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.
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.
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. |
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.
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." |
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