Józef Jerzy Kukuczka was a Polish mountaineer. He was born in Katowice, his family was ethnically Silesian Goral. On 18 September 1987, he became the second man to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders in the world; a feat which took him less than 8 years to accomplish. He is the only person to have climbed two eight-thousanders in one winter. Altogether, he ascended four eight-thousanders in winter, including three as first ascents. Along with Tadeusz Piotrowski, Kukuczka established a new route on K2 in alpine style, which no one has repeated.
Jerzy Kukuczka on Mount Everest, 1980
Kukuczka on graffiti in Katowice
Street art of Kukuczka in Bogucice, the district of Katowice where he grew up and lived, unveiled in 2019.
Monument in Katowice
Reinhold Andreas Messner is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, doing so without supplementary oxygen. Messner was the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland with neither snowmobiles nor dog sleds and also crossed the Gobi Desert alone. He is widely considered to be the greatest mountaineer of all time.
Messner in 2024
Reinhold Messner
Reinhold Messner in 1985 in Pamir Mountains.
Rupal face of Nanga Parbat.