[3] Piotrowski began his career in the 1960s in Poland's Tatra Mountains, around the time when he was a student at the Szczecin University of Technology.
[8] In 1974, his climbing companion, Stanisław Latałło [pl], died on Lhotse;[9] whether Piotrowski could have helped him caused some controversy among Polish mountaineers.
[10] In 1983, Piotrowski directed the winter ascent on Api (7132 meters above sea level), and reached its peak on Christmas Eve.
"[12][8] It was during the descent by a classic route (the Abruzzi Spur) that he lost both his crampons and fell to his death at around 7900 metres, following two exhausting stopovers at the wall with no food or water.
a ^ In 1993 a Canadian team (Barry Blanchard, Troy Kirwan and Peter Arbic) made a partial repeat, but exited onto the Abruzzi Spur at a lower point than the Poles had done, and did not reach the summit.