Biography of Walter Bonatti

A King in the Alps

22 June 1930 13 January 2011 Walter Bonatti was born on 22 June 1930 in Bergamo. After starting the sport as a gymnast for the strong and free society, just eighteen years accomplishes the first climb on the Lombard prealps. During those years he worked as a Steelworker at Falck in Sesto San Giovanni, devoting himself to mountainside only on Sunday, after the night shift on Saturday. In 1949 covers, among other things, the Cassin on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses, and the way of vital Bramane and Ettore Castiglioni on Piz Badile. The following year trying to open the East face of Grand Capucin, Mont Blanc group: the enterprise, however, fails twice due to bad weather conditions. We'll try again, however, in 1951, when climbing the wall of red granite and, for the first time, opens a way. The celebrations that follow the success, however, are marred by news of the death of Walter's mother, Agustina, whose heart does not yield to a joy so great. After climbing the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey together with Robert Baker, Walter Bonatti is drafted: lamentatosi Dmv school placement of Cecchignola, is assigned to the 6° Alpini Regiment. Later, the climber lombardo, he made the first winter, with Carlo Mauri, the North wall of the Cima Ovest di Lavaredo; reach the Summit of the Matterhorn and in the following months, carries out other two new first ascents: the Picco Luigi Amedeo and the Torrione di Zocca in Val Masino. Shortly before obtaining the patent of an alpine guide in 1954, scale to the Canyon North of Col du Peuterey Mont Blanc. Bonatti participates to the Italian expedition of Ardito Desio, Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni on K2. The event, however, turns out to be a disappointment for Bonatti, because of the attitude held by his companions: he finds himself along with Amir Mahdi to spend a night in the open with temperatures up to 50 degrees below zero, without sleeping bags or tent. The bergamasco, in particular, was struck by the attitude of Desio, expedition leader, who will never have the courage to delve into the reasons for the incident; Walter Bonatti, in turn, will disseminate its own version of the facts only at the beginning of the sixties, due to a signed contract prior to departure where agreed to say nothing of the shipment in the following years. In 1955, Bonatti climbing the Southwest pillar Petit Dru (Mont Blanc) solo, remaining for six days in the wall; It is one of the most difficult walls of the planet, smooth, very smooth, totally made of granite and finally appuntitissima; Bancroft to Board can and should exploit only the natural crevices of the rock; performs an incredible feat that nobody ever will be able to repeat. That firm is in fact his ransom for the disappointment suffered with the ascent of K2. The following year attempting the winter ascent of the Poire together with his friend Silvanus Elevation: surprised by a storm, the two are saved by the alpine guides Sergio Viotto, Gigi Panei, Albino Pennard and Caesar Gex, to Gonella hut. He settled in Coumayeur, in Valle d'Aosta, to regain health after the mishaps with Elevation, Bonatti click-once recovered--to climb the north face of the Grand Pilier d'angle, the last Lady of Mont Blanc: do it for three times within a few years. Meanwhile, in 1958 he went to Argentina to take part in an expedition to Patagonia organized by Fulk Doro Altan in order to get to the top of Cerro Torre, untouched. A few months after you move, instead, in the Karakorum, Himalayas, by an expedition led by Riccardo Cassin: on 6 August 1958 reaches the top (just under 8,000 meters) of Gasherbrum IV, without oxygen tanks, together with Carlo Mauri. In later years, while his relationship with Cai deteriorates more and more (he considers overly bureaucratic organization), makes climbing in Italy, France and Peru. In 1961 the climber bergamasco tries to reach the top of the central pillar of Freney, ever tamed before: a snowstorm locks less than a hundred meters from the end, and four of his fellow climbers die. In August 1964, instead, for the first time scale the north face of the Grandes Jorasses Whymper, a Tip; shortly after ending his career in the Alps by opening a solo winter in just five days on the north face of the Matterhorn: with only one undertaking, therefore, manages to make the first ascent of the wall alone, to open a new route and to make the first winter ascent. The exploit of the Matterhorn enables you to get a gold medal from the President of the Republic. He retired from extreme mountaineering, Walter Bonatti is dedicated to exploration and to journalism. Travels, inter alia, in Africa (Tanzania salt on Kilimanjaro), coming into contact with the natives of the Alto Orinoco, waikas, yanoami. Then, in the late 1960s, fly to the island of Sumatra, intending to study closely the behavior of the local Tiger; shortly after visiting the Marquesas, proving the veracity of Melville's stories in the jungle. After traveling solo at Cape Horn and in Australia in the 1970s travels in Africa between Zaire and Congo, before going among the Dani in New Guinea and even in Antarctica, where he can explore the dry valleys. After visiting the headwaters of the Amazon, Bonatti knows in Rome the actress Rossana Podestà: after a long epistolary relationship, the two fall in love and move in together in Dubino, in Valtellina. In 2011 to Walter is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer: the companion, however, holds a secret, for fear that he might decide to commit suicide. Walter Bonatti died in Rome on 13 September 2011 at the age of 81 years: his funeral was held on 18 September in Villa Gomes, in Lecco, before the body is cremated, and the ashes buried in the cemetery of Porto Venere. Before he died, in 2008, he is given a new and definitive version of reason and made each other of K2, event for which Bonatti fought throughout his life to bring out the truth, whose main point was the achievement of the Summit by Compagnoni and Lacedelli without oxygen; It was Bonatti to bring oxygen to two, providing vital aid to the Italian conquest of the peak, until then inviolate. 

Article contributed by the team of collaborators.