This is how I started mountaineering
A true story by Cecilia Carreri – It happened in February 1993
I would like to dedicate this brief memory to Enrico Maioni.
It was February 1993 when I decided to learn ski mountaineering with the Mountain Guides of Cortina d’Ampezzo, where I was spending a short holiday.
One evening I went to the Mountain Guides office — back then located in Via Cesare Battisti — and found Enrico Maioni alone behind a small desk.
That year, the guides Enrico Maioni and Mario Dibona — who were also members of the Scoiattoli of Cortina, the prestigious group of Ampezzo alpinists — were trying to keep their activity running in winter through ski mountaineering.
Ice climbing on frozen waterfalls had yet to arrive, and mixed climbing is not very common in the Dolomites. Traditionally, guides worked only in summer, on classic rock climbs and the early free-climbing crags.
After just two days, Mario Dibona took me on skis up the Padeon couloir on Mount Cristallo — a descent that felt extreme to me.
From that moment on, my long journey into mountaineering began: perhaps the most beautiful years of my life. Among those memories, I can recall a trip to Spain, to the famous climbing area of El Chorro in Andalusia, together with Enrico Maioni, Mario Dibona and Massimo da Pozzo.
There we climbed fantastic limestone, just like in Lumignano — my home crag in Veneto.
In those years, I often saw Enrico committed to difficult climbs in the Dolomites. I learned from the other Scoiattoli that he had soloed the Pilastro route on the Tofana di Rozes — a major classic of alpine climbing.
From that moment on, having started rock climbing myself, I developed endless admiration for him.
Indeed, when we trained together in the 5 Torri, I would watch Enrico climb at consistently high grades. Even today, after all these years, he remains an excellent and enthusiastic alpinist.
Thank you, Enrico Maioni — the very first mountain guide I ever met, back in that distant February of 1993.
NOTE:
My heartfelt thanks to Cecilia, who — despite her impressive mountaineering background — chose to spend such kind words about me rather than tell us one of her own adventures.
The least I can do is invite you to take a look at the enticing catalog of her publishing house.
