UKC

Hugely impressive.

Well done for including the history in that article. It seems like a serious game. 

That is truly amazing. One of the worlds hardest mountains to climb, let alone to ski down.

Can't see that being repeated in a hurry.

The absolute limit of human performance?

Once they set up the chairlift I'll give it a go.

Good for him, but does it really count if you have to abseil at some point?

jcm

Does doing the Cuillin ridge count if you have to abseil any of it, for example?  

If he abseiled on that shoe-lace in the video then yes

The main rule from my quick research seems to be that you don't remove skis at any point, but any descent will have footnotes describing the style it was achieved in, a bit like in climbing. From Wiki:

'In ski mountaineering, the added dimension of the purity of the descent further muddies the standards at this time. Is the top the highest elevation of the snow line or is it the geological summit? Does a descent need to be continuous and what is the consideration for terrain in the middle of the mountain that is "un-skiable?" Does it matter if the skis come off during some portion of the descent to abseil a portion? While the standards of a mountaineering ascent still apply (including notation of O2 use), skiing, and the vagaries of "skiable" terrain add numerous variables to evaluating the purity of a descent.[6] Any database of ski descents is therefore likely to include heterogenous data.'

Wiki entry describes Andrzej's descent as:

summiteer; 1st summit to bc ski descent without removing skis

It counts if there is no possible way down without an abseil. The only alternative in this case would have been a 50 metre jump.

I guess it counts until someone does it without the abseil.

Well at least one person has claimed to have skiied Everest without skiing quite a bit of it, so it seems so.

https://www.wildsnow.com/473/kit-deslauriers-skis-from-mount-everest-summit...

Just Brilliant ... Makes the climbing projects done on the likes of El Cap no more than boulder problems.

You really are joking, right? You are criticizing this guy for using an abseil? Its one the of the hardest mountains in the world to climb, let alone ski down.

Can you ski?

I think you are joker, and this is troll posting.

JCM made no criticism, he asked a perfectly reasonable question. 

Only if you ski it.

Hmm, kind of disagree.   The type of descent blurs the lines with mountaineering.  Obviously, there's no lifts or piste, and in order to get to the top of the mountain, considerable mountaineering skills are required.    The very nature of the descent requires much more than just skiing ability (whether there was an abseil or not). 

I think the analogy is sound.   If a section of the descent required an abseil in order to succeed/live, then it's fair enough.  It's common practice in big alpine descents.   If you are climbing a ridge to the top of a mountain, and there is a fore-summit that requires an abseil off in order to continue (e.g Dubhs Ridge), how would you view that in terms of "counting"? 

With a mindset of whether it "counts" or not, and questioning the use of an abseil, I think the descent is being viewed with a similar mindset to a "free" ascent, or otherwise.

I have skied off it, but not along it.

I don't think it is. Climbing is primarily about the style of ascent whereas I presume skiing is primarily about the styles of descent (is anyone fretting about whether he used fixed ropes or whatever on the way up?). A better analogy would be with aid points on a climb - undesirable and there to hopefully be eliminated by future ascentionists. Though just as some rock might really be unclimbable without a bolt ladder, some mountains might have cliffs which really are unskiable without certain death.

Anyway, for climbers not familiar with skiing "ethics" to question it is perfectly reasonable.

If there was a 50 metre rock band on his descent route then it was impossible to descend on skis.

UKC forums should be renamed UKCE forums, the E being for ethics.

Yes, I know - which is why I said a better climbing analogy would be a a completely blank section unclimbable without a bolt ladder.

I would like to know how anyone can criticize an achievement like this. Debating ethics like this is absolute rubbish. Some people will never accept the achievements of others, no matter what they will do. All they will do is attack them. Personally I think some peoples efforts of personal attack on others should be targeted at people who are damaging others lives, not like personal achievements of this enormity.  This guy will probably end up dying skiing off piste - but that's his choice , his life. I respect the choices he is making.

Is there any UKC poster who has climbed, or attempted K2? Own up whoever you are. Anyone?

Oh FFS. Nobody is criticising it. I sometimes despair of some people on here.

Remember a few years ago there was a guy asking questions about skiing along it and wasn't really up for taking advice from them that knew. Never did hear how he got on...

I can't see any criticism of the descent from either 2 posters you have replied to.  Trying to understand something that you are not familiar with doesn't necessarily make it a criticism.  Of course, it's easy to interpret it this way on the Internet, which otherwise might not happen in a face to face conversation.

Expensive ski repair bill?