GUEST LIST – 2026

The guest list below is not final and is continuously being expanded.

Bartek Ziemski

One of Poland’s leading ski mountaineers and Himalayan climbers, a member of the Sakwa Mountaineering Club and the Polish Mountaineering Association national team. He is renowned as one of the world’s top specialists in extreme ski descents from eight-thousanders. All of his expeditions are carried out in pure alpine style — without supplemental oxygen and without Sherpa support. In May 2026, he became the first person ever to ski down Lhotse without taking off his skis.

Zuza Witych

Poland’s top freestyle skier.
An eight-time medalist of the Freeride World Tour, European Champion in freeride skiing, and eight-time Polish Champion in freeride skiing. Based in Bielsko-Biała, she runs her own ski and cycling club.

Krzysztof Wielicki

A legendary Polish mountaineer and “Ice Warrior,” celebrated as the fifth person to summit all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks. He is globally renowned for his speed, bold solo climbs, and pioneering first winter ascents on the world’s highest mountains. Together with Leszek Cichy, he became the first person to climb Mount Everest in winter. This year, he is celebrating the 30th anniversary of completing the Crown of the Himalayas and Karakoram.

Aleksandra Mirosław

Aleksandra „Ola” Mirosław (née Rudzińska, born February 2, 1994, in Lublin) is a legendary Polish competition speed climber. Celebrated globally as the first-ever women’s Olympic speed climbing champion (Paris 2024), she is the world record holder and a multi-time World and European Champion.

Marek Arcimowicz

A photographer, journalist, and designer by profession. He is a photographer for the Polish edition of National Geographic and a member of the Sony Imaging Ambassadors program. An alpinist and skier, he has participated in and organized climbing, exploration, and scientific expeditions. In 2012, as part of an international scientific expedition, he summited the previously unclimbed Tramen Tepui in Venezuela. He is the creator of the FotoCamp Festival in the Karkonosze Mountains.

Monika Witkowska

A celebrated Polish high-altitude climber, author, and explorer. She is renowned as the second Polish woman (after Wanda Rutkiewicz) to successfully summit K2. Beyond the Himalayas, she has achieved the Seven Summits ( the highest peaks on each of the seven continents) and is an avid ocean sailor. She has successfully summited four 8,000-meter peaks: Mount Everest (2013), Manaslu (2018), Lhotse (2019), and K2 (2022).

Dierdre Wolownick-Honnold

An award-winning author, speaker, and woman of remarkably diverse life experience whose work has been published worldwide. Her books have received a total of 17 awards, and for 44 years she taught five foreign languages across three continents. Throughout her life, she has worked as an independent publisher, international speaker (presenting in five languages), tour guide, marathon runner, rock climber, painter, and Air France employee. She is also the mother of Alex Honnold.

Piotr Pustelnik

Piotr Pustelnik is one of Poland’s most accomplished high-altitude climbers and the third Pole to summit all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks. Known for his determination and Himalayan expeditions, he completed the Crown of the Himalayas and Karakoram in 2010 with the ascent of Annapurna. Alongside his mountaineering career, he is also a researcher at the Lodz University of Technology.

Paweł Zieliński

The founder and president of the Integrowanie przez wspinanie Foundation and Tricamp Climbing School. An experienced climber and certified rock climbing instructor, he is also a member of the Polish Mountaineering Association national alpine team and a graduate of the University of Physical Education in Kraków. He has established new climbing routes and completed numerous ascents in mountain ranges around the world.

Leszek Cichy

Born in 1951, Leszek Cichy is a legendary Polish mountaineer, alpine climber, and Himalayan explorer who has been climbing since 1969. Together with Krzysztof Wielicki, he became the first person to summit Mount Everest in winter on February 17, 1980. He took part in numerous expeditions to the Karakoram and Himalayas, including pioneering ascents on Gasherbrum II and Yalung Kang, as well as four expeditions to K2. Cichy was also the first Pole to complete the Seven Summits.

Beata Słama

An author, translator, editor, and journalist. As a journalist, she has contributed to magazines including Pani, Marie Claire, Taternik, Góry, and Tatry. Based in Zakopane, she spent nearly eight years at the legendary Betlejemka mountain hut and ran the Włosienica shelter for two seasons. She also curates the cultural section of the Kraków Mountain Festival and runs Górski Dom Kultury, a platform dedicated to mountain and mountain-adjacent culture.

Marta Sokołowska

A woman of many passions: climbing, exploring her beloved Italian Dolomites, wingsuit flying from mountain cliffs, and practicing yoga. She is a certified climbing instructor and yoga teacher, as well as the author of the travel guide Dolomites and Lake Garda (Bezdroża Publishing, 2024). She also writes about mountains and BASE jumping.

Ilona Gawęda

A skier, climber, and the only woman in Poland — and one of only a few worldwide — to belong to the prestigious IFMGA mountain guide community. Her through some of the world’s most demanding walls: from classic Tatra routes to the Walker Spur and Freney Pillar in the Mont Blanc massif, expeditions in the Americas and Patagonia, and first ascents in the Miyar Valley of the Indian Himalayas, where she opened two new routes.

Justyna Kowalczyk-Tekieli

One of Poland’s greatest athletes and Olympians, she has secured her place in the history of cross-country skiing. A two-time Olympic gold medalist and World Champion, she also won the overall World Cup title four times, along with the prestigious Tour de Ski series. Over the course of her career, she has earned hundreds of medals, titles, awards, and state honors. A coach, sports activist, and PhD in physical culture sciences. She remains deeply active today, competing in mountain races and marathons, and training daily on steep slopes and exposed ridges — often sharing her outdoor passion with her five-year-old son.

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