Ванда Руткевич: Польская альпинистка и покорительница вершин

Polish mountain climber (1943–1992)

Wanda Rutkiewicz ( 4 February 1943 – 12–13 May 1992) was a Polish mountaineer and computer engineer. She was the first woman to reach the summit of K2 and the third woman (first European woman) to summit Mount Everest.

Wanda Rutkiewicz was born into an educated Polish family in Plungė, (Lithuania), Soviet Union. Her father, Zbigniew Błaszkiewicz, was an engineer for the Communal Building Projects Bureau (Biuro Projektów Budownictwa Komunalnego). Zbigniew was also a passionate sportsman. He excelled at swimming, shooting, and judo. Maria, her mother, on the other hand, enjoyed reading about Western culture and traveling in the Himalayas. After World War II, her family chose to leave for Poland, first moving to Łańcut before settling in Wrocław in southwestern Poland's Recovered Territories. She was initially homeschooled, but began attending 2nd grade in elementary school in 1949 and joined the 18 Scout Team of the “Zośka” Battalion. When she was five, her seven year old brother, Jerzy, was killed after finding an unexploded bomb with his friends in post war Wrocław. Rutkiewicz rode a Junak, the heaviest Polish motorcycle, which indirectly contributed to her interest in climbing. One summer's day in 1961 it ran out of fuel. She started waving to people passing on the road to seek their assistance; a motorcyclist who stopped to help was travelling with a colleague, Bogdan Jankowski, who had been climbing for two years. This chance meeting resulted in them climbing together near Janowice Wielkie in the Falcon Mountains (Góry Sokole).

While climbing Kangchenjunga, 49 year old Rutkiewicz was last seen alive by Mexican climber Carlos Carsolio. She was sheltering at high altitude on the north west face, during her attempted ascent of what would have been her ninth eight thousander. Despite being physically weakened she decided against descending. Carsolio said he did not have the mental strength to convince her to descend because he was weakened as well. It was thought that her body had been found on the south west face of the mountain in 1995 by Fausto de Stefani, Marco Galezzi and Silvio Mondinelli, suggesting that she had climbed up the north west ridge to a point very close to the summit before falling down the south west side. However, more detailed analysis of the findings by the Italian climbers, such as colour of clothing and presence of Bulgarian made tablets with the body, indicate that it was probably the body of Bulgarian climber Yordanka Dimitrova, who was killed by an avalanche on the south west face of Kangchenjunga in October 1994. It is unknown if Rutkiewicz reached the summit of Kangchenjunga. If she did so, she would have been the first woman to reach the top of the world's three highest mountains. Her body has still not been found.

On 16 October 2019, Rutkiewicz was the subject of the daily Google Doodle on the forty first anniversary of her ascent of Mount Everest. The image shows her climbing snowy peaks on the railing rope. In October 2021, the Polish Parliament passed a resolution to commemorate the 30th anniversary of her death and named 2022 as the "Year of Wanda Rutkiewicz".