Sad sad news.....

After another fantastic achievement by the strong Polish team - appears the news about two missing climbers....You all have my deepest sympathy. Maciej Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski are missing on there way back from the summit."On March 5th, 2013, Maciej Berbeka, Adam Bielecki, Artur Małek and Tomasz Kowalski bagged the first Winter Broad Peak (8047m) in the Karakorum, Pakistan. They summited between 17h30 to 18h00 local time.
After the summit Artur Małek and Adam Bielecki went down to Camp 4 at an altitude of 7400m, while Tomasz Kowalski and Maciej Berbeka bivouacked (without a tent) on the pass at 7900m. Maciej started going down with Tomasz staying at the bivouac. On March 6th Tomasz Kowalski (27) and Maciej Berbeka (58) were officially declared missing"

The first Winter Broad Peak summit team.
courtesy FTP / Polish Himalayas

Today (9/3) Krzysztof Wielicki, Artur Małek, Adam Bielecki and all three HAPs, Shaheen Baig, Amin Ullah and Karim Hayyat, along with other staff of Base Camp started trekking through Baltoro Glacier. Expedition is over," reported Jan Komorowski, an university friend of Tomasz Kowalski.
Krzysztof Wielicki, Manager of the Polish Broad Peak team on the mountain, have issued the following statement: "Having regard to all the circumstances, the identified conditions, my experience and the history of Himalayan mountaineering, as well as knowledge of high altitude physiology and medicine, and even after additional consultations with doctors and co-organized expeditions in Poland, we must conclude that Maciej Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski are dead."
                

"Given the time that has elapsed since the last contact, the height at which it happened, the state in which they already were, the current appalling weather conditions and all the other factors I have decided to end the expedition."

"We pack the base and began our descent down. The march through Baltoro Glacier will take about 5 days. Back to Poland occurs around March 20."

First Winter SUMMIT on Broad Peak

Polish Winter Kings.
They did it! Maciej Berbeka, Adam Bielecki, Artur Małek, Tomasz Kowalski bagged the first Winter Broad Peak.

"Summit captured between 17.30 to 18.00 local time. All four climbers of the summit team made the First Winter ascent of Broad Peak 8047m," reported Artur Hajzer, Leader of the Polish Himalayan Winter 2010 - 2015. http://polishwinterhimalaism.pl/pages/posts/winter-expedition-of-polish-mountaineering-association-to-broad-peak---topo-of-the-route-to-the-summit-609.php

"Adam Bielecki made the summit of Broad Peak [today, 2013.03.05] and it is his third Pakistani 8000er within the space of one year, two of which are First Winter Ascents; Gash I [FWA] on 2012.03.09, K2 on 2012.07.31, Broad Peak [FWA] on 2013.03.05."

"Maciej Berbeka made the summit of Broad Peak [today, 2013.03.05] and it is his third First Winter Ascent; Manaslu [FWA] on 1984.01.12 with Ryszard Gajewski, Cho Oyu [FWA] on 1985.02.12 with Maciej Pawlikowski, and now Broad Peak [FWA] on 2013.03.05."