SummitPost.org

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... delli.html

RIP


http://k2climb.net/news.php?id=18889

While I may understand the significance of Lacedelli's contributions to mountaineering, I can't exactly grieve his passing.

After the hell he put Bonatti through for ego and, until he finally confessed in 1996, the blatant lies he told to maintain...what?...an image? In what sort of wake does that leave mountaineering?

The truer loss was the blow to the spirit of the mountains and the tacit integrity they represent. No wonder Bonatti's response to Lacedelli's apology was "it's too late." After 42 years of bull, it was.

What sort of legacy is this for a mountaineer to leave? Certainly nothing to remember fondly.

Great climber he was

I have a message from a friend in Europe whom I well respect regarding the sacrilege of denouncing a mountaineer who is now dead.

I understand the request for respect for the deceased. But I do not understand the willingness to overlook choices someone made that, over his lifespan, ruined the life of another.

That, to me, is the greatest sacrilege of all.

So I stand by my statements. Lacidelli (and Compagnoni) made unforgivable choices. We all die, and we all bear the consequences of those choices made during our lifetime. That, I hope, will inspire us to be honest and to do the right thing.

There is no other way. We desecrate the mountains we revere otherwise. There is no greatness in lying.

That story is there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lino_Lacedelli

Diego - thank you, but that reference merely touches on the true story. There are many more references to the circumstances of that summit but there is photographic evidence that proves Lacidelli and Compagnoni summitted WITH oxygen after misdirecting Bonatti and his sharwa to the high camp location. This is a travesty of everything that is human.

I just expect, of course, that everyone knows this story. Much the same as the stories Cesare Maestri told of his Patagonia summit.

I'm Italian, but what is it with Italians?

I know Martha. Thanks for telling the story, I don't know it with details

Gracias, Diego.

Concerning Maestri. Are you talking about "Compressor Route" on Torre

Thanks, Diego, but no. The Compressor Route was something Maestri put up after his failed attempt on the NE ridge of Cerro Torre in 1959. His partner, Toni Egger, died during that attempt and no formal documentation of the climb has been recorded. Based on Maestri’s accounts and beta he left behind, those who tested the route and analyzed his ascent, including Simon Moro, confirmed he couldn’t have summitted. Maestri even admitted he didn’t climb over the summit mushroom because of the hazard. That doesn’t mean his attempt wasn’t valiant, it just means he stretched the truth.

The Compressor Route was called that because Maestri used a gas-driven compressor to power the drill used to place bolts on the bare face. He actually left the compressor there and it was retrieved some time later, as I recall.

I knew the compressor story but I wonder why Moro said that Maestri couldn't have climbed Torre's summit mushroom. That formation has been climbed many times. Do you know why Simone assured that

Forgive me, but it wasn't Simon Moro but Rolando Garibotti who confirmed suspicions.

I'm not certain your information regarding the number of successful attempts of that route, but it's my undertanding no successful summit via the NE face and north ridge occurred until recently (the compressor route's another matter). And during that summit absolutely nothing of the bolts/placements Maestri described were found above the first 25% or so of the climb. It's kind of hard to dismiss the evidence.

Thanks for the information Martha

MarthaP wrote:His partner, Toni Egger, ...no formal documentation of the climb has been recorded.

This information is new for me