Invitation: online meeting with Bernadette McDonald, author of „Winter 8000" (March 27)
27.03.2021
Consulate General of the Republic of Poland kindly invites you to an online meeting with Canadian award-winning writer, author of the fascinating books about Polish climbers „Freedom Climbers” and a biography of one of the greatest Polish climbers, Wojciech Kurtyka („Art of Freedom: The Life and Climbs of Voytek Kurtyka”).
WHEN: March 27th (Saturday) at 3 p.m (EDT);
WHERE: meet.google.com/fzu-iafr-xvy
Moderators: Agata Kusznirewicz and Dominika Stoch.
Bernadette McDonald returns with a new book about climbing: „Winter 8000”: Climbing the World’s Highest Mountains in the Coldest Season".
The story begins with Polish winter mountaineering pioneer Andrzej Zawada, who completed the first-ever winter ascent of a 7,000-meter peak and then led the expedition for the first winter ascent of Everest. Polish climbers had a monopoly on high altitude winter mountaineering in the early days. The sport was so big in Poland in those days, as McDonald explains, that Polish climbers had bivouac competitions, competing to see who could sleep out in the worst conditions with the least gear. Not only does McDonald introduce all of the key players of that era, but also describes the sociopolitical factors that influenced Polish climbing, such as the Soviet rule of Poland during those years. (Kevin Corrigan Climbing)
