Piotr Pustelnik (PL)
1951 born
1975 started climbing
1985 first expedition to Kashmir – made ascents of a few 6000ers
1986 Pinnacle Peak (6945 m, Himalayas Kashmir)
1988 Korzhenevskiy Peak (7,037 m, Pamir).
1990 Gasherbrum II (8,037 m) - solo ascent of Austrian route
1991 Mt McKinley (taking advantage of his stay in the USA during a Fulbright scholarship)
1992 Nanga Parbat (8125 m)
1993 together with Krzysztofem Wielickim, Piotr climbed two 8000ers during one expedition – Cho Oyu (8222 m, a new route along north-eastern ridge) and 10 days later Shisha Pangma (8013 m, the first repetition of a hard Slovenian route on South-West Face)
1994 fast ascent of Dhaulagiri (8,205 m) together with Italians, an American and a Portuguese
1995 Mt. Everest with Ryszard Pawłowski from the Tibetan side
1996 K2 (8,611m) via North Pillar (from the Chinese side) after a long and difficult climb. Participated in rescue action aiding an exhausted climber to descent to lower camps.
1997 Gasherbrum I (8,065 m, in 23 days, accidentally did a new variant on the summit dome) and Gasherbrum II (8,034m)
1998 two failures: Broad Peak (8,051m) and Makalu (8,485m). The reasons for lack of success were: on Broad Peak strong winds and an accident of a French team and on Makalu hurricane.
2000 Lhotse (8,516m)
2001 Kangchenjunga (8,586m)
2002 Makalu (8,481 m)
2003 Manaslu (8,163m) in team with Krzysztof Tarasewicz
2004 Annapurna international expedition led by Piotr – unsuccessful due to bad weather
2005 another year and another failure on Annapurna (reached 7,300m). The same summer Piotr attacked Broad Peak – unfortunately deteriorating weather and his partner’s accident allowed him to reach only the sub-peak Rocky Summit.
2006 The Himalayan Triptych. Piotr Morawski, Piotr Pustelnik and Peter Hamor first attempted Cho Oyu for acclimatization. Morawski and Hamor made the ascent, Pustelnik retreated from the summit plateau. Their next target was the East Ridge of Annapurna. After a long and exhausting battle, Hamor reached the main summit, yet Pustelnik and Morawski turned back from East Summit in order to help an ill and blind climber from Tibet. The last part of the Triptych was Broad Peak, which was ascended by all three in seven days from setting up the Base Camp.
2008 The Himalayan Triptych – reactivation. The same team (Tres Pedros), the same mountain – Annapurna. This time they started with a warm up on the West Ridge of Ama Dablam in Solo Khumbu Valley and after that they attacked North-West Face of Annapurna. After 7 days of climbing, the team was 150 m below the summit. Unfortunately, a fierce thunderstorm prevented them from reaching the summit. Nevertheless, the main face and the summit ridge were climbed. It was the second ascent of this difficult route – satisfaction and disappointment at once.
2010 Annapurna, at last! Piotr Pustelnik becomes the 21st climber to summit all 8000ers.
