RICCARDO CASSIN A GREAT OF WORLD MOUNTAINISM
He was born on January 2, 1909 and left us in 2009, leaving testimonies and examples of sport and life for the entire world of mountaineering. His exploits are unforgettable and he practiced mountaineering until his old age.
HIS LIFE
After initial experience as a boxer, he trained as a mountaineer around 1930 in the Grigne needles. Without a doubt, he was one of the most important figures in mountaineering of the sixth grade era, before World War II.
Thanks to his tenacity and determination, he managed to overcome the mountaineering problems of the time, both in the Dolomites and in the Western Alps. 1934 and 1935 are the years of great mountaineering in the Cassin Dolomites. In 1934 he made the first ascent of the Piccolissima delle Cime di Lavaredo. In 1935, after having repeated the great route of Emilio Comici on the northwest face of the Civetta, he climbed the fantastic southeast corner of the Trieste tower and, with Vittorio Ratti, opened an extremely daring route on the north face of the Cima Ovest say Lavaredo. , a highly coveted undertaking after Angelo and Giuseppe Dimai from Cortina and Emilio Comici from Trieste had climbed the north of the Grande in 1933.
In 1937, Cassin turned his attention to the granite of the central Alps. In three days, ravaged by bad weather, he made the first ascent of the enormous northeast face of Pizzo Badile together with Ratti and Esposito and the consortium of Como's Molteni and Valsecchi, who would die of exhaustion throughout the descent. Even this route today is very famous and frequently traveled.
For this feat, CONI awarded Cassin the gold medal for Athletic Valor in 1938.
On the Walker Spur
Probably his most important feat, and a milestone in mountaineering, took place between August 4 and 6, 1938 in the Mont Blanc massif. With Tizzoni and Esposito, he made the first ascent of the Walker branch of the north face of the Grandes Jorasses.
CLIMBING IN THE HIMALAYAS AND ALASKA
- 1953, Karakorum: exploratory and reconnaissance expedition in preparation for the 1954 expedition to K2.
- 1958, Karakorum: leader of the Italian expedition to Gasherbrum IV, which ended with the first ascent to the summit by Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri. Cassin himself also carried out a reconnaissance of Gasherbrum III up to 7350 m.
- 1961, Alaska Range: leader of the Italian expedition to Mount Denali, which ended with the first ascent of the south face by all members of the expedition (including Cassin himself, then fifty-two years old).
- 1975, he made the first attempt to the fearsome south face of Mount Lhotse – Himalayas: leader of the Italian expedition, the attempt was unsuccessful. The members of the expedition manage to reach an altitude of 7100 m, but have to give up due to bad weather and dangerous avalanches.
CLIMBING TO THE SNOWY JIRISHANCA 1969 – HUAYHUASH CORDILLERA – PERU
CLIMBING JIRISHANCA PEAK WAS NOT IN THEIR INITIAL PLAN.
The “Città di Lecco” expedition began in the summer of 50 years ago with the initial objective of climbing the east face of the Yerupayà snow-capped mountain, 6634 metres, the highest peak in the Cordillera Huayhuash; at no point in the plan was it planned to climb the Jirishanca snow-capped mountain (6094 m).
Upon landing at the airport in Lima, the capital of Peru, he was informed that an expedition of Austrian climbers was already at the base of the east face. For Riccardo, it was a bad moment of discomfort, but after a few minutes he calmed down and immediately looked for another objective of a technical and prestigious level. He set himself the objective of climbing the Jirishanca peak from the western side; this being one of the most beautiful mountains of the Cordillera Huayhuash, renowned as “The Matterhorn of the Andes”.
It has a pyramidal shape that shows its greatness and majesty seen from all angles or faces. The history of this mountain is linked to the name of the late friend and great mountaineer Toni Egger who, after days of struggle, reached the summit in 1957 with the victorious climb of the east wall. To this day the west wall remains without a route, nor are there any attempts to make it inaccessible and exposed.
AIR CRASH IN THE SNOWY JIRISHANCA 16 – 11 – 1954
One day, November 16, 1954, an air accident occurred with the TAM C-47 plane No. 403 (Transportes Aéreos Militares), with the loss of 29 human lives while it was on a scheduled flight between the city of Pucallpa and Lima. The accident precisely occurred in the glacial tongue of this snow-capped mountain. Currently you can still see some parts of the plane, another part was taken to the police in the city of Yungay.
