Tadeusz Piotrowski (January 1, 1940 – July 10, 1986)[2] was a Polish mountaineer and author of several books related to the subject. He has been referred to as "perhaps the finest winter mountaineer of his day".[3]
Career
Piotrowski began his career in the 1960s in Poland's Tatra Mountains, around the time when he was a student at the Szczecin University of Technology. He would go on to become one of the leading Polish mountaineers, known worldwide as a winter climbing specialist. He was one of the earliest mountaineers to specialize in winter climbing.[2]
In 1974, his climbing companion, Stanisław Latałło [pl], died on Lhotse;[9] whether Piotrowski could have helped him caused some controversy among Polish mountaineers.[10] In 1983, Piotrowski directed the winter ascent on Api (7132 meters above sea level), and reached its peak on Christmas Eve. He was accompanied by Andrzej Bieluń [pl], who climbed at the head, and was lost, assumed dead near the top of the mountain.[7]
Piotrowski died on 10 July 1986. Two days previously he and Jerzy Kukuczka had finished the first ascent of the South Face of K2 (also called the "Polish Line") - a very difficult and dangerous route which was threatened by seracs and had been called "suicidal" by Reinhold Messner.[11] "The route is so avalanche-prone, that no one else has ever considered a new attempt."[12][8] It was during the descent by a classic route (the Abruzzi Spur) that he lost both his crampons and fell to his death at around 7900 meters, following two exhausting stopovers at the wall with no food or water.[13] The route Piotrowski and Kukuczka climbed remains unrepeated.[a]
For his mountaineering successes, Tadeusz Piotrowski became a four-time recipient of the highest sports medal in Poland, the Gold Medal for the Exceptional Sporting Achievements.
a^ In 1993 a Canadian team (Barry Blanchard, Troy Kirwan and Peter Arbic) made a partial repeat, but exited onto the Abruzzi Spur at a lower point than the Poles had done, and did not reach the summit.[14]
