Krzysztof Wielicki

Krzysztof Wielicki (born 1950) is a Polish mountaineer, regarded as one of the greatest Polish climbers in history. He was the fifth man to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders and the first ever to climb Mount Everest, Kangchenjunga and Lhotse in winter, and he is a member of The Explorers Club. He was born in Szklarka Przygodzicka in Greater Poland and studied electronics at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology, where he chaired the tourism committee of the students' association at his faculty. He started climbing in Sokoliki in May 1970 and in 1972 took his first climbing course and a winter camp led by Wanda Rutkiewicz. In 1973 he had his first major international successes in the Dolomites, completing the Via Italiano-Francese on Punta Civetta in a day with Bogdan Nowaczyk.