Kilian Jornet among 10 climbers to scale Mt Everest in autumn; Andrzej Bargiel eyes record ski descent KATHMANDU:At least two world record holder alpinists among 10 foreign climbers are all set to attempt to scale Mt Everest in the autumn season, according to the expedition organisers. Polish ski daredevil Andrzej Bargiel, ultra-runner Spaniard Kilian Jornet, President at Mountain Hardware Brand at Columbia Sportswear Company Joe Vernachio, and Co-founder at OpenGov, a cloud-based American software company, Zac Bookman have already confirmed that they would be attempting to climb the world’s highest peak from Nepal side in the autumn season, the organisers said. “Renowned mountaineer Garrett Madison from Madison Mountaineering will lead a nine-member team of high-profile climbers on Mt Everest this season,” Iswari Paudel, Managing Director at Himalayan Guides, said. Besides, Spanish climber Kilian Jornet would also attempt to climb Mt Everest after leading a three-member team on Mt Lhotse in the autumn season, Murari Sharma, Managing Director at Everest Pariwar Treks informed. Talking to The Himalayan Times in Kathmandu, Andrzej Bargiel said that he would be attempting to climb and ski down Mt Everest without using supplemental oxygen as well as without unfastening the skis. “As there will be a very few climbers on Mt Everest in the autumn, it will be easy to ski down from the roof of the world,” Bargiel, who created history by skiing down from K2 last year, said. However, the details about Jornet’s climbing plan have not been made available yet, Sharma said. Under the ‘Summits of My Life’ project, Jornet has intended to complete the ascent in one go to set a new speed record (Fast Known Time in his parlance). Jornet, one of the all-time great mountain runners, set the speed record for ascending the Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Aconcagua, Mt Denali, Matterhorn and Mt Mont Blanc. After getting everydetail of the climbsand of Jornet’s claims examined byAmerican mountain runner Dan Howitt,UK-based author Adharanand Finn recently shared in his book “The Rise of the Ultra Runners: a Journey to the Edge of Human Endurance” that the famed alpinist, as claimed earlier, had not summitted Everest twice without oxygen or fixed ropes from the Tibetan side in May 2017, according to the Canada’s Running Magazine. Climbers attempting to Scale Everest: Kilian Jornet - Spain Garrett Madison - USA Joseph Vernachio – USA Kristin Bennett - USA Andrzej Leszek Bargiel - Poland Grzegorz Bargiel - Poland Jakub Poburka – Poland Rafal Maciej Fronia – Poland