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ExWeb Tribute to the Women of K2 - The Triplets of Bergamo: Nives Meroi
Jul 1, 2004 11: 35 EST
Last summer Nives Meroi (43) had a stunning grand slam success in the Karakorums: Together with husband Romano Benet and fellow climber Luca Vuerich, she reached the summits of GI, GII and Broad Peak in a mere 20 days. On the16th of May this year, Nives, a self-proclaimed house keeper according to the Nepal Ministry of Tourism, summited Lhotse (8516m). With six 8000m peaks now under her belt, Nives is Italy’s leading lady of the mountains.
Born in the province of Bergamo it was only natural for her to head to Tarvisio and the Julien Alps. That was 17 years ago when those mountains still seperated western Europe from communist Yugoslavia. Nives would climb under the watchfull eye of the mountain patrol assigned to shoot anyone trying to illegally cross the border that split the mountains in two.
With Romano, Nives has put up several new routes in the Alps in addition to making numerous alpine style ascents among the highest peaks in the Himalayas. She goes fast and tends to climb in threes; three mountains, three climbers.
This year Nives has done Lhotse and is now on K2 with Romano and Luca.
Within ten months after becoming the first Italian woman to summit Nanga Parbat (1998), she also summited Cho Oyu and made the Central summit of Shisha Pangma. When asked by PlanetMountain.com about her impression from Nanga, Nives replied that for her, it was not any different than attempting K2 or Everest. “Sure,” she said, “the top is important, but it is not the only memory one brings back from an expedition.”
Earlier expeditions to K2 and Everest ended without summits, but not without note. In 1994, Nives became the first Italian woman to reach an altitude of 8450m on K2 as she, Romano and Filippo Sala opened a partial new route on the mountain’s North-Western face.
In 1996, during the most devastating year on Mount Everest, Nives attempted to scale the Mallory route on the North side, but severe weather prevented a summit.
On her first trip to Gasherbrum II in 2000, Nives and Romano attempted a new route on the peak’s North Face. A high avalanche and icefall risk ended the expedition at 6500m. They proceeded to climb five other 6000+m peaks of high technical difficulty before leaving the region.
Nives typically travels light, climbing alpine-style, without oxygen or high-altitude porters. As for training for 8000m climbs, Meroi states that since acclimatization for higher altitudes can only occur by ascending to higher altitudes, her best training is going up the mountains.
On mountaineering, Nives said; “Like every human activity, it is part psychological, emotional and cultural and it is obvious therefore that everyone goes to the mountain with various attitudes and various purposes. A maze of more and more iron rules would not make me lose sight of the essence of mountaineering: the dream.”
With 6 8,000ers is Nives Meroi. She has Nanga Parbat, Shisha Pangma(Central Summit), Cho Oyu, G II, G I, Broad Peak and Lhotse. Nives typically travels light, climbing alpine-style, without oxygen or high-altitude porters.
Bagging six or more eight-thousanders is mostly a guys game; going down the list of names is like reading the roster at a bachelor party. Female climbers with six or more 8,000 meter mountains –Yeah, it’s a short list.
And at the top of that list is Wanda Rutkiewicz followed by Chantal Mauduit; both were taken by the mountains. In fact no K2 female summiteers are alive today.
Romano Benet , Nive's husband, has 6 8,000ers and last year the trio summited Broad Peak to complete a hat-trick in 20 days. Only the Swiss Erhard Loretan and Marcel Ruedi (15 days) and Jean-Claude Sonnenwyl (17 days) achieved it in lesser time in 1983.
Images of Nives courtesy of Risk.ru.
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