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EVEREST March - April 1994
Objective: Everest 8848 metres. It is the highest mountain on
earth, as confirmed by the latest satellite measurements. "Mother Goddess of the
World" remains the most coveted objective in modern mountaineering.
Organisation: Gruppo Alpinistico Redorta of Villa di Serio
(Bergamo)
Expedition leader: Giuseppe Vigani
Team: 16 members, among them climbers, technical support, medical
and scientific.
Method of climb: north wall, route of the Great Couloir, in
Chinese-Tibetan territory.
Sports result: inevitably, the climb had to be abandoned at an
altitude of 8500 metres, due to the unsafe condition of the wall. During the descent, the
roped party was hit by a fall of ice, causing the death of expedition leader Giuseppe
Vigani.
Scientific research: continuation of the study, initiated by the
Tibet '92 expedition, of problems connected with prolonged periods at high altitude, in
particular Acute Mountain Sickness, and of alimentation under extreme stress. Activity in
collaboration with the Centro di Medicina della Sport of Bergamo and the Clinica Oftalmica
dell'Universita di Torino.
Parallel initiative: trekking between the two Nepalese and Tibetan
faces of Everest by a group of high altitude excursionists, following the mountaineering
expedition.
Why EVEREST ? Why the highest mountain in the world and not another ? Is this choice to be
considered self-inflicted or heroic ?Carefully considered or impulsive ? Presumptuous or
rational ?
In reality, everything had been calculated and meticulously programmed.
Experience, grit, enthusiasm, work, friendship, are all elements which comprise this small
group which would do everything possible, in a sporting sense that is, to reach the
objective.
But why would a small band of people like ours want to take on such ambitious programmes
and make such ambitious choices, which are normally undertaken by mountaineers of
international fame or by associations of great historic tradition ?
The question invites reflection and takes us mentally with reluctance back in time, to the
beginning of man's social life, when climbing on rock and ice substituted walks and
excursions.
At that moment, the "group" was born which, with the passing of time, became
enriched with new people who brought with them new ideas and fresh motivation, permitting
the continued amplification of the group itself.
Normally, one attempts to reduce the number of participants in an expedition to minimise
problems of management and organisation as well as cost: fewer people mean fewer problems
of cohesion and harmony, the latter a major and determinate problem, in particular during
the real climb; in such break-downs, in fact, a person's psyche is more determinate than
athletic preparedness.
However, in our group's mentality all of this is completely redundant: we are a
homogeneous group and all those who wish to participate are well accepted so that only on
rare occasions do negative experiences occur. Obviously, all of this carries with it
greater responsibility and organisational difficulties, which grow continuously, and only
our deep conviction of this philosophy has enabled us until now to achieve positively our
undertakings.
As can be later appreciated, the new initiative included some trekking and a
mountaineering expedition, blended together to give all our members and supporters the
possibility of knowing people and areas which, until now, they had, perhaps, only imagined
or at the most seen in documentaries or read about in a specialist magazines; and, above
all, the itinery gave them the chance of living the "life of an expedition".
We continued, therefore, faithful to our social dimensions, confident that again we shall
be rewarded by that unity of friendship in which our group firmly believes.
EVEREST, north wall; a wall, therefore, which is difficult, a face which, for now, is far
from the schedules of the big tourist organisations for the masses, an area constantly
immersed in the holiness which its few inhabitants attribute to it, a mountain which
everyone respects and which, with devotion, they call "Mother Goddess of the
World". The Expedition Leader.
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