Born in Bergamo, Italy, Walter Bonatti (June 22, 1930 - September 13, 2011) made his first big ascent of the north face of the Grandes Jorasses, Pointe
Walker in the Mount Blanc range. When he was only 19 he started training
to become a mountain guide.
1951 he did the first ascent of the East face of the Grand Capucin and
in 1953 he made the first winter ascent of the North face of the Cima
Ovest di Lavaredo in the Dolomites.
Bonatti was 24 years old when he was chosen to join the Italian K2 expedition in 1954, the youngest man on the team. Bonatti
was not one of the two climbers who reached the summit, but he helped
them by transporting oxygen to an altitude of 8100 meters. He and his
Hunsa colleague Amir Mahdi had to spend the night out in the open at
this altitude, which no-one thought would be possible to survive.
Bonatti has always claimed that the summit climbers refused to help them
and left them to die. Although the rest of the expedition members
denied this for decades, Bonatti’s story and his role in the first
ascent have now been confirmed.
Bonatti went on to become famous for
his pioneering and technically difficult climbs, solo and winter climbs
and first ascents. He only took on mountains that offered almost
In 1955 he did a solo climb of a new route of the Petit Dru in the French Alps, surviving six days and five nights up on the 1000 meter high face. One of the pillars in this climb became known as the Bonatti Pillar.
In 1956 he together with three friends
made the first ski touring trip across the whole of the Alps. The route
was 1795 kilometres long, with 73193 meters of ascent over 66 days.
In1958 he did the first ascent of the Gasherbrum IV (7925m).
In 1963 he did the first winter ascent of the North face of the Grandes Jorasses, Pointe Walker.
Another of his most famous
achievements was making the first solo winter ascent of the direct route
on the Matterhorn North Face in 1965.
The renowned mountaineer Doug Scott has called Bonatti "perhaps the finest alpinist there has ever been." He
is well known for his strong ethics and disdain of the use of modern
technology in climbing. He kept strictly to the traditional methods and
considered drilling holes and inserting bolts unethical. He has said
that modern equipment has lessened the accomplishments of climbers: "The
'impossible' has lost more and more ground, and great achievements have
become rather less great.''
Bonatti is the author of numerous
books about climbing and mountaineering which have been translated into
many languages. The most famous is perhaps "The Mountains of my Life.”
He has also worked as a photojournalist and between 1965 and 1979 he
travelled the world reporting for the magazines Epoca and Bild der Zeit.
Walter Bonatti has been awarded the French Legion d'Honneur for saving
the lives of two other climbers in the Alps. He was elected honorary
member of the UIAA in 1995.