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Ardito Desio Part 2: A treasure hunter's conquest of K2
Oct 6, 2004 20: 20 EST
Ardito the climber, the explorer, the professor, lived his life to its fullest. He squeezed every drop out of it it until the very last moment, and always described himself as a happy man. He died at home, at age 104. In this 3 part feature series, we present the life of this remarkable explorer, and 1954 K2 expedition leader.
Yesterday we left off with a setback for Ardito: In 1929 the town of Milan promoted a K2 expedition to the Karakorum, sponsored by the Italian Geographic Society and Milan’s branch of the Italian Alpine Club. A controversial and amazingly expensive expedition sponsoring Umberto Nobile to the North Pole, reduced the funds and the Karakorum project was delayed. Ardito's dream of K2 was put on hold, while destiny and duty brought him back to the African deserts.
The gold of Africa
What had seemed a setback, would turn out the most fruitful years in Ardito’s scientific career: He would lead seven missions to the mountains, dunes and oasis of Libya between 1932 and 1935: Those territories had just come to belong to Italy after the war; they were new, clean, unknown… and possibly rich.
Erdito began aerial surveillance work over the southern boundaries of the Italian colony, flying over the Tibesti Massif (3400 m). His research allowed Ardito to draw the first geological maps of Libya, and to the discovery of important fresh water springs, essential to the agricultural colonization projects of the Libyan government.
The geological surveys lead to the discovery of the first shows of oil. By then Professor Desio had become an eminence in Italy, and therefore the best man to lead his great African expedition to Ethiopia, in the search of the Nile Sources… but also precious metals, such as platinum and gold. Such are the practical implementations of the scientific hunger for knowledge.
On the side of the underdogs
Ardito’s Karakorum dreams had remained through the Second World War and the years afterwards - in a country aligned on the side of the defeated. As years passed by, Sahara's sun couldn't wipe out Ardito’s desire for altitude and ice. His patience paid off: His ticket to the Karakorums was finally signed, after a 25 year's wait.
In 1953 he took part in an exploratory trip to the Karakorum along with Ricardo Cassin, as a preparation for the huge 1954 expedition.
One year before Edmund Hillary conquered Everest in the name of the United Kingdom; K2 - the second best - must be climbed by no one else than the Italians! It was a question of national pride and no efforts would be spared. Ardito Desio was designed leader and responsible of the party, budgeted more than 70 million Lire and 13 tons of equipment, pursuing both alpine and scientific targets on the ‘Savage’ mountain.
At stake: K2 and a Nation’s pride
Six scientist, eleven climbers and hundreds of porters walked off from Skardu. It took them a month to reach BC on the Baltoro glacier by the impressive pyramid. It took another month just to set CI. Desio imposed an strict discipline among the staff and the climbing team. No orders were to be ignored, no decisions discussed. When one of the team members fell to his death, the expedition continued.
Finally, on July 31, Lino Ladecelli and Achille Compagnoni reached the top of Chogori. The news spread fast – at least as fas as it was possible back then - but Desio didn’t reveal the names of the summiteers until months afterwards, when they were all back home. He wanted the whole team to be appraised for the merit of the climb. And they were, at their arrival back in Italy.
After leading the team who stood on K2, Ardito Desio became a living legend, a scientific reference and a prestigious explorer. At 57 years of age, this could have been the perfect time to slow down and lead a quiet and rewarding life as a scientific eminence. But not for Ardito: Instead of visualizing himself attending banquets in conference halls, he was already dreaming of new travels and a new expedition project: The South Pole.
Friday Part 3 - Antarctica and the world
Italian Ardito Desio died on December 12th 2001, at the tender age of 104. In his life, he had traversed the burning sands of Sahara and the frozen plains of Antarctica, led more than 15 scientific expeditions, traveled the world, and climbed the highest mountains. Ardito was in fact the leader of the Italian expedition that conquered K2 with the summit of Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli.
More than forty years after the K2 expedition, Americans John M.Climaco and Chris Breenere climbed a Himalayan virgin peak and named it after Ardito.
Image of Ardito in K2 BC – Chogori in the background -courtesy of the Associazione Ardito Desio.
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2004
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