Klemens Bachleda

The name of Bachleda's father is unknown. His mother was Zofia Bachleda Galian. He was a Goral, an ethnographic group which inhabits the Tatra Mountains on both sides of the modern border between Poland and Slovakia. She died when he was twelve, leaving him an orphan.

He earned a living as a shepherd-boy in the high mountains. He later went to Upper Hungary to find work, where he was called up for military service.[lower-alpha 1] In 1873, he was discharged, and returned to Zakopane. It was in the grip of a cholera epidemic, and he tended the sick and buried the dead. Thereafter, he supported himself by working as a carpenter, and also by hunting.[lower-alpha 2]

He married Agnieszka Styrczula from Dzianisz, and they had three children. She died, and he remarried.

During the late 19th century, mountaineering became a popular pastime for young people from the middle and upper classes across Europe. Men with local knowledge were in demand as guides, and could be well paid. Bachleda took up that profession, initially as assistant to experienced guides such as Maciej Sieczka (1824-1897), Szymon Tatar (1828 or 1832 - 1913) and the two Jędrzej Walas, father (1820-1896) and son (1841-1900).

In 1886, he was recognised as a Class I guide. In 1898, Jędrzej Wala the younger retired. From then on, Bachleda was called Królem Przewodników Tatrzańskich ('King of the Tatra Guides') and Orzeł Tatr ('Eagle of the Tatras'). He is said to have had outstanding qualities of character: tact, minimisation of risk, courage, consideration, self-sacrifice, helpfulness, diligence and honesty.

His clients included: Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński (1874-1941, writer, poet, critic and translator), Janusz Chmielowski (1878-1968, mechanical engineer and mathematician), Edmund Cięglewicz (1862-1928, journalist and translator), Stanisław Eljasz-Radzikowski (1869-1935, physician, painter and folklorist), Jan Fischer (1873-1942, merchant), Walenty Gadowski (1861-1956, priest), Ferdynand Hoesick (1867-1941, writer and publisher), Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909, composer and conductor), Franciszek Nowicki (1864-1935, poet and political activist), Karol Potkański (1861-1907, historian), Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer (1865-1940, poet and novelist) and Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916, journalist, novelist and Nobel laureate).

He had a talent for orienting himself in difficult, rocky areas, and for mountaineering. He pioneered several routes in the Tatras. These included the descent of the northern wall of Lomnický štít (1888), and the first ascents of, among others, Staroleśny Szczyt (1892), Ganek (1895), Rumanowy Szczyt (1902), Kaczy Szczyt (1904), Zadni Mnich (1904) and Kozie Czuby (1904). He made the second ascents of Mnich and Żabi Koń. He took part in the first winter ascents of Żleb Karczmarza (1905) (below Gerlachovský štít, the highest peak in the High Tatras), and of Bystrá (the highest peak in the Western Tatras). He climbed in groups roped together from as early as 1900. He was the first Tatra highlander to learn to ski (no later than 1902).[1]

In 1901, Károly Jordan (1871-1959, mathematician and statistician) named Klimkowa Przełęcz (Slovak: Bachledova štrbina), one of the passes between Durny Szczyt and Lomnický štít, in Bachleda's honour. He has more than ten (one source says fifteen)[1] features in the Tatras named after him, including Klimkowa Turnia, the easternmost peak of Staroleśny Szczyt.[lower-alpha 3] In 1903, the recently founded Sekcja Turystyczna Towarzystwa Tatrzańskiego ('Tourist Section of the Tatra Society') rewarded him for discovering a new pass through the main ridge of the Tatras, namely Wschodnia Batyżowiecka Przełęcz.

In 1909, Mariusz Zaruski (1867–1941, Polish soldier and sportsman) founded Tatrzańskie Ochotnicze Pogotowie Ratunkowe (TOPR, 'Tatra Volunteer Search and Rescue'). Bachleda became his deputy, and one of its most active and dedicated members.

On 6 August 1910, Stanisław Szulakiewicz and Jan Jarzyna (1892-1960, competition skier and ski jumper), both students, attempted the northern wall of Mały Jaworowy Szczyt. They fell, and Szulakiewicz suffered serious injuries. Jarzyna managed to descend and to seek help. Zaruski organised a rescue party. Conditions were atrocious: a violent thunderstorm, and heavy rain mixed with snow and hail. After hours of climbing, the party, nearly exhausted, had reached to about 50–70 m (160–230 ft) from where Szulakiewicz lay, and could hear him calling out. Zaruski ordered a halt because of the risk to life. Bachleda unroped himself, and continued on alone. He did not return.

On 7 August, a second unsuccessful attempt was made to rescue Szulakiewicz.

On 8 August, a third attempt reached Szulakiewicz. He had died, probably on the night of 6–7 August, from injuries and exposure. The weather worsened, and the five-strong rescue party was trapped on the mountain overnight. They brought the body down on 9 August.

Bachleda's comrades hoped that he had found another way down. Rain, wind and fog hampered their searches. On 13 August, their worst fears were confirmed: they found his body. He had been caught in a rockfall, and lay in Wyżnia Rówienkowa Przełęcz, a high mountain pass. On 15 August, they began to bring him down. On 17 August, he was buried in the New Cemetery in Zakopane. His gravestone bears the Polish-language inscription, Poświęcił się i zginął ('He sacrificed himself and died'). He was the first member of TOPR to die during a rescue attempt.

There is a detailed account of the double tragedy on the TOPR website.[5]