski down safely from the 8,163m (26,782 ft) peak. The 29-year-old ski mountaineer from Zakopane has also become the second Pole ever to ski down from a peak of more than 8,000 metres.
Tybor began the acclimatisation process on 12 September, before setting off from base camp on 27 September with two fellow climbers, Federico Secchi and Piotrek Drzastwa.
🏔️⛏️🎿 Anna Tybor zdobyła #Manaslu – celem Polki jest jednak pierwszy narciarski zjazd kobiecy z ośmiotysięcznika – ten trwa i wygląda tak🎥
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🔴WIĘCEJ o WYPRAWIE ⤵️https://t.co/UTxHqC8WsM pic.twitter.com/9DnRN7wgz1— Sport PR (@sportradiopl) September 30, 2021
The expedition reached the peak of Manaslu, which is the world’s eighth highest mountain, two days later and then skied down. They arrived at the base camp in the late afternoon of 30 September.
Tybor’s trip had been planned for a year and was delayed by months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The ski descent had been complicated by the ski mountaineer having problems with her stomach, but ended successfully.
"Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains." ― Jeffrey Rasley
Video ©: Anna Tybor. pic.twitter.com/v6VLJFhhBq
— Everest Today (@EverestToday) September 30, 2021
Tybor’s feat was inspired by Andrzej Bargiel, who was the first Pole to ski down from a mountain more than 8,000 metres high, the Tibetan peak of Shishapangma, in 2013. A year later he also became the first Pole to come down from Manaslu on skis.
Bargiel, who also became the first man to ski down from the summit to the base camp of K2, was named one of National Geographic‘s Adventurers of the Year in 2019.
Manaslu dominates the Gurkha massif in Nepal. After a number of failed attempts, the peak was first reached by a Japanese expedition in 1956. The first woman in the world to ski down from its summit with oxygen was Emma Jack in 2009.
Tybor is part of Poland’s national ski mountaineering team. She started training in the sport at the age of three and won her first national competition at 13 years old.
Main image credit: Piotr Drzastwa/Materiały prasowe
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
