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Wojciech Kurtyka (also Voytek Kurtyka, born 25 July 1947, in Skrzynka near Kłodzko) is a Polish and , one of the pioneers of the of climbing the biggest walls in the . He lived in Wrocław up to 1974 when he moved to Kraków. He graduated as engineer in (in 1973 at Wrocław University of Technology). In 1985 he climbed the "Shining Wall," the west face of , which Climbing magazine declared to be the greatest achievement of mountaineering in the twentieth century. In 2016, he received the Piolet d'Or for lifetime achievement in mountaineering.

Career
His climbs in Poland consist of many difficult climbs – in crags, the hardest and free solo climbs of the time. In the he did a lot of first free ascents, first ascents in winter and established new winter routes.

Kurtyka became well known abroad in early 1973 after achieving the first winter ascent of (Troll Wall) in Norway, the highest vertical on the continent (4 men Polish team, see the list of climbs below). He started in Greater Ranges in 1972, completing a little-known – but important according to him – first ascent of the wall of in , in lightweight, alpine style. He started climbing in the Himalayas in 1974. After participating in two big Polish national expeditions in 1974 and 1976, he gradually turned to lightweight expeditions.

His teammates were such world-class Himalayan climbers as, among others, (1977, 1978, 1980, 1981), (1981, 1983, 1984), (1993, attempt), (1988, 1990, 1991, 1997), (1982, winter attempt), (1986 Trango Towers attempt), (2000, 2001, K2 and attempts).

The ideas of minimal equipment and support even on the most difficult walls and highest peaks was included in his philosophical concept of the "path of the mountain".The Path of the Mountain, Alpinism, 1986, see: articles

Kurtyka's and 's (Austrian) climb of the west face (Shining Wall) of in 1985 was selected by Climbing magazine as one of the 10 most impressive climbs of the 20th century (including rock climbing, bouldering etc.).Gregory Crouch, The Great Ascents. Climbing's top achievements of the century (sub-chapter G IV, 1985), Climbing, Millennium Special Issue, No. 192, March 15, 2000, p. 84 (whole article pp. 78-87)

Besides being a climber, Kurtyka is author of many articles on climbing published in Polish and English. He is also an inventor (around 1980) of the local Polish grading system of free climbs. This system uses an opened scale, called "Kurtyka scale" or "Krakowska scale".aka Skala Krakowska or Polish Scale – It is up to VI grade very close to the and then opens, with grades VI.1, VI.2 etc., today up to VI.8. For example see table in AAJ, 1998, Vol. 40, p. 421 (internet access: American Alpine Journal 1998, pdf file AAJ 1998 p. 421)

In 2016, he received the Piolet d'Or Carrière (Lifetime Achievement Award).

Selected climbs
Rock climbing
  • New routes up to 8a, 8a+ in Polish crags,
  • Free solo ascent of 7c+ route in 1993 - actually probably the hardest free solo climb in Poland

European mountains
  • 1970 – Mały Młynarz ( Malý Mlynár in Slovak), NE face, new free route (which opens the grade higher than VI (in ); commonly called Kurtykówka), with Michał Gabryel,
  • 1972 – , Pająki route (route of the Slovak group "The Spiders"), first winter ascent, with Kazimierz Głazek, Marek Kęsicki
  • 1973 – Kocioł Kazalnicy ( Kazalnica Cwm, Kazalnica Sanctuary), Superściek ( Super Sewer) route, 1st ascent (in winter), with Piotr Jasiński, Krzysztof Pankiewicz, Zbigniew Wach
  • 1980 – Kazalnica, Kant Filara (The Edge of The Pillar), first free ascent (actually the hardest free route in the Tatras), with Władysław Janowski
  • Kazalnica, other first winter ascents and new routes, 1971, 1992
  • 1991 – new routes up to 7c+ in limestone part of Tatras

Mountains of

  • 1973 – , N face (Troll Wall), Valley, French route (French directissima), first winter ascent, with Marek Kęsicki, Ryszard Kowalewski, Tadeusz Piotrowski (all Polish)

, Mont Blanc Massif

  • 1971 – , W face, Vitali-Ratti route, first Polish ascent, with Janusz Kurczab
  • 1973 – , W face, Directe Americaine, first Polish ascent, with Andrzej Tarnawski
  • 1973 – , N face, new route in left part ( Voie Petit Jean, to commemorate Jan Franczuk who died during the 1971 expedition),Marek Łukaszewski: Petit Dru – voie Petit Jean, Taternik, No. 2, 1974, pp. 65-66 (in ) with Jerzy Kukuczka and Marek Łukaszewski
  • 1975 – , N face (Pointe Hélène, Polish route), new route, with Jerzy Kukuczka and Marek Łukaszewski

Great Ranges
  • 1972 – , 7015 m (, ), N ridge, new route, with Alicja Bednarz, Ryszard Kozioł (all Polish)
  • 1972 – , 7025 m or 7017 m (Hindu Kush, Afghanistan), NW face, new route, with Jacek Rusiecki, Marek Kowalczyk, Piotr Jasiński (all Polish)
  • 1974 – 8516 m, member of the first winter (autumn to winter) expedition (, leader, and on 27 December reached height ca. 8250 m)
  • 1976 – K2, 8611 m, East ridge, attempt (Kurtyka reached ca. 7900 m, the highest point reached by expedition ca. 8400 m (Eugeniusz Chrobak, Wojciech Wróż - this long route was finished to the summit - via a diversion of the top section of the Abruzzi Ridge - in 1978 by American expedition led by ). The complete line to the summit via the NE-Ridge is as yet virgin.
  • 1977 – , 6868 m (Hindu Kush, Afghanistan), NE face, new route, with and John Porter
  • 1978 – , 6864 m (, India), S face direct, new route, with Alex MacIntyre, John Porter and Krzysztof Żurek (Polish)
  • 1981 – , 8481 m, West face, two attempts of direct new route (during the second, in autumn, they reached ca. 7900 m), with Jerzy Kukuczka, Alex MacIntyre (later Kukuczka reached the summit in solo climb via the variation of the normal route)
  • 1982 – , winter attempt, with
  • 1985 – , 7925 m (, ), West face (Shining Wall), first ascent, alpine style, (not to the summit), with (Austrian)
  • 1988 – , 6239 m (Baltoro, Karakoram), E face, new route, with
  • 1987-2000 – K2, W face, several (4 or 5) attempts, up to 6650 m (1994)
  • 1993, 1997 – , 8126 m, Mazeno Ridge, attempts
  • 1995 – Losar, 700 m high icefall above , Nepal, 2nd ascent, with Maciej Rysula (Polish)
  • 2001 – Biacherahi Tower, Central, ca. 5700 m (, Karakoram, S face, new route (Japanese-Polish Picnic), with and (during attempts to N buttress)

Eight-thousanders
  1. 1980 – - East face, new route, (not to the summit), with René Ghilini (Swiss), Alex MacIntyre and Ludwik Wilczyński (Polish)
  2. 1982 – - normal route, alpine style, with Jerzy Kukuczka
  3. 1983 – , - two new routes, alpine style, with Jerzy Kukuczka ( Polish Alex MacIntyre Memorial Expedition)
  4. 1984 – - Traverse of all three Broad Peak summits, North (new route), Middle (or Central) and Main, , with Jerzy Kukuczka
  5. 1990 – - SW face, new route, , with Erhard Loretan and
  6. 1990 – , central summit 8008 m, S face, new route, , with Erhard Loretan and Jean Troillet

Bibliography
Self-authored articles in English
  • The Gasherbrums Are Lonely, Mountain, No. 97, May/June 1984
  • The Abseil and the Ascent, The Art of Abseiling into the Hell, The Himalayan Journal, Vol. 42, 1985
  • The Path of the Mountain, Alpinism, Vol. 1, 1986
  • Broad Peak North Ridge, Climbing, No. 94, February 1986
  • The Art of Suffering, Mountain, No. 121, May/June 1988
  • Trango Extremes, Mountain, No. 127, May/June 1989, pp. 22–27
  • The Polish Syndrome, , No. 5, November/December 1993, pp. 36–47
  • The Polish Syndrome, as , (editors), Great Climbs: a celebration of world mountaineering, Publ. Mitchell Beazley, London 1994; Chris Bonington, Audrey Salkeld (editors), Heroic climbs: a celebration of world mountaineering, The Mountaineers, Seattle 1994
  • The Shining Wall, Alpinist, No. 2, Spring 2003
  • Losar, Alpinist, No. 4, Autumn 2003

Other sources
  • Marek Brniak, Troll Wall in Winter, Summit, October 1976 (and Climber&Rambler, March 1976)
  • ; Changabang South Buttress, Climbing, No 55, 1979; South Side Story, Mountain, No. 65, January/February 1979
  • ; Broken English, Mountain, No. 77, January/February 1981
  • Biacherahi Central, High, No. 234, May 2002 (Mountain Info, edited by , with info from climbers, p. 67-68, with topo of the massif)

Interviews with, and broad articles on Wojciech Kurtyka

  • Nicholas O’Connell, Beyond Risk. Conversations with Climbers, chapter X, The Mountaineers, Seattle 1993
  • , Between the Hammer and the Anvil. The Art of Suffering, Climbing, No. 115, Aug/Sept 1989, pp. 78–86 in

Further reading

External links

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