Kathmandu, 1 May 2002
A great man, who
contributed so much to the knowledge of the mountains, died just
before he could see year 2002, the International Year of
Mountains. So on the 13th of December
2001, Ardito Desio disappeared. The Professor, the Explorer, the
man with an unlimited passion for the world of the mountains.
Maybe it isn’t just a
coincidence that I’m remembering him from here, in the place
he was so attracted to (in his heart). Where at the base of
the highest mountain of the world exists one of his most
beautiful and challenging creations, the Pyramid Laboratory of
the Ev-K2-CNR – RONAST Project for
scientific research on high altitude and remote areas.
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Still
persistent after a century of existence, Desio wanted
strongly to confirm and prove the correct elevation of
the highest mountains of the world. In 1987, Desio
decided that there was still a lot of scientific
knowledge of the major mountains of the world to be
discovered. So he started a committee which could permit
the continuation with the modern technologies what he,
with the tools of his ages, had started to do in the
1920’s.
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In this slightly warm
evening, the profiles of the Himalayan Mountains are just
disappearing from the horizon of Kathmandu, and I think to the
time in which Desio had to decide to leave the idea to install
the Pyramid in Tibet, where transportation would have been
easier. Instead he approached Nepal for their assistance.
In Winter 1990, he met with His Majesty Birendra, the King of
Nepal, also passing away the last year in the tragic event in the
royal palace. The King was happy to meet an Italian with such
charisma, and the permit to install the Pyramid, according to the
need of the research was allowed, with a simple agreement between
two great gentlemen.
It’s difficult
to describe something, which hasn’t already been said or
written, about Desio, surely better than I could. But I
remember him in a visit up to Lobuche, descending quietly from
the army helicopter accompanied by Agostino Da Polenza, his
strong “right arm” since the starting of the adventure
of Ev-K2-CNR. Desio was looking around astonished by the beauty
of the environment. Later, he gave me a small camera asking to
take some pictures, modestly I thought of taking this big
person’s picture in his world, I was wrong, he wanted images
of the mountains around, those, he said, are really important and
needed to be photographed.
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The
memories often come to my mind of the many conferences,
in which he was presenting. But for me, one in particular
was more emotional than any other, because in Bormio we
participated in the conference together. What made me
astonished was the clarity of his mind, holding so many
memories from so many years in the past, but at the same
time able to interact and accept the more recent
experiences and discoveries of research of the Ev-K2-CNR
on which I was reporting on. The watch on the
speaker’s table, and the continuous need to be
short, Desio had so much to talk about, and with the
audience that was awaiting his great knowledge from his
lips. For Desio, it was important to talk about the
present time and the future of his Ev-K2-CNR.
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What impressed me
in his talks was a simple but illuminating philosophy,
contrasting to himself, who was used to making such difficult
things. The luckiness. He was saying, it’s necessary to be
lucky, but you also have to think that you could be lucky. Desio
considered himself a lucky man, and considered it important and
something like a duty, to look at the fate of each of us with
great optimism. From which he started/ initiated incredible
enterprises, which succeeded.
It happened like
that at K2, where he led the Italian expedition for the first
climb of the difficult mountain. With the risk of such a major
feat, expert and precise knowledge and leadership was fundamental
for success. For all the great men who conquered K2, at the
pioneering times of 1954 when ability and heroism went hand in
hand, couldn’t have achieved their goal without the command
of a man like Desio. I personally realized that, 42 years later,
in 1996, when during our expedition for the elevation measurement
of the mountains, only four very strong climbers could reach the
summit. One of them, Lorenzo Mazzoleni, remained on the mountain
even after my unsuccessful attempt to rescue him from at 8300 m
on the “bottle-neck” in the night. He slid down
to 7000 m.
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Now
from the mountains a fresh breeze has started to descend.
Swayambunath, in the opposite direction to Mt. Everest,
Hinduism and Buddhism are blending, and the arrival of
the night shadows the profile of the holy hill. In my
fantasies it is like I am there, and I image the cold of
space becoming thick on the things, and the shining
flashes of the stars competing with the last far
brightness of the day. There is a label in memory of
Desio outside the Pyramid, and his name is written among
the stars reflected by the crystals of the Laboratory.
“In the Year 2002, great grandfather Ardito is
watching us from the stars."
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Gian Pietro
Verza
Gian Pietro Verza, mountain guide and electronic
designer, is working in the international high altitude research
project Ev-K2-CNR, with a Laboratory near Everest BC,
the Pyramid, web site: www.mountnet.net
He is collaborating also with the italian commitee for the 2002
International Year Of Mountains, web site: www.montagna.org
Note
this
transation has been possible thanks to the kind availability
of Ms. Jane Dermer, Tourism Researcher
Personaggi