TEHRAN (Iran News) – On Tuesday, the Embassy of Poland held an exhibition “The History of Polish Mountaineering” on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first expedition of Polish mountaineers by Jelcz to the high mountains and the team of Polish travelers was present.
Addressing the participants, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Poland Mr. Wojciech Unolt pointed to some cultural commonalities of Iran and Poland especially in the field of mountaineering and said the presences of Polish mountaineers in Tehran is just for displaying the commonalities.
He said on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first expedition of Polish mountaineers, another expedition is being take place and members of the team are now in Tehran and present in this exhibition. He added that the aim of the expedition is to make the Polish mountain sport achievements known all over the World.
Unolt added, “Three brave Polish mountaineers travel from Poland to Nepal in their historic truck to present the achievements of Polish mountaineers over the past 50 years. They have arrived in Iran now to show the achievements of Polish mountaineers in a special photo exhibition for those interested in this field.”
The team is in Iran as part of their long expedition to Nepal to retrace the footsteps of the first Polish expedition to the Himalayas 50 years ago.
It was in the 70’ and 80’ of the 20th century that Polish Himalayan mountaineering lived its ‘Golden Age”. In those years Poles not only climbed the highest peaks of the Himalayas and the Karakoram but also became famous for their first-ever winter conquests of several summits. A Polish-made truck “Jelcz” played an important role in the successes of Polish climbers, who used it to travel overland from Poland to the world’s highest mountains as well as to transport their equipment, food and supplies.
They travel across ten countries, including Iran en route to Nepal. They started their journey from Jelenia Góra in Poland on August 21, and after crossing Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, they arrived in Iran on September 5.
Three prominent Polish travelers, Ryszard Wloszczowski, Arkadiusz Peryga and Maciej Pietrowicz presented a photo exhibition on the history of Polish mountaineering.
During the event, the head of international department of Iran Mountaineering Federation Reza Zare pointed to the cultural commonalities between Iran and Poland and the role of Poles in the development of mountaineering, saying that in the 70’s the Polish climbers traced the Polish route on the northern face of Alam-Kuh, Iran’s second-highest peak.
He also described the Polish conquests as a model for Iranian mountaineers.
