Freedom Climbers: The Golden Age of Polish Climbing: Legends and Lore

during the period between the end of World War II and the start of the new millennium. The emphasis here is on their

"golden age" in the 1980s and 1990s when, despite the economic and social baggage of their struggling country, Polish

climbers were the first to tackle the world's highest mountains during winter, including the first winter ascents on seven

of the world's fourteen 8000-meter peaks: Everest, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri, Cho Oyu, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, and

Lhotse. Such successes, however, came at a serious cost: 80 percent of Poland's finest high-altitude climbers died on

the high mountains during the same period they were pursuing these first ascents.