The first ascent of K2 in 1954 marked one of the high points in the history of Ampezzo mountaineering, but of course the story did not end there. In the years that followed, successive generations of climbers continued to explore and reinterpret the walls of the Dolomites, .while techniques, equipment and, above all, the very …
The war abruptly interrupted the first chapter in the story of the Scoiattoli, founded in Cortina only in 1939, but it did not put an end to their passion for climbing. Those wartime experiences would play an important part in the development of post-war mountaineering in Cortina. Many of them were little more than boys …
Emilio Comici and the First Climbing Video Course Today I would like to share what was probably the first climbing video course in the history of mountaineering, featuring an exceptional instructor: Emilio Comici.The period footage, accompanied by a soundtrack very much of its time, may raise a smile today, but what is striking is how …
When talking about climbing, people who are not particularly familiar with the sport sometimes still assume that the sixth grade represents the highest level of difficulty a human being can climb. In my work, I often find myself talking about climbing, both with experienced climbers and with people who are just starting out. Especially among …
When Angelo Dibona began his career as a mountain guide in the early years of the twentieth century, many of the great summits of the Dolomites had already been climbed. The challenge was no longer simply to reach the top, but to find new lines, tackle more difficult walls and confront problems that only a …
Carlo Gandini remembered a very different image from the one we might expect when thinking of one of the greatest climbers of his time. As a boy, walking home from school, he would often see a quiet old man sitting on the benches in Cortina, entirely unassuming, smoking his pipe. It was his friends who …