Challenge the Vertical

Kukuczka (1948-1989) was the second person to climb all 14 of the 8000m peaks, after Reinhold Messner. Like Messner, he is regarded as one of the greatest climbers of all time. Although unlike Messner, all but one of Kukuczka’s climbs were by new routes or were first winter ascents. His amazing career was tragically cut short in a fall while attempting Lhotse’s South Face in 1989 with a second-hand rope. Surprisingly, the first book account of Kukuczka’s accomplishments was the English-language ‘My Vertical World’, published in 1992 from an unpublished manuscript. It covers through his 1987 Shisha Pangma expedition and has since become collectable, although it is missing one chapter. The Polish edition, ‘Mój Pionowy Świat’, was edited by his wife Cecylia and did not appear until 1995. This new English translation has similar, but different, text from that of the 1992 edition due to a different translator. Chapters are arranged chronologically and cover the 14 8000m peaks - Lhotse ’79, Everest ’80, Makalu ’81, Broad Peak ’82, Gasherbrum I & II ’83, Broad Peak ’84, Dhaulagiri ‘84/85, Cho Oyu ‘84/85, Nanga Parbat ’85, Lhotse ’85, Kangchenjunga ‘85/86, K2 ’86, Manaslu ’86, Annapurna ’87, Shisha Pangma ’87, and Lhotse ’89. Importantly, it restores the missing chapter, has an additional, unfinished, chapter on Lhotse ’89, Kukuczka’s Lhotse expedition diary, Ryszard Pawłowski’s account of Kukuczka’s fatal fall, more photos, and a DVD ‘Jerzy Kukuczka: The Great Man from Small Istebna’ which describes his early life with English subtitles.