Wojciech Kurtyka
Wojciech Kurtyka is a Polish mountaineer and rock climber, one of the pioneers of the alpine style of climbing the biggest walls in the Greater Ranges. He lived in Wrocław up to 1974 when he moved to Kraków. He graduated as engineer in electronics. In 1985 he conquered the "Shining Wall" Gasherbrum IV, which Climbing magazine declared to be the greatest achievement of mountaineering in the twentieth century. In 2016, he received the Piolet d'Or for lifetime achievement in mountaineering.
Career
His climbs in Poland consist of many difficult climbs – in crags, the hardest free climbs and free solo climbs of the time. In the Tatra Mountains he did a lot of first free ascents, first ascents in winter and established new winter routes.Kurtyka became well known abroad in early 1973 after achieving the first winter ascent of Trollveggen in Norway, the highest vertical cliff on the continent. He started in Greater Ranges in 1972, completing a little-known – but important according to him – first ascent of the wall of Akher Chogh in Hindu Kush, in lightweight, alpine style. He started climbing in the Himalayas in 1974. After participating in two big Polish national expeditions in 1974 and 1976, he gradually turned to lightweight expeditions.
His teammates were such world-class Himalayan climbers as, among others, Alex MacIntyre, Jerzy Kukuczka, Doug Scott, Erhard Loretan, Reinhold Messner, Yasushi Yamanoi.
The ideas of minimal equipment and support even on the most difficult walls and highest peaks was included in his philosophical concept of the "path of the mountain".
Kurtyka's and Robert Schauer's climb of the west face of Gasherbrum IV in 1985 was selected by Climbing magazine as one of the 10 most impressive climbs of the 20th century.
Besides being a climber, Kurtyka is author of many articles on climbing published in Polish and English. He is also an inventor of the local Polish grading system of free climbs. This system uses an opened scale, called "Kurtyka scale" or "Krakowska scale".
In 2016, he received the Piolet d'Or Carrière.
Selected climbs
Rock climbing
- New routes up to 8a, 8a+ in Polish crags,
- Free solo ascent of 7c+ route in 1993 - actually probably the hardest free solo climb in Poland
European mountains
- 1970 – Mały Młynarz, NE face, new free route, with Michał Gabryel, Janusz Kurczab
- 1972 – :pl:Kazalnica Mięguszowiecka|Kazalnica, Pająki route, first winter ascent, with Kazimierz Głazek, Marek Kęsicki
- 1973 – Kocioł Kazalnicy, Superściek route, 1st ascent, with Piotr Jasiński, Krzysztof Pankiewicz, Zbigniew Wach
- 1980 – Kazalnica, Kant Filara, first free ascent, with Władysław Janowski
- Kazalnica, other first winter ascents and new routes, 1971, 1992
- 1991 – new routes up to 7c+ in limestone part of Tatras
- 1973 – Trollryggen, N face, Romsdal Valley, French route, first winter ascent, with Marek Kęsicki, Ryszard Kowalewski, Tadeusz Piotrowski
- 1971 – Aiguille Noire, W face, Vitali-Ratti route, first Polish ascent, with Janusz Kurczab
- 1973 – Petit Dru, W face, Directe Americaine, first Polish ascent, with Andrzej Tarnawski
- 1973 – Petit Dru, N face, new route in left part, with Jerzy Kukuczka and Marek Łukaszewski
- 1975 – Grandes Jorasses, N face, new route, with Jerzy Kukuczka and Marek Łukaszewski
Great Ranges
- 1972 – Kohe Tez, 7015 m, N ridge, new route, with Alicja Bednarz, Ryszard Kozioł
- 1972 – Akher Chogh, 7025 m or 7017 m, NW face, new route, with Jacek Rusiecki, Marek Kowalczyk, Piotr Jasiński
- 1974 – Lhotse 8516 m, member of the first winter expedition
- 1976 – K2, 8611 m, East ridge, attempt. The complete line to the summit via the NE-Ridge is as yet virgin.
- 1977 – Kohe Bandaka, 6868 m, NE face, new route, with Alex MacIntyre and John Porter
- 1978 – Changabang, 6864 m, S face direct, new route, with Alex MacIntyre, John Porter and Krzysztof Żurek
- 1981 – Makalu, 8481 m, West face, two attempts of direct new route, with Jerzy Kukuczka, Alex MacIntyre
- 1982 – Cho Oyu, winter attempt, with Reinhold Messner
- 1985 – Gasherbrum IV, 7925 m, West face, first ascent, alpine style,, with Robert Schauer
- 1988 – Trango Tower, 6239 m, E face, new route, with Erhard Loretan
- 1987-2000 – K2, W face, several attempts, up to 6650 m
- 1993, 1997 – Nanga Parbat, 8126 m, Mazeno Ridge, attempts
- 1995 – Losar, 700 m high icefall above Namche Bazaar, Nepal, 2nd ascent, with Maciej Rysula
- 2001 – Biacherahi Tower, Central, ca. 5700 m, with Taeko and Yasushi Yamanoi
Eight-thousanders
- 1980 – Dhaulagiri - East face, new route, alpine style, with René Ghilini, Alex MacIntyre and Ludwik Wilczyński
- 1982 – Broad Peak - normal route, alpine style, with Jerzy Kukuczka
- 1983 – Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II - two new routes, alpine style, with Jerzy Kukuczka
- 1984 – Broad Peak - Traverse of all three Broad Peak summits, North, Middle and Main, alpine style, with Jerzy Kukuczka
- 1990 – Cho Oyu - SW face, new route, alpine style, with Erhard Loretan and Jean Troillet
- 1990 – Shisha Pangma, central summit 8008 m, S face, new route, alpine style, with Erhard Loretan and Jean Troillet
Self-authored articles in English
- The Gasherbrums Are Lonely, Mountain, No. 97, May/June 1984
- The Abseil and the Ascent, The Art of Abseiling into the Hell, The Himalayan Journal, Vol. 42, 1985
- The Shining Wall of Gasherbrum IV, American Alpine Journal, 1986, pp. 1–5
- The Path of the Mountain, Alpinism, Vol. 1, 1986
- Broad Peak North Ridge, Climbing, No. 94, February 1986
- The Art of Suffering, Mountain, No. 121, May/June 1988
- The East Face of Trango’s Nameless Tower, AAJ 1989, pp. 45–49
- Trango Extremes, Mountain, No. 127, May/June 1989, pp. 22–27
- New Routes, Cho Oyu and Shisha Pangma, AAJ 1991, pp. 14–18
- The Polish Syndrome, Mountain Review, No. 5, November/December 1993, pp. 36–47
- The Polish Syndrome, Chris Bonington, Audrey Salkeld, Great Climbs: a celebration of world mountaineering, Publ. Mitchell Beazley, London 1994; Chris Bonington, Audrey Salkeld, Heroic climbs: a celebration of world mountaineering, The Mountaineers, Seattle 1994
- The Shining Wall, Alpinist, No. 2, Spring 2003
- Losar, Alpinist, No. 4, Autumn 2003