- Oswald became interested in the mountains after the famous tragedy on Broad Peak in 2013, in which Maciej Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski died. Bartek skied down this mountain last year. As he admits, it was not so easy
- Bartek trains for fun, mainly skiing. Oswald, on the other hand, can give himself a hard time. He often practices in a specific place in Warsaw, where the conditions imitate even the height of 6000 m above sea level
- “When I came down from Broad Peak, I saved a man and hardly anyone mentioned it. Take the dog out in your arms and everyone will say it in Poland” – this was the thought Oswald had in his mind after the events that took place last year
- More interesting stories can be found on the new website of Przegląd Sportowy Onet. Check!
Jakub Radomski: How did your fascination with mountains begin?
Oswald Rodrigo-Pereira, filmmaker and climber: Even as a child I crossed the limits, but these were the limits of staying alive.
how is it?
OR-P.: I had very severe bronchial asthma, mixed with pneumonia. I was hospitalized every week, my parents wondering if I would even live to be three or four. That’s why they kept me sheltered when it came to playing any sport. At that time, I escaped into reading books: I moved into the world of imagination, having in my head that I was doing things that exceeded certain imaginations.
Later, when my health stabilized, I acted like a fairly normal person practicing sports: I competed in marathons, triathlons, mountain running. Added to this was a journalistic streak, such a desire to collect first-hand information, which led me to the K2 base camp, from where I reported on the famous Polish winter expedition in the 2017/2018 season.
Recently, at a Poland-Albania match, I met a friend from TVP who said: “Oswald, when you were going to the base then, everyone said that you were crazy and you took a hoe to the sun. They added that this is the wrong place and you will have to be saved. And you made it a path of life.” On the next expedition, I climbed 6000 m above sea level, then 6600 m above sea level, then there was a jump to the eight-thousander, because in 2021 I climbed Broad Peak (8051 m above sea level) without oxygen. It can be said that that first trip and presence in the K2 base revolutionized my professional and sports world.
Bartek Ziemski, ski mountaineer.: I come from Bielsko-Biała and have been skiing since the age of three. I also like sailing, I try to do it at least once a year. It’s a great break from work. I work in the IT industry on a daily basis and deal with programming, so it’s probably understandable that I like to take a break from it. I love my job, especially when there are a lot of breaks (laughs). When I went to college and was looking for partners for ski touring trips, I found Sakwa. It is a place with an extraordinary atmosphere created by people. A certain inspiration for skiing down the eight-thousanders was definitely Andrzej Bargiel. I remember going to his talk in Krakow a few years ago. He showed me how much you can do on these skis.
OR-P.: Sakwa is a mountaineering club, bringing together young blood: climbers, ski mountaineers, who at the same time have a great appetite for life and combine both. It is an environment where there is often less planning and more action. Pannier is the future of Polish, and in some areas even global climbing.
Bartek – you skied down Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II last year. What was the hardest thing about this project?
B.Z.: The difficulties were complex, a combination of different things. On Broad Peak there was heavy snow in some places, technically difficult sections in others.
OR-P.: When I climbed this peak, it seemed to me quite grateful for skiing.
B.Z.: The upper ridge was not so easy due to technical problems and the need to climb to the top of Rocky Summit. We skiers don’t like to climb downhill. There was also a strictly rock fragment and quite a difficult lower part, below the pass.
Going up and down Broad Peak on skis, I froze my fingers a bit. I knew I couldn’t leave them out in the cold anymore. My friends from the expedition later went to K2 (8611 m asl – editor’s note), and I chose Gasherbrum II (8035 m asl), because it is definitely a ski mountain, because you lose altitude quickly when going down it. I also dream of going down K2 someday, but it is a mountain that requires special preparation, and besides, the weather this year at this peak did not allow for such a downhill ride.
You are about to embark on an expedition whose goal is to climb Annapurna (8091 m above sea level) and then Dhaulagiri (8167 m above sea level). What exactly is your plan? I read that Bartek is to ski down these mountains, and you, Oswald, are planning to record him at the top.
OR-P.: We are well prepared. The ideal scenario is that we climb to the top together. I take on the film and media element of the expedition, and Bartek takes on the sports success, i.e. the downhill ride. At the moment, if the conditions are right, I’m going to film him, broadcast a message on the radio, and then start the descent myself. We need to save some strength, because after descending to the Annapurna base camp, the next stage will begin – an attempt to climb Dhaulagiri. Bartek has more experience in this matter than me, because he skied those two eight-thousanders.
In 2021, after descending Broad Peak, although I felt strong, I gave up attacking K2, because people who were supposed to be the heroes of my film appeared in the base. Then, after climbing the mountain, my descent was a bit disturbed, because for seven hours I was rescuing a Russian woman, Nastya Runova. I think I can manage on our expedition as well, as long as there are no adventures. If the conditions were a bit worse, after a few minutes at the top, I’d start my descent.
How do you prepare for such an expedition?
B.Z.: I am a person who likes training that gives joy. That’s why I try to act primarily in the mountains: before and after work, I sometimes do 1000-2000 m of elevation gain on skis. This is the basis of my preparations for me. Oswald, however, practices a little differently.
OR-P.: On the basis of my experience, I choose my own stimuli and training loads. I don’t really have time to go to the mountains, so I often train in hypoxia, which is possible e.g. in Warsaw. It is a closed room with reduced oxygen content. We enter a gym-like room. Inside, nitrogen is pumped through a special unit, which reduces the concentration of oxygen. Many runners and other endurance athletes train in similar conditions today. Most often, in such conditions, I choose to walk up the stairs, additionally putting on heavy shoes, and calf weights weighing 2 kg.
I also train in the pool. There I crawl intervals of 100 m, first taking a breath every three movements of my arms, then every five, and so on until the section where I only breathe every 15 movements, basically feeling cut off.
How would you actually sign? It seems to me that in the case of any of you, the word “mountain climber” will not be enough, or even it will not fit.
B.Z.: I am a ski mountaineer. I do not race on skis, I do not take part in competitions, but this concept fits me the most.
OR-P.: For me it depends on the trip. Generally, I’m some kind of hybrid, probably the closest to the truth would be the term “climbing filmmaker”.
Do you have a dream goal in the future?
B.Z.: Matterhorn (4478 m above sea level) in Switzerland. This mountain is my little gem. I’ve tried to get it a few times, but so far without success. Last winter we tried to walk the north face, but it was too warm. This is a general problem for climbers – the world is moving towards higher temperatures and winter conditions are not good.
OR-P.: We are dealing with some passing of the mountains. Even in Poland this season the real winter lasted quite a short time. I can see it clearly when I go on my next expeditions.
But you asked about your dream mountain. For me, that was Broad Peak, because the tragic events that took place there in 2013 – the deaths of Maciej Berbeka and Tomek Kowalski – made me more interested in the subject of the highest mountains. Later, when I went to the base camp of K2, from where Broad Peak is visible, I looked at this peak and thought: “It would be nice to start by climbing this mountain.” I made it, I have one dream behind me, but my appetite grows with eating.
Is it true that the dogs connected you a bit?
OR-P.: We met a few years ago, during the unification expedition of the Polish Winter Himalaism program on Lhotse (8516 m asl). The conditions did not allow us to work, so we sat at the base, watched movies and there was an opportunity to get to know each other well. Something clicked, we fell in love. It’s true with dogs: I’ve been going to the “Na Paluchu” shelter for a long time and taking dogs for a walk. Bartek once spoke up and said that he had a dog, just from Paluch.
B.Z.: Correct. My girlfriend and I decided that we would take a dog so that she would have someone to be with at home when I was on trips (laughs). It was a good decision. As for this trip – I came up with the initiative. Oswald is very fast, we’ve already done a bit of work in the mountains, our team is playing quite well.
OR-P.: Bartek returned from Pakistan last year and said to do two more eight-thousanders in one fell swoop, and maybe even more. The choice of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri was quite natural. There will also be other expeditions in the base, which will be able to operate in the event of our problems.
Oswald, tell me the story with the dog that made you famous and even nominated you for the “Heart for Animals” award last year.
O R.-P.: It was during the expedition to Manaslu (8163 m above sea level). We had to withdraw from the mountain because of the gigantic snowfall. We roll up, go down to the nearest town, and there are stray dogs hanging around. One started following us to the base. The locals tried to chase him away, but he kept walking as if we were his people. At some point, at an altitude of about 4,200 m above sea level, it got stuck. It was so steep that he could neither go down nor go up. He stood and froze. So I put it on my back and carried it up. We named it Pinxto, Basque for “Needle”, after a popular cartoon. Pinxto lived with us at the base, and after the expedition we gave him under the care of a Spanish foundation operating on the spot.
The nomination for the award and the many publications in the media were very nice recognitions, but what I really wanted to do was motivate people to open their hearts to what is going on around them. After all, we decide when and how we act, we help someone.
However, I also had a thought in my head: “When I came down from Broad Peak, I saved a man and hardly anyone mentioned it. Take the dog out in your arms and everyone will talk about it in Poland.”
Source:Onet Sports Review
Date of creation: today, 19:19
Journalist of the Onet Sports Review