On this day, in 1982, great mountaineer, climber, explorer, photographer Carlo Mauri died on his mountains suffering a stroke.
Carlo Mauri, a Ragni di Lecco member, climbed Gasherbrum IV in 1958 with his partner Walter Bonatti, led by Riccardo Cassin.
He also traversed Atlantic Ocean on "Ra", a boat made by papyrus like Egyptians built at their time.
He made Antarctica explorations and many other expeditions.
True explorer, photographer and strong climber.
He was a very good friend of my grandad and my personal hero during my young days.
A gentle, well bearded and funny man.
I miss him a lot, like I've lost a uncle and a model of life.
(ph archives Alfonso Bernardi, Mauri's book, his pics)
#carlomauri
#ragnidilecco
#karakorum
#alpinism
#climbing
#montagnamagicaweb
This night, something completely different for you.
This page, today, reached 7000 followers; it's overwhelming to me, as the spectacular view that I had last night, at 3 Am Italian time.
It's a blurry image I got using a Canon 600d camera connected to a 150mm telescope.
Saturn.
God bless the explorers, both on mountains as in the sky, like the two guys who departed just now with SpaceX Falcon
Watch the beatiful trailer of "The Wall of Shadows".
VIDEO: The Wall of Shadows [Trailer] - Rock and Ice
rockandice.com
"The idea for the film 'The Wall of Shadows' was to tell a story of an encounter between Sherpas and climbers at the foot of the sacred mountain."Today, May 29th in 1953 two gentlemen stood on top of Everest for the very first time.
Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, friends until the end of their extraordinary life.
Libro del giorno :
Ritrovamenti in una scatola remota : una splendida edizione a cura di Spiro Dalla Porta Xydias del libro di Toni Hiebeler sulla mitica Nord dell'Eiger
One year ago, director Eliza Kubarska went in expedition to follow the Russian team on Jannu East Wall and filming their long, difficult approach to a sacred mountain, where the locals struggled to accept the much needed work joining this expedition .
She proposed this remote location, and a mythical virgin wall, to Dmitry Golovchenko, Sergey Nilov and polish climber Marcin Tomaszweski.
I wrote about the incredible, long climb here :
rockandice.com/climbing-news/russian-alpinists-establish-new-route-and-fight-for-their-lives-in-1...
Then I did an interview to both Eliza and Dmitry:
rockandice.com/climbing-news/jannu-east-wall-interviews-dmitry-golovchenko-and-eliza-kubarska/
Soon the film "The Wall of Shadows" will be released in public ; enjoy this wonderful trailer :
THE WALL OF SHADOWS - official trailer
vimeo.com
Film by Eliza Kubarska, produced by Monika Braid. trailer edited by Marek Kucharski, music by Marcel Vaid / www.marcelvaid.com, sound by Franciszek Kozłowski /...I created this page 4 years ago, managed only by myself, without sponsors nor help more than that given by alpinists, writers, passionate like me about mountains.
I'm not an alpinist, as I told you before my passion exploded when I inherited my grandad archives and put my head inside an incredible world.
It's like a dream that after 4 years I wrote for Rockandice web magazine, gained the privilege of being friended and mentored by Alessandro Gogna ( project sherpa-gate.com), Matteo Della Bordella, Michael Levy, Alessandro Filippini, Luca Calvi, Franco Perlotto, Bob Aubertijn, Eberhard Jurgalski and Rodolphe Popier (8000ers.com and Himalayan database) and last, but so important to me, Canadian alpinist Louis Rousseau.
I hope this journey will continue just like this, with your encouragement ; as a numbers fanatic, 6969 looked to me a good waypoint to celebrate!
Ciao nonno Fonso, Ricordando le lettere in carta velina che mi mandavi dal campo base Dhaulagiri nella mia scuola elementare
Today May 21th, in 2013, Zsolt Erőss, great Hungarian alpinist, died on descent from Kangchenjunga.
Zsolt Erőss, ascended Nanga Parbat in 1999 by a new route, solo, alpine style( without permit, so he disclosed later the feat) ; the route run near Mummery rib ; Disteghil Sar in 2000, Everest in 2002, Gasherbrum II in 2003, Dhaulagiri I in 2006, Gasherbrum I and Broad Peak in 2007, Makalu in 2008, Manaslu in 2009; in 2010 he lost his right leg due to avalanche accident, but didn't give up to 8000ers climbs; he climbed Lhotse in 2011 and Kangchenjunga in 2013, where he died on descent.
[info; 8000ers.com / Gábor Kunos, ph Zsolt on top of Nanga]
Janez Jeglič was born today, 59 years ago (1961) in Tuhinj,Slovenia and died on Nuptse, 30th October 1997.
An exceptional climber, strong on all terrain and style, he teamed with the Karo, Knez and the other Slovenian stars in the climbing scene of '80.
He performed stunning climbs in Patagonia - Cerro Torre, Fitz Roy, Egger ; in Himalaya he opened in light alpine style, his favorite, a new route on the west face of Baghirathi III. Then Everest in 1990.
In the first years of '90 he performed free climbing and Ice climbing at the highest levels, until his last and fateful climb in 1997, teamed with Tomaz Humar, on the incredibly difficult and steep North West Face of Nuptse.
Here an excerpt of the tragic story that was followed step by step by Giampietro Verza, in radio connection with the Slovenian mountaineer, from the Pyramid of Everest.
"On October 29, after two days of climbing, they set the tent at 6800. The next day he sees the two climbers waiting for the weather to change, uncertain and with heavy snowfalls . The weather report of the Kathmandu airport obtained through the CNR Pyramid gave instability, but not a serious deterioration. In the early hours of the 31st, the team, determined to make a final attempt, quickly started gaining the difficult upper part of the wall again, now over the gigantic seracs of the lower glacial base, but from there exposed to hypoxia at altitudes above 7000 meters.
They continue in a "double-solo" style of ascent (simulclimbing) , untied and without rope, pushing the rhythms to the maximum possible. From the Pyramid the visibility on the upper part of the wall is excellent, when the mountaineers stop together we connected with the walkie talkies, with them and the base camp, taking assess of the situation full of unknowns for a new route on these wall dimensions, at these altitudes and for a group of only two climbers.
During the last connection under the top of the wall, at about 7600 meters, I propose to the climbers an interview via radio recorded by the Pyramid. Later, I am moved when Janez arrives at the end of the wall, on that ice and snow cone that connects the wall to the sky. The radio still remains silent, while amid gusts of fog and snow I see it continue for the highest peak of that stretch of ridge, a difficult choice, only justifiable by a great passion and willpower. Sometimes I see that dot disappear between billows of clouds torn by the wind. The radio is silent, neither I nor Marian at base camp have the courage to break the silence.
But time passes too long, and this makes me suspicious. For several long minutes I do not see anyone on the mountain, and at times the top disappears in flakes rounded by the force of the wind. Then life reappears, I see Tomaz flow slowly to the top, stand above and disappear in turn. The radio finally breaks the silence, I start the recording instinctively. It is not an exultant voice, the conversation in Slovenian is dry in short strokes, the voice of Tomaz hoarse, then in the growth of communication becomes angry, and finally almost pleading, yielding.
Marian calls me, Tomaz no longer finds Janez, I think of the possibility of a confusional state. I establish a calm conversation with Tomaz, I try to make him look at all the reasonable possibilities, to reconstruct a mechanic of the events, but in the end the desperate conclusion is: "Peter, there is no longer anyone here, everything around is overhanging, it's over! "."
Janez fell from the summit, leaving his radio in the snow, which was fundamental for Tomaz Humar, who descended destroyed by the loss, in horrible conditions, and came back safely after 41 hours of downclimbing..
(foto Janez on a difficult 8c route aka Johan, Gasper Pintar ; for more info look at the beatiful book of Bernadette Mcdonald " Alpine Warriors "; bio info by Bob&8000ers.com )
Matteo Bernasconi was really a special human for everyone knows him.
But nothing could explain this better than the thoughts that Marta, his beloved woman and mother of his daughter, shared today :
(Italian)
"La prima volta che ti ho visto eri al bar della palestra, con una birra in mano, ovviamente.
Ho pensato "E lui dovrebbe farmi lezione?!"
Da quel giorno siamo stati come calamite.
Pensavo non c'entrassimo nulla l'uno con l'altra, e lo ripetevo spesso... Tu invece dicevi che eravamo fatti per stare insieme.
Avevi ragione. Non ci siamo più lasciati e nonostante a volte litigassimo come belve, tornavamo ad essere più legati di prima.
Il sole e la luna.
Non ci chiamavamo quasi mai "amore", ma con te e Kate ho scoperto cos'è l'Amore incondizionato.
Eri puro, come la Natura in cui volevi stare.
Sincero e libero.
Mi hai insegnato a sorridere alla vita e insieme abbiamo riso a crepapelle.
Abbiamo avuto troppo poco tempo per la nostra famiglia... Ma quello che ho avuto è stato spettacolare. Fuochi artificiali.
Non so cosa darei per avere un'altra chance con te.
So che la tua anima è ancora accanto alla mia.
Aspetto la nostra prossima vita insieme...
Stai tranquillo, io e Kiki siamo circondate da Angeli su questa terra.
Ti amo.
Ora e per sempre,
La tua M 🌺
"May you recognize your divinity
Discover your greatness
And become the peace you seek"
Rob Williams"