The article proposes a synthetic model of Polish mountaineering literature in the context of the history of Polish mountaineering and of the general pattern of modern mountaineering. Mountaineering is approached here from the perspective of Martin Heidegger’s fundamental ontology, as it provides a liminal experience which exposes the structure of cultural boundaries surrounding the mountaineer. In this model, the climbing route, as a kind of ridge between culture and nature, becomes the metaphor for a way of life governed by what could be called the school of vertical promotion. In this context, mountaineering literature mediates between the opposition upon which the idea of climbing is founded. The history of Polish mountaineering, with its diverse and rich literature, serves as an illustration of this general approach.
