Lino Lacedelli

Lino Lacedelli (4 December 1925 – 20 November 2009)[1] was an Italian mountaineer. Together with Achille Compagnoni, on 31 July 1954 he was the first man to reach the summit of K2. He is also noted for betraying his teammates Pakistani Amir Mehdi and Italian Walter Bonatti and leaving them in a life-threatening situation in order to ensure that he reached the summit first.

Early life

Lacedelli was born in Cortina d'Ampezzo (Province of Belluno).

His climbing career began as a young teenager when he followed a mountain guide up a local summit. He soon came under the tutelage of Luigi 'Bibi' Ghedina, one of the best Dolomite rock climbers of the age. In 1946 he was accepted into the prestigious Cortina Squirrels club. Lacedelli was known for fast ascents of difficult routes, including: the Constantini-Apollonio South Face Direct (500m V+ A2) on the Pilastro di Rozes (repeat with Ghedina); the first ascent of the Southwest Face of Cima Scotoni (Fanis Group) with Guido Lorenzi; first one-day ascent of the Solda Route on the SW Face of the Marmolada di Penia (with Lorenzi); and the fourth ascent of the Gabriel-Livanos Diedre on the Cima su Alto with Beniamino Franceschi.[2]

In 1951, he achieved international recognition by completing, in the Mont Blanc area, the second ascent of the Bonatti-Ghigo on the east face of the Grand Capucin with Bibi Ghendina in 18-hours, just weeks after the four-day first ascent. He became an obvious choice for the 1954 Italian K2 expedition led by Ardito Desio.[3]

K2

With the older and more experienced Achille Compagnoni, Lacedelli was selected for the summit team. They reached the summit to claim the first ascent via the Abruzzi Ridge on 31 July 1954. The summit was not reached again until 1977.

After K2

Group of Chiltan Adventurers Association Balochistan with Lino Lacedelli and Gianni Alemanno at Concordia base camp 2004

Lacedelli ran the outdoor shop K2 Sports in Cortina, trekked to K2 Base Camp in 2004. In 2005, he was awarded Italy's highest honour, Knight of the Grand Cross. He died aged 83 on 20 November 2009 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the house he had lived his entire life.[4] for appreciation of Italian Expedition and Delegates arrived Pakistan for celebration of K2 Golden Jubilee ceremony, Alpine Club of Pakistan Islamabad marked a friendship expedition headed by Hayatullah Khan Durrani founder of CAAB as chief of the Pakistan National mountaineering team to represent Pakistan in 1st climbed of Golden Jubilee ceremony of k2 mount at Concordia and K2 base camp on 30.31 July 2004 organized by the Government of Italy under the leadership of Italian federal Minister Gianni Alemanno Gerygory Alemano and Lino Lacedelli.on the eve of this great ceremony Mehar Dill Khan Baabai of Chiltan Adventurers Association Balochistan was world's first 12 year mountaineer who reached to the K2 base.

K2 Controversy

Italians proudly celebrate the first ascent of K2 as one of the golden pages in climbing history. However, certain aspects of the expedition were clouded in controversy. While Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni were celebrated as national heroes, a furious Walter Bonatti accused Lacedelli and Compagnoni of having abandoned him and Amir Mehdi to an open bivouac just below high camp.

In 1954, Bonatti, was an ambitious 24-year-old member of the expedition. Bonatti and local porter Amir Mehdi, were carrying spare oxygen bottles up to Lacedelli and Compagnoni for a summit push from Camp IX, the final camp. The high camp was further away than Bonatti and Mehdi had expected and night fell before they reached it. Bonatti and Mehdi survived a bivouac at 8100m, but Medhi lost half of each foot to frostbite.

Back at home, the summit team not only denied all charges, but Compagnoni counter-attacked Bonatti, accusing him of trying to sabotage their summit push and steal the top for himself. Bonatti, who made the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958, was ostracised from the climbing community and in 1965 gave up mountaineering.

In 1995, Bonatti published "The Mountains of My Life", an autobiography with stories about the expedition of 1954. Bonatti displays proof of his innocence, including a photograph of Lacedelli and Compagnoni wearing oxygen masks on the summit.

Lacedelli speaks up

Fifty years after the 1954 K2 expedition, a very old Lino Lacedelli, who had remained silent all this time, couldn’t face taking the truth to his grave. In his 2004 book K2: The Price of Conquest,[5] he revealed the events of the night and the subsequent coverup, changing the course of mountaineering history.

On the night before the first ascent of K2, Bonatti and Mehdi had to endure a freezing, storm-swept bivouac high on the Shoulder of K2, while their companions Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli spent the night in a tent literally within hailing distance. As agreed beforehand, Bonatti and Mehdi had carried the oxygen bottles for the summit team who were waiting for them in Camp IX. But the top camp was placed in a different, higher location than Bonatti had expected, and when they couldn’t find the tent, they were forced to bivouac at 8100 meters.

Since then controversy has raged: why was high camp was moved higher? Did the oxygen really run out several hours below the summit as claimed, and if so, when exactly did Lacedelli and Compagnoni start out for the summit? And since they could communicate verbally, why didn’t Compagnoni and Lacedelli help them over to the safety of the tent?

Ten years after the ascent, accusations became public. Mountaineering journalist Nino Giglio published newspaper articles based on interviews with Compagnoni and the expedition’s Pakistani liaison officer Colonel Ata-Ullah. It was claimed that Bonatti had tried to beat Lacedelli and Compagnoni to the summit, that he used oxygen during his bivouac that caused the summiteers supply to run out early, and that Bonatti had deserted Mehdi and so was responsible for his frostbite and subsequent amputations.

These accusations prompted Bonatti to file and win a libel suit against Giglio and the newspaper (the damages were donated to an orphanage). It was easy to prove that Bonatti couldn’t have used the oxygen: he didn’t have the masks or tubing, just the bottles. One aspect of the libel case proved embarrassing to Bonatti, however: his lawyer tracked down Amir Mehdi in Hunza, bringing him to Gilgit District Court for deposition. Mehdi was asked about the bivouac and his testimony supported at least one of Compagnoni's assertions: Bonatti had been scheming to supplant Compagnoni on the summit team, and had promised Mehdi they would spend the night in Camp 9's tent and continue to the summit, regardless of Compagnoni's objections. Bonatti wanted to try to summit K2 without the use of supplemental oxygen.

Mehdi testified that allegations Bonatti abandoned him or used the summit team's oxygen were fabrications. If they had used oxygen during the bivouac, Mehdi could have saved his toes and his livelihood.

Publications in English translation

References

  1. ↑ Martin, Douglas (November 28, 2009). "Lino Lacedelli Dies at 83; One of First to Scale K2". The New York Times. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  2. ↑ Griffin, Lindsay (2009-11-27). "Lino Lacedelli 1925-2009". News. The British Mountaineering Council. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
  3. ↑ Griffin, Lindsay (2009-11-27). "Lino Lacedelli 1925-2009". News. The British Mountaineering Council. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
  4. ↑ Griffin, Lindsay (2009-11-27). "Lino Lacedelli 1925-2009". News. The British Mountaineering Council. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
  5. ↑ Lacedelli, Lino; Giovanni Cenacchi and Mark Worthington (trans.) (2006). K2: The Price of Conquest. Seattle, WA, USA: Mountaineers Books. ISBN 978-1-59485-030-1.

Further reading

External links