Freedom Climbers

Freedom Climbers tells the story of the extraordinary Polish adventurers who emerged from under the blanket of oppression following the Second World War to become the world’s leading Himalayan climbers. Although they lived in a war-ravaged landscape, with seemingly no hope of creating a meaningful life, these curious, motivated and skilled mountaineers built their own free-market economy under the very noses of their Communist bosses and climbed their way to liberation. At a time when Polish citizens were locked behind the Iron Curtain, these intrepid explorers found a way to travel the world in search of extreme adventure — to Alaska, South America and Europe, but mostly to the highest and most inspiring mountains of the world. To this end, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Nepal became their second homes as they evolved into the toughest Himalayan climbers the world has ever known. Here are the stories of Cichy, Czerwińska, Czok, Hajzer, Kukuczka, Kurtyka, Lwow, Majer, Pawlowski, Rutkiewicz, Wielicki, Zawada, and others.

Winner of the 2011 Banff Mountain Book Festival Grand Prize, the 2011 Boardman-Tasker Award for Mountaineering Literature, the 2012 AAC Literary Award, the 2013 Kekoo Naoroji Award for Mountain Literature from the Himalayan Club, and the 2014 Grand Prize at the Salon du Livre de Montagne de Passy. The first printing hardcovers disappeared quite quickly!