A Tribute to Jerzy Kukuczka (Alpine Journal, 1990)

(as appeared in Alpine Journal 1990; pg 32-34)
INGEBORGA DOUBRAWA-COCHLIN

Jerzy Kukuczka 

(24 March 1948 – 24 October 1989)

 (Photo Summitpost.org)

"I have something inside me that makes me have no interest in playing for low stakes. For me it is the high bid or nothing. That’s what fires me. " 
                                                     - Jerzy Kukuczka

Jerzy ‘Jurek’ Kukuczka died on 24 October 1989 when he fell near the summit of Lhotse (8516 m) while attempting a first ascent of the S face. He was one of the greatest Himalayan climbers of all time and he placed the Polish flag on all fourteen 8000 m peaks.

Kukuczka was born in Skoczow, Beskid Slaski, Poland, on 24 March 1948 and was educated in his local school. He became an electrical engineer and worked in the coal mining industry in 1965 he started to climb in the Polish Tatra mountains and became a member of the Katowice High Mountain Club. He climbed the most difficult and demanding routes in the Tatra, both in summer and winter, and did some superb climbs. Then he went to the Alps, the Dolomites, the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram and Tibet. In recent years he climbed almost exclusively in the Himalaya. Kukuczka climbed all fourteen 8000 m peaks, as did Reinhold Messner before him, but, unlike Messner, Kukuczka climbed all but one by new routes or in winter.

It had been Kukuczka’s ambition to set up new routes on all fourteen eight thousanders, either in summer or in winter. He climbed all but one of them without oxygen; it was only on Everest that oxygen was used for part of the way up to the South Summit. He achieved ten 8000 m peaks by new routes, climbed Makalu solo, and made four first winter ascents. No other high-altitude climber has matched that record.

Kukuczka’s stamina and strength at high altitudes were phenomenal. He acclimatized slowly but, once acclimatized, he was able to survive for very long periods at high altitude, if necessary without food or drink. An extremely strong climber, he reacted well to danger. He preferred to climb in ‘alpine style’, if possible by new routes or in winter, in a small team and without oxygen.

The most important first ascents made by Kukuczka were Everest by the South Pillar (1980); Makalu solo (1981); Gasherbrum II and I (1982) with Wojciech Kurtyka; Broad Peak – the first traverse of the massif of three peaks (1983), also with Kurtyka; Dhaulagiri and Cho Oyu (1985), first winter ascents and in the space of three weeks.

Kukuczka’s ascent of Kangchenjunga in winter (1986) and then the first route on K2 via the South Wall were among his most remarkable climbs. In 1987 he finally completed all fourteen 8000 m peaks. He himself once said that his favorite and most satisfying climbs were Makalu and K2. When he reached the summits of these mountains, beside leaving the Polish flag, he often left little mascots or souvenirs from his two sons.

In 1988, with Artur Hajzer, Kukuczka established yet another route on Annapurna, via the almost 2000 m high right E buttress of the S face. Over the years, he made several outstanding climbs with his close friend and longest serving partner, Wojciech Kurtyka. He also climbed with Czok, Pawlowski, Wielicki, Heinrich, Piotrowski and Hajzer.

Kukuczka received several gold medals in Poland for achieving outstanding results abroad in sport. In 1987 he was made ‘Man of the Year’ in Poland after completing the 8000 m peaks. He also received a crystal trophy from the Polish Foreign Minister ‘for making the name of Poland famous throughout the mountaineering world’. In 1988 he was awarded an honorary Olympic silver medal by the Winter Olympic Committee in Calgary.

Kukuczka was a wonderful husband and father of two sons. He was a quiet, modest and sensitive man, religious, dependable, a considerate friend and tolerant in his opinions of other climbers. His magnetic personality was an inspiration to all around him. His loss is a severe blow to his family, to Poland and to international mountaineering. His eternal bivouac is high among his beloved Himalayan peaks, and his memory will remain for ever with those who climb mountains.

Jerzy Kukuczka’s 8000 m Peaks
(This is a revised version of the list in AJ-93, 258, 1988/89.)

1. Lhotse – 8516 m – 4.10.1979 – Normal route. (On 24.10.1989 ]erzy Kukuczka died in a fall near the summit of Lhotse while attempting the unclimbed South Face.)
2. Everest 8848 m 19.05.1980 New route, S Pillar. (Using oxygen only to the South Summit.)
3. Makalu 8463 m 15.10.81 New route – Flank from Barun glacier and NW ridge. Solo.
4. Gasherbrum II 8035 m 1.07.1983 New route,SE Flank,via virgin peak 7772 m.
5. Gasherbrum I 8068 m 23.07.1983 New route, SW wall.
6. Broad Peak 8047 m 17.07.1984 New route, Traverse of the Massif of 3 Peaks 7538 m, 8016 m, 8047 m. (In 1982 ]erzy Kukuczka climbed Broad Peak via the normal route.)
7. Dhaulagiri 8167 m 21.01.1985 1st Winter Ascent, normal route.
8. Cho Oyu 8201 m 15.02.1985 1st Winter Ascent (as a second team), new route, SE pillar.
9. Nanga Parbat 8125 m 13.07.1985 New route, SE pillar.
10. Kangchenjunga 8586 m 11.01.1986 1st Winter Ascent, normal route. 
11. K2 8611 m 8.07.1986 New route, S wall.
12. Manaslu 8163m 10.11.1986 New route, NE wall.
13. Annapurna 8091m 3.02.1987 1st Winter Ascent, normal route. (On 14.10.1988 ]erzy Kukuczka established a new route via the E buttress of the S face.)
14. Xixabangma 8027m 18.09.1987 New route, W ridge.

Click to download the Alpine Journal 1990 PDF

D-I-Y Homemade Lightweight Backpacking Stove

Two stoves with common extinguisher lid

Having made and used an open flame non-pressurized ‘cat-can’ alcohol stove earlier it was time to indulge in the more effective, simple to construct, pressurized versions that can be made from  a remarkable array of aluminium beverage cans to empty deodorant canisters.

The handy and lightweight kit is great for brewing instant beverages or boil pre-cooked meals for short backpacking trips. Although it takes a few minutes to get heated and build pressure in cold temperatures, it works like a charm in High altitudes as well.    

Click HERE for step-by-step instruction(s) on How to make the stove.

Below are some photograph(s) of two stoves made with beverage can (with different fuel capacity), a common extinguisher (lid) with holder and a pot stand modified from an old aluminium hanger.

Stove with extinguisher lid (smaller capacity)

Stove with extinguisher lid (larger capacity)

Extinguisher lid made from another can (bottom)

A folded thin strip to make the handle

Pot stand made from an aluminium hanger

Packed together with the cooking pot(s)

Stove Test

it took 3.5 minutes to boil 1 cup of water.

Below are a series of photographs showing the stove in action. Notice how the flame starts to build up with accumulating pressure within the side walls. 

Founding of The Himalayan Club

authored by G. L. Corbett  |   as published in The Himalayan Journal, April 1, 1929

Sir Geoffrey Latham Corbett
First Hon. Secretary of the Club

MR. DOUGLAS FRESHFIELD tells me that the idea of a Himalayan Club goes back so far as 1866, when it was formally suggested to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Mr. F. Drew and Mr. W .H. Johnson. And Mr. Fresh field himself, writing in The Alpine Journal in 1884, advised that our knowledge of the Himalaya might thus be extended. ” The formation at Calcutta or Simla,” he said, ” of an Himalayan Club, prepared to publish  Narratives of Science and Adventure’ concerning the mountains, would be the most serviceable means to this end.” The idea must have recurred to many, but it never took shape, not because a Club was not wanted, but because in this land of endlessness it is only now and then that the two or three are gathered together. The thing had hung in the balance for years when a chance talk at Simla tipped the beam, and the Himalayan Club was born on the path behind Jakko on the afternoon of the 6th October, 1927.

I wrote first to Major Kenneth Mason of the Survey of India, who also had long cherished the hope of a Club ; to Major-General Walter Kirke, then acting as Chief of the General Staff ; and to Brigadier E. A. Tandy, Surveyor General of India. I was diffident, for there seemed no reason why the time should now be fulfilled. Mason replied that he was with me heart and soul; Kirke that he would do anything he could to help ; Tandy that he would help in any way he could. So encouraged, I went ahead. The Viceroy, Lord Irwin, the Commander-in-Chief, Field-Marshal Sir William Bird wood, and Sir Malcolm Hailey, then Governor of the Punjab, were among the first to whom . I told our plans. Others were Mr. T. E. T. Upton, Solicitor to the Government of India; Sir Edwin Pascoe, Director of the Geological Survey of India; Major-General Kenneth Wigram and Brigadier W. L. 0. Twiss who still, they say, count for something among Gurkhas; Mr. G. Mackworth Young, Army Secretary; and Mr J. G. Acheson, Deputy Foreign Secretary. Mason meanwhile had consulted Major E. 0. Wheeler of the Survey of India, and Captain J. G. Bruce, 6th Gurkhas. These were the founders of the Himalayan Club, and it is to their confidence and sound judgment that the Club owes its constitution. There were three others who had no claim to be members of the Club, but whose interest and advice meant much to us : the Foreign Secretary, Sir Denys Bray ; the Education Secretary Mr. J. W. Bhore, who included in his Department the Survey of India ; and the Private Secretary to the Viceroy, Mr George Cunningham. It was Denny Bray who determined the quality of our founder members : ” What you want,” he said, “is a solid core of men who have done things.”

We proceeded deliberately, remembering always that it’s the first step that counts. There were three things to be decided : What should the Club be called ? What should be its objects ? Who should be asked to become founder members ? The name of the Club was soon settled. ” The Alpine Club of India ” had been suggested, but seemed likely to scare those whose interest was not high mountaineer­ing ; nor had we need to look for a name beyond our own great range. Almost from the first we thought of ourselves as “The Himalayan Club. It was agreed that our objects should be based on the famous definition in the Rules of the Alpine Club. But it is shikar that first impels nine-tenths of those who go to the Himalaya ; and though we were unwilling to admit shikar as a specific object of the Club we thought that our objects should recognise that knowledge of the Himalaya is extended through ” sport,” which would cover mountain climbing and ski-running as well as shikar. In this way we arrived at our definition :—

” To encourage and assist Himalayan travel and exploration, and to extend knowledge of the Himalaya and adjoining mountain ranges through science, art, literature and sport.”

The list of those who should be asked to become founder members, was anxiously and carefully compiled. Our intention was to include everyone who had ” done things in the Himalaya; and if anyone was inadvertently omitted, I hope he will forgive and join us now. On the 20th December, 1927, Mason and I sent out our circular letter, and then we waited apprehensively for the replies. We had never dared to hope for such a response. From all over India and beyond, and from the back of beyond, from Europe, Africa and America, replies came welcoming the Club and making varied and valuable suggestions. Almost everyone replied, and almost everyone who replied became a founder member. Our 127 founder members contribute to the objects of the Club much that there is of Himalayan knowledge and experience. The Club was formally inaugurated at a meeting held in Field-Marshal Sir William Bird wood’s room at Army Headquarters, Delhi, on the 17th February, 1928.

While we were still intent on our first step, we learnt that ” The Mountain Club of India ” had been formed at Calcutta on the 23rd September, 1927. Mason and I took an early opportunity to meet Mr. W. Allsup, its moving spirit, and it was agreed that the two Clubs should go forward with mutual good-will, and that the question of fusion should be considered later. At the inaugural meeting of the Himalayan Club it was decided to ask the Mountain Club whether it would be willing to amalgamate. A general meeting of the Mountain Club on the 14th December, 1928, agreed to amalgamate ” for the benefit of the common aims of the two Clubs,” and we are now one strong and united organisation.  Allsup to our regret has now left India, but the combined Club will not forget how selflessly he advocated amalgamation.

We owe much too to the Alpine Club, and in particular to Colonel E. L. Strutt, the Editor of the Alpine Journal, who is also one of our founder members, and to Mr. Sydney Spencer, the Honorary Secretary. From the first and throughout I have been in close correspondence with them, and their ungrudging help and wise advice have never failed me. Members of the Alpine Club who come to the Himalaya may be sure of a warm welcome and all the assistance that the Himalayan Club can give.

And so the Himalayan Club is founded, and we hope great things of it : the geographer that the blank places on his map may be filled in ; the scientist that our knowledge of the Himalaya, its rocks and glaciers, its animals and plants, its peoples and their way of living, may continually expand ; the artist that its glories may inspire fine pictures. The mountaineer may dream of the first ascent of a thousand unclimbed peaks, the shikari of record heads shot in nalas yet unknown. My own hope is that it may help to rear a breed of men in India, hard and self-reliant, who will know how to enjoy life on the high hills.

Link to source article

British / Indian Nanda Devi East & Changuch Expedition (2009)

Paul Guest nearing the summit of 6322m Changuch with Nanda Devi behind
(Photograph courtesy : www.moran-mountain.co.uk)

Located in a remote mountainous area, Nanda Devi (7817m), the highest peak entirely in India is considered one of the most beautiful and challenging mountains to climb in the world. Nanda Devi is a twin peak with its companion, Nanda Devi East, standing 7434 meters (24,389 ft) in height and is the intended subject for this interesting short film.

The video was shot few years back by a British team that traveled to India to climb Nanda Devi East. Facing many obstacles and deciding to abort their Nanda Devi East plan, the team re-focused on a 6322 meter (20,741 ft) unclimbed mountain known as Changuch. The 13-minute expedition film wonderfully chronicles the culture, history, and plenty of amazing mountain vistas.

David Hamilton, UK's one of the most experienced high altitude expedition leader gave the film positive reviews including: "Almost as good as being there!"

The 2009 British / Indian Nanda Devi East & Changuch Expedition from High Mountain Guides on Vimeo.