Tadeusz Piotrowski

Tadeusz Piotrowski (1940 to 1986) was a Polish mountaineer and author of several books on the subject, referred to as perhaps the finest winter mountaineer of his day. He began climbing in the 1960s in Poland's Tatra Mountains while a student at the Szczecin University of Technology, and became one of the earliest mountaineers to specialize in winter climbing. His best known climbs include Trollryggen in Norway in winter 1972, Noshaq in Afghanistan in winter 1973, Tirich Mir in 1978, Rakaposhi in 1979, Distaghil Sar in 1980 and Api in Nepal on Christmas Eve 1983. On 8 July 1986 he and Jerzy Kukuczka finished the first ascent of the South Face of K2, the Polish Line, and he died two days later when he fell during the descent by the Abruzzi Spur.