Wanda Rutkiewicz

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Wanda Rutkiewicz was born on February 4, 1943 in Plungiany, Poland (today Lithuania). She died either on May 12 or May 13, 1992, while climbing Kangchenjunga. After World War II the Soviet Union annexed the eastern parts of Poland so her family moved to Wrocław in western Poland where she graduated as electrical engineer.

Wanda Rutkiewicz (pron. van-dah root-kie-vitch) is regarded as one of the greatest woman mountaineers ever. She was the third woman and the first European woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest on October 16, 1978. She was the first of Polish climbers, too (it took 2 more years for others). In 1986 she became the first woman to successfully climb K2 as part of a small expedition led by Lilliane and Maurice Barrard.