Ferrino Ambassador Andrzej Bargiel complete ski descents of Gasherbrum I and II
There could be no better beginning for the collaboration between Ferrino and its new ambassador Andrzej Bargiel, the extreme climber and skier, and heir to the great tradition of Polish mountaineering, who first hit the headlines in 2018 as the first man in the world to ski down from the summit of K2. In recent weeks, Andrzej – with teammates Janusz Gołąb, Maciej Sulima and Bartek Pawlikowski – has written a new chapter in his ambitious “Hic Sunt Leones” project, in which he aims to climb up the 14 highest peaks on the planet without using supplementary oxygen, and then descend from each summit on skis. After beginning the project in 2013, he completed the ascent and descent of Shishapangma, Makalu, Broad Peak and K2 in record time. This year, his goals were the “twin peaks” of the Gasherbrums, two of the highest in the Karakoram range. After a long approach via the Baltoro Glacier in Pakistan and the first acclimatization ascent to the 6,401-meter Khosar Gang, the expedition tackled Gasherbrum II (8,035 m), which Andrzej climbed and skied down on 19 July. Ten days later, it was time for Gasherbrum I (8,080 m). After completing the ascent from Camp 2 during the night, Andrzej reached the summit at 7.15 A.M. on 26 July and began his descent from there. The GI and GII expedition represents another crucial step towards completing the wonderful dream Bargiel is pursuing, now also thanks to the support of the best equipment made available by Ferrino – such as the Instinct backpack, which offers an ideal balance of lightness, capacity and technical features, already appreciated by many extreme-ski enthusiasts for the comfort it offers even in the most delicate phases of the descent. “We are truly happy about this new and beautiful adventure Andrzej and his teammates have completed,” comments Anna Ferrino, CEO of Ferrino “His project is ambitious and innovative, and worthy of the great mountaineering tradition in which he grew up, and with which our company has had the honour of collaborating since the 1990s, partnering with Krzysztof Wielicki and the Polish expeditions to K2 in 2017, 2018 and 2020. Collaborating with the best climbers in the world in feats of this level represents, for us, the opportunity to test our products in the most extreme conditions: to confirm their quality, but also to generate new stimuli and suggestions to fuel our constant improvement in terms of performance and standards, at the service of all mountain enthusiasts.”
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