The red empress: moonrise...

The red empress: moonrise over the East face of Grandes Jorasses

“We felt no shiver of joy, no ecstasy of victory. We had reached our objective and already it lay behind us. A dream had become reality – and I felt something close to bitterness. How much finer it would be, I couldn’t help thinking, to long for something all one’s life, to fight for it without respite, and never to achieve it! But this was only another episode. Down in the valley again, I should at once look around for another goal, and if it didn’t exist, I would create it...”

Giusto Gervasutti on the summit of Grandes Jorasses, after his succesful first climb of the East Face.

(pic taken from www.comune.courmayeur.ao.it)