The Long Shadow: Maciej Berbeka and the Winter Conquest of Broad Peak

In March 1988, Polish alpinist Maciej Berbeka climbed solo onto a sub-zero col high in the Karakoram, battling roaring blizzards to reach what he believed was the true summit of Broad Peak (8,051m). At Base Camp, expedition leader Andrzej Zawada realized from radio coordinates that Berbeka had reached only the Rocky Summit (8,028m)—just twelve vertical meters below the main summit, but separated by a treacherous hour-long traverse across a knife-edge ridge. To save Berbeka’s life as darkness fell in -40°C temperatures, Zawada urged him to descend without breaking the agonizing truth. When Berbeka later learned he had not touched the true summit, a deep psychological wound formed that would remain unresolved for a quarter of a century.

In 2013, at age 58, Berbeka received an unexpected call. The Polish Winter Himalayan Mountaineering program, directed by Artur Hajzer and led by legendary mountaineer Krzysztof Wielicki, was organizing a national expedition to achieve the long-coveted first winter ascent of Broad Peak. Berbeka accepted immediately: it was time to finish what he had started twenty-five years earlier.

The New Generation of Ice Warriors

The 2013 expedition brought together two distinct generations of Polish alpinism: veteran master Maciej Berbeka and three exceptionally gifted young climbers—Adam Bielecki (who had made the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum I a year prior), Artur Małek, and 27-year-old Tomasz Kowalski.

Arriving on the frozen Godwin-Austen Glacier in January, the team encountered typical Karakoram winter hell: hurricane winds that shredded base camp tents, hard blue ice on the West Spur, and unrelenting temperatures down to -45°C. Working methodically through February, they established three high camps along the Normal Route, fixing ropes through technical rock bands and ice couloirs.

The Long March to the Summit

On March 4, all four climbers gathered at Camp IV at 7,400 meters. The following morning, March 5, 2013, they set out at 5:15 AM into the sub-zero chill. Moving upward through deep snowdrifts, progress was agonizingly slow. By 12:30 PM, they reached the Broad Peak Pass at 7,900 meters.

Despite the late hour, the weather was exceptionally clear and windless—an exceedingly rare gift in the Karakoram winter. Adam Bielecki and Artur Małek forged ahead along the summit ridge, reaching the true 8,051-meter summit first at approximately 5:20 PM.

Berbeka, climbing steadily alongside young Tomasz Kowalski, arrived at the summit at 6:00 PM, just as the sun set behind K2 in a blaze of crimson light. Twenty-five years to the week after his first attempt, Maciej Berbeka finally stood on the true roof of Broad Peak. The Polish Ice Warriors had achieved the historic first winter ascent of Broad Peak.

Tragedy on the Descent

The triumph, however, carried a terrible cost. In the Karakoram winter, descending after sunset is nearly fatal. As temperatures crashed below -40°C in pitch darkness, Tomasz Kowalski suffered acute physical collapse, unable to coordinate his steps down from the ridge. Maciej Berbeka refused to abandon his younger partner, staying with him through an open bivouac on the frozen knife-edge col at 7,900 meters without a tent or sleeping bags.

Through the radio, Krzysztof Wielicki at Base Camp maintained desperate, heartbreaking contact with Kowalski through the night, urging him to keep moving his limbs. By morning on March 6, Kowalski had ceased responding. Berbeka was spotted descending slowly toward Camp IV, but succumbed to exhaustion and exposure in the icy gullies above 7,700 meters. Their sacrifice cemented the final, tragic triumph of Poland’s historic winter quest in the Karakoram, immortalizing Berbeka as a hero of unyielding loyalty and alpine honor.