Lino Lacedelli ( Italian: Lino Lacedelli , December 4, 1924 , Cortina d'Ampezzo - November 20, 2009 , Cortina d'Ampezzo ) - Italian climber , who became world famous for the fact that on July 31, 1954, together with Akille Companioni (Achille Compagnoni) as part of an expedition led by Ardito Desio (Ardito Desio) was the first to reach the summit of K2 .
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Climbing the Dolomites
Lacedelli was a member of many original and difficult climbs.
His first conquered peak was the 14-year-old Cinque Torri in the Nuvolao Massif, which he climbed in nailed boots. Soon, under the tutelage of Luigi Bibi Ghedina, he became one of the best climbers of his age in the Dolomites . In 1946 he was accepted into the prestigious climbers club “Cortina Squirrels” (“Scoiattoli di Cortina”), founded in 1939. It was this club that organized an expedition to K2 in 1954.
On May 25, 1947, together with Hugo Pompanin, Claudio Apollonio and Albino Alvera, he made the first attempt to climb the shortest route to the peak of Col Rosa in Cortina d'Ampezzo .
On August 28, 1947, from Silvio Alvera, he climbed the Sassolungo di Cibiana (Bosconero massif) along the northwest ridge, having passed 60 meters of the 4th difficulty wall in 7 hours.
September 21, 1947 with Hugo Pompanin, Hugo Savaho and Bruno Lachedelli climbed the southwestern wall of Tofana di Roses (Tofana di Rozes) , following the new route of 5th difficulty with five hooks in 5 hours.
August 11, 1948 - The first attempt to pass along the complex northwestern wall of Castello delle Venere, in 8 hours.
August 20, 1949 - with the climber Pierpaolo Lombardi walked along the northern wall of Mount Sorapis along the “Pilastro Way” (level 4, 570 m, 6 and a half hours)
On August 18, 1949, Mr .. - together with Luigi Ghedina, made the first pass along a very steep eastern wall to the top of the Grand Capucin (3838 m) in the Mont Blanc massif by Walter Bonatti in 4 days, and a few weeks later - in 18 hours.
1951 - again, along with Luigi Gedina, in two days, walked a new long route along the southwestern wall of Cima Scotoni in the Dolomites - one of the most difficult to climb at that time, comparable to the conquest of K2.
1953 - Ardito Desio was invited to the Italian expedition to K2. Desio later wrote about him in an official account of the ascent: “Single, 29 years old, from Cortina d'Ampezzo. Height 178 cm; the profession is a plumber, mountain guide and ski instructor. ”On July 31, 1954, Lacedelli and Achille Companioni were the first to climb the summit of K2. Then, due to frostbite, he had to amputate his thumb.
Climbing K2
The Italians proudly consider the 1954 expedition one of the golden pages in the history of ascents. However, not everything in this expedition was heroic. While Lino Lacedelli and Achille Companioni were honored as national heroes, another team member, Walter Bonatti, vehemently accused them of leaving him in mortal danger.
In 1954, Bonatti was a 24-year-old member of the Ardito Desio expedition to K2. Bonatti and Mahdi, a local porter from the Pakistani Hunza tribe, were tasked with delivering oxygen cylinders to Camp IX at Camp VIII for a decisive assault on the summit. The upper camp was set up by Lacedelli and Companioni a little further than Bonatti and Mahdi expected, and the night fell before they could reach it. When they contacted their teammates, they ordered them to leave the tanks and go down ... in total darkness at an altitude of 8100 m. Walter and Mahdi survived at night by digging a bivouac in the snow, on K2's open shoulder, but the Pakistani lost all his fingers from frostbite . Upon returning home, the whole team not only denied this, but Companioni also accused Bonatti of trying to disrupt their ascent and climb to the top himself. Bonatti, who made the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV , was condemned by the mountaineering community in 1958, and in 1965 he quit climbing.
Since then, Bonatti published the book “Mountains of My Life” - an autobiography with stories about the 1954 expedition. In his book, he showed evidence of his innocence, including photographs of Lino and Akille at the top in oxygen masks.
Why was the camp moved, did oxygen really end up to the top, as stated, and if so, when exactly did Lacedelli and Companioni start to the top? And if they could talk with Bonatti and Mahdi in the area of the last camp, then why didn’t they help them get to the tent?
10 years after the climb, the accusations by climbers of each other finally resulted in a court of society. Journalist Nino Giglio published several articles in newspapers based on interviews with Companioni and Pakistani medical service colonel Ata Ulla. It was announced that Bonatti was trying to win the climb from Lacedelli and Companioni, that he used the oxygen intended for the assault deuce during the night at an altitude of 8100 m, as a result of which the reserve ran out too early, and that Bonatti abandoned Mahdi, therefore, was responsible for frostbite and subsequent amputations .
These charges forced Bonatti to file and win a libel suit against Giglio and the newspaper (the funds received were donated to an orphanage). It was easy to prove that Bonatti could not use oxygen, since he did not have masks and tubes, but only cylinders. But his reputation has already suffered. Bonatti turned out to be rejected by society, while Lacedelli, Companioni and expedition leader Ardito Desio supported their version of events, at least with respect to time to peak and the amount of oxygen. According to Walter Bonatti, surviving on a windy night, he followed Mahdi down to camp VIII by 7 a.m. (this was confirmed by another member of the Pinot Gallotti team in camp VIII). Bonatti insisted that during the descent he constantly looked over the slopes above himself, trying to see the traces of Companioni and Lacedelli, but did not see them, although a pair of climbers claimed that they left the tent with the first rays of the sun (according to official meteorological data for K2, the sunrise was at 4.54 in the morning).
From the official book on the expedition of Ardito Desio (chapter written by Lacedelli and Companioni):
“As soon as the sky began to brighten in the east, we both jumped out of the tent. What a disappointment! There is a clear sky above us, but below everything is closed by a sea of clouds that do not promise good weather. We are looking on the slope for the place where Bonatti and Mahdi left oxygen devices yesterday. To our surprise, we suddenly find the figure of a man coming down with not quite firm steps down. Who could it be? Bonatti or Mahdi? At such a great distance, we cannot recognize the descendant. We scream out loud. The figure stops, turned to us, but did not answer, continuing to move down a steep slope.
We are at a loss. What happened? Have Bonatti and Mahdi already risen from camp VIII to us upstairs today? No, It is Immpossible. In this case, we would see a person ascending, not descending. All this is a mystery to us.
We made various assumptions, but never came to any conclusion. What really happened, as we later learned, seems implausible to us. Bonatti and Mahdi carried oxygen tanks, reached the stoves and at an altitude of 8000 meters after dark, unable to return to camp VIII, dug a cave and spent the night. Despite the terrible cold and wind, they relatively safely spent the night in a cave without a tent and sleeping bags. ”
More about the night of Bonatti and Mahdi at an altitude of about 8100 m in the official report of the expedition did not say a word. Lacedelli and Companioni became national heroes, and pride in them justifiably filled the gap in the hearts of Italians left over from the devastation of World War II . What about the roles of Bonatti and Mahdi? Of course, they deserved approval for their support of a pair of climbers who would have found it much harder to climb the summit without an additional decisive supply of oxygen. For about five decades there has been an official version narrated by Desio, Companioni and Lacedelli. Recently, Lacedelli and Kenatti’s book, The Price of Conquest: Revelation from Climbing K2, was published, which tells a different version of what happened that night. A version close to what Bonatti has been talking about all this time.
So, Lacedelli wrote that he and Kompanioni left the bivouac where the oxygen cylinders were left, instead of 6.15, as Desio stated in the official report, which confirms the words of Bonatti, who said that they could not reach the top before 7 in the morning. It turns out that the descent for oxygen tanks took only half an hour, not an hour, as claimed by Companioni. Although in this case, you can refer to memory problems in high altitude conditions.
As for the puzzle with oxygen, which ended 2 hours or 600 feet before reaching the top. If you count, it turns out that the last stretch of the way climbers climbed at a speed of about 300 feet per hour (100 m per hour) without oxygen. So why did it take 10 hours to travel the first 1000 feet (movement speed 100 feet or 30 meters per hour) when there was still oxygen in the cylinders, and was there much less fatigue? Can this be explained by the various technical difficulties on the route sections? Still, it seems obvious that oxygen for a pair of climbers was enough to the end. In 1983, Robert Marshall, translator of Bonatti's Mountains of My Life, unexpectedly admitted that the ice particles on Lachedelli's beard in the photograph from the top indicate that the oxygen mask was removed just before the top was taken. So oxygen could not have ended two hours earlier. Lacedelli then explained in an interview that the masks were not removed in order to “warm your breath”.
According to Bonatti's calculations, oxygen should have been enough for 10 hours. Upon reaching the peak at 8.30, the balloons would be empty by 6.30 pm, which was quite enough to conquer the peak.
Oxygen and ended around 6-6.30. Right in front of the summit, as Lacedelli now says. So the assault began in the region of 7.30-8.30 in the morning, and not earlier, as stated in the official report on the expedition from the words of Companion.
And finally, what does Lacedelli write about the assault camp, which was moved higher in a more inaccessible place, relatively agreed in advance? The camp was moved horizontally in order to more reliably protect it from the avalanche descent line above the “Bottleneck”. But at the same time, he says that Companioni did not want the four of us to spend the night in a small double tent, suspecting that Bonatti could replace him in a decisive assault on the summit if he was with him and Lacedelli in the upper camp. Unlike Companioni, his young teammate was in much better physical shape.
In 2004, Lino Lacedelli arrived at K2 Base Camp to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the conquest of the summit. From there he tried to get through to Bonatti, but he failed. Bonatti later said on this subject that the apology came too late; there can be no talk of reconciliation.
In 2008, the Italian climbers club officially recognized Bonatti's climb version. Companioni and Lacedelli reached the summit with oxygen, putting the life of Walter Bonatti and Amir Mahdi at serious risk without helping them at an altitude of 8,100 m when they delivered additional oxygen to the assault camp.
After climbing K2, Lacedelli continued climbing, returning to the Alps . and participated in many expeditions. In addition, he participated in 163 rescue operations in the mountains, some of which were very difficult and risky.
Lino Lacedelli owned and operated the K2 SPORT sporting goods store in Cortina d'Ampezzo .
Winner of the gold medal for civic valor.
December 2, 2004. On the initiative of the President of the Republic, he was awarded the title of Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order for Services to the Italian Republic .
Since 2005, he is an honorary citizen of Montebelluna .
He died on November 20, 2009 due to heart problems. four
Notes
Literature
- Ardito Desio, “K2 Second - Top of the World”, Moscow, Physical Culture and Sports Publishing House, 1959, 192 ° C., trans. F. Cropf
- Lino Lacedelli - Giovanni Cenacchi, K2 - Il prezzo della conquista, Mondadori, Milano, 2004, ISBN 88-04-55847-4
- Walter Bonatti, Montagne di una vita, Baldini Castoldi Dalai, Milano, 2006, ISBN 978-88-6073-063-3
See also
- Companion, Achille
- Mountaineering
- Chogori