Andrzej Zawada facts for kids
Zawada during the Mount Everest winter expedition (1979/1980)
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Maria Andrzej Zawada |
| Born | 16 July 1928 Olsztyn, Poland |
| Died | 21 August 2000 Warsaw, Poland |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Family | |
| Parents | Filip Rawicz Zawada |
Andrzej Zawada (born Maria Andrzej Zawada; 16 July 1928 – 21 August 2000) was a famous Polish mountaineer. He was a leader of many challenging mountain expeditions. He was also a pioneer of winter climbing in the Himalayas. This means he was one of the first to try and succeed at climbing huge mountains in the cold winter months.
Andrzej Zawada organized and led many trips to high mountains. He also created movies and took photos from his adventures. He even helped write books about mountain climbing. He was an honorary member of important climbing clubs around the world.
Andrzej Zawada studied physics and geophysics. This is the science of Earth's physical processes. He worked at the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences for many years.
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Amazing Mountain Adventures
Andrzej Zawada was part of many incredible climbing expeditions. Here are some of his most famous achievements:
First Winter Crossings
- In 1959, he was part of a team that made the first successful winter crossing of the main ridge of the Tatra Mountains. This difficult journey took them 19 days!
- With Tadeusz Piotrowski, he made the first winter climb of Noshaq (7,492 m, 24,580 ft) in the Hindu Kush mountains. This happened on February 13, 1973. It was the first time anyone had climbed a mountain higher than 7,000 metres (23,000 ft) in winter.
Reaching New Heights
- In 1971, he led a Polish expedition to Khunyang Chhish (7,852 m, 25,761 ft) in the Karakoram range. He also reached the top of this mountain.
- On December 25, 1974, Zawada became the first person in the world to climb above 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) in winter. He reached 8,250 metres (27,070 ft) on Lhotse with Zygmunt Andrzej Heinrich.
- In 1977, Zawada made the first crossing of the 1,600-metre (5,200 ft) north wall of Koh-i Mandaras (6,631 m, 21,755 ft).
Leading Historic Everest Expeditions
- In February 1980, Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy made the first winter climb of Mount Everest (8,848 m, 29,029 ft). This is the highest mountain on Earth! Andrzej Zawada was the leader of this amazing expedition. It was the first time anyone had climbed a peak over 8,000 meters in winter.
- In May 1980, Zawada led another Everest expedition. This time, Andrzej Czok and Jerzy Kukuczka climbed a new route on the mountain.
More Winter Firsts
- In February 1985, Maciej Berbeka and Maciej Pawlikowski made the first winter climb of Cho Oyu. This was special because it was the only winter climb on an eight-thousander (a mountain over 8,000 meters) using a brand new route. Zawada led this expedition too.
- On December 31, 1988, Zawada led the expedition where Krzysztof Wielicki made the first successful winter climb of Lhotse.
