Maciej Berbeka
Quick Facts
Biography
Maciej Berbeka (17 October 1954, Zakopane, Poland – 6 March 2013, Broad Peak, Baltistan) was a Polish mountaineer, mountain guide UIAGM and member of TOPR. He and his teammate Tomasz Kowalski went missing on 6 March 2013 as they were descending from Broad Peak. They were declared dead two days later.
Berbeka's accomplishments include making the first winter ascent of the eight-thousanders Manaslu, on 12 January 1984, with Ryszard Gajewski; of Cho Oyu, on 12 February 1985, with Maciej Pawlikowski (the only winter ascent on eight-thousander made along a new route); and of Broad Peak, on 5 March 2013 with Adam Bielecki, Tomasz Kowalski and Artur Małek. He also climbed and summited Annapurna and Mount Everest. He was also the first person in the world to have reached 8000 m winter in Karakoram - Rocky Summit (8028 m) of 1988, on 6 March. This occurred exactly 25 years to the day before he was reported missing on Broad Peak.