On 16 October 1978, she became the third woman, the first Pole and the first European woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In 1986 she became the first woman to successfully climb and descend K2 (without supplemental oxygen) as part of a small expedition led by Lilliane and Maurice Barrard. Her triumph was marred when both the Barrards died on the descent, becoming two of thirteen climbers to die on K2 that summer.
