The community of mountain lovers mourned the death of 34-year-old GOPR rescuer Michał Wojarski. – Cheerful, friendly and organized. He never upset anyone – says WP SportoweFakty, the deceased’s friend Krzysztof Rogoż from KW Kraków.
Adrian Hulboj
April 23, 2024, 14:37
Facebook / Facebook GOPR Beskidy / Private archive / In the photo: Michał Wojarski Last weekend, Michał Wojarski went to the Tatra Mountains. As his family informed us, the man last contacted his loved ones on Saturday, April 20, around 4:30 p.m. He then informed that the conditions on his route were good. A few hours later, contact broke off, which the 34-year-old’s brother reported to TOPR. A description of the search operation that took place at night was posted on the organization’s official Facebook page.
“One of the groups below Świnicka Przełęcz located a fresh avalanche and started searching it. Using an avalanche detector, they managed to locate the buried skier. At 4:57 he was brought to the surface, unfortunately without any signs of life. The rescuers were left with the sad task of transporting body to Brzeziny and hand it over to the Police,” we read in the report posted on the Facebook page of the Tatra Volunteer Search and Rescue Service.
The man’s tragic death shocked the mountain lovers community. Michał Wojarski belonged to the Krakow High Mountain Club. In an interview with WP SportoweFakty, Krzysztof Rogoż, a member of the high-mountain skiing section, remembers the deceased.
– He was a very cheerful, friendly and organized person. He never upset anyone, he “pulled” people to the mountains, but sensibly. He was a great programmer and a great chess enthusiast, he probably outplayed every member of the club, he said.
Private archive of Michał Wojarski’s friends
– At the beginning of April he was on an expedition in Norway. The last time I saw him was on Wednesday, three days before he died. I ended up in a sanatorium in Iwonicz, where Michał visited me. We talked for probably three hours. I was perhaps the last club member who talked to him – recalls Rogoż, who has participated in many ski touring trips with the deceased in recent years.
Wojarski was an experienced ski tourer. In 2015, he took the rescue pledge and joined the Beskid GOPR unit. He repeatedly participated in night search operations organized near Szczyrk. He also successfully competed in ski touring competitions.
He also knew the topography of the Tatra Mountains very well, and as a surveyor by experience and an IT specialist by profession, he created a multimedia map of this range dedicated to ski tourers. Krzysztof Rogoż, in an interview with the WP SportoweFakty website, admitted that for this reason the circumstances of the 34-year-old’s death were surprising to him.
– I’ve never heard of Michał going on solo trips. Something must have happened, maybe he got separated from the group? His background in surveying was valuable in assessing avalanche risk. Świnicka Przełęcz, where his body was found, is considered to be quite a safe place in this respect due to its gentle gully. So I don’t believe that Michał made any obvious mistake. I think something happened there that surprised him, he said.
Wojarski came from Bielsko-Biała, but in recent years he moved to Jasło, where he lived with his wife. The 34-year-old’s funeral will take place in his hometown, as announced by the deceased’s father, Krzysztof, on social media.
“On Friday, April 26, at 12:00, we say goodbye to Michał in the church of St. Barbara in Bielsko-Biała, Mikuszowice Krakowskie. Snow white dominated what he loved to do the most. If you want to bring flowers, let’s say goodbye to him with this color,” he wrote on Facebook .
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