I’ll safeguard the greatest achievement of my life — Janusz Adam Adamski

Kathmandu, May 25

Janusz Adam Adamski, a climber from Szczecin, Poland, who scaled Mt Everest from the Tibetan side and traversed towards Nepal from the roof of the world, said he did so despite knowing that his feat could land him in deep trouble in Nepal.

Talking to THT over phone from Namche Bazaar this afternoon, Janusz said he was glad to be the first Polish, and 15th in the world, to traverse the mountain. “I am ready to face any legal challenge in Nepal to safeguard the greatest achievement of my life,” he said. “I’ll never regret what I did.”

After a month of acclimatisation activities in Tibet, Janusz said he reached the summit from North Col on May 21 and started descending from South Col in Nepal the same day.

“However, I failed to do it without using bottled oxygen as per the project plan,” he said, adding that he began using supplemental oxygen from Camp III of Mt Everest in Tibet.”

According to Janusz, he believes there is no border on mountains. He said he was well aware of immigration and climbing rules in Nepal and Tibet. “As there is no provision of issuing traverse permit in both countries, I had to traverse illegally for fulfilment of my lifetime dream,” the Polish economist claimed.

The 49-year-old climber said he, along with Andrzej (Andrew) Ziółkowski, who coordinated his Mt Everest project, would descend to Lukla tomorrow and trek to Jiri area before taking a bus to Kathmandu. “We’ll be in Kathmandu in four days to meet DoT officials,” he added.

The Department of Tourism considers traversing Mt Everest as an illegal activity while China Tibet Mountaineering Association also clarified that it never issued permits for traversing.

DoT officials said he would be punished under the country’s Immigration Rules and Tourism Act, if found guilty. “He could be banned from Nepal for five years or slapped a 10-year ban on climbing, besides a fine of $22,000.”