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Renato Casarotto: To the Magic Line
Oct 6, 2004 20: 32 EST
Published Sep 28, 2004
Although he made his legend from the Dolomites to Patagonia, Renato Casarotto's name remained forever linked to K2 and the route of his dreams, and the one that eventually took his life: The Magic Line.
The Catalan team who accomplished the first repetition of the Magic Line last summer intended to dedicate the climb to Casarotto’s memory - before the death of team-member Manel de la Matta forced them to changed their minds.
Casarotto died in 1986, when attempting the Magic Line. Before falling in a crevasse not far from BC, he had reached 8300 meters solo. Jordi Corominas also reached that point on August 16 2004, but he chose to keep climbing up despite having the snow conditions and time against him. It would take him more than 10 hours to reach the summit from that point. But at midnight he fulfilled Casarotto’s dream. It was just logical that Jordi and his Catalonian mates wanted to pay tribute to the Italian climber.
But it was no surprise that the Catalans thought of Casarotto even before that. They were following his steps... literally. During a walk near Base Camp, expedition leader Oscar Cadiach ran into the remains of his body - some had been found by Kazakh climbers in the year before .
Goretta, Casarotto's widow, came to K2 base camp to visit the Italian team and attend to the burial of Renato’s remains, in a small ceremony held by the Catalan climbers.
Casarotto and the long way to K2
From the Dolomites to Patagonia, and McKinley to the Himalayas, Renato Casarotto was one of the most outstanding characters of the ‘80s European climbing scene. Known for his solo climbs and new routes in the Alps and South America, he couldn’t escape the call of K2. It was going to take his life in the doomed year of 86.
The relationship between K2 and Renato is a very special one, but it took a long way, and many mountains to get there. Before that, the Italian climber, born in Vicenza in 1948, climbed his way to prestige through a considerable amount of. solo climbs, winter ascents and new routes in the Alps and Dolomites. His was an example of style and high ethical levels.
Devoted to mountaineering, there were two true loves in Renato’s life. One was his wife, Goretta. Far from trying to keep him away from the mountains, Goreta would become his loyal companion and, following her husband’s trails, the first Italian female to summit an 8000+ peak (Gasherbrum II in 1985). His second love at first sight was the imposing Spire of Fitz Roi, in Patagonia. In 1979 he would open the North Spur, solo. Well, not entirely. As people of El Chaltén would comment in bewilderment: “Hey, there is this mad man climbing solo on the Fitz Roi, and his equally crazy woman waiting for him at the foot of the wall!”
Steps to heaven
Next step were the Himalayas but, though the place was different, Casarotto’s criteria stayed the same: Looking for a real challenge, he’d climbed Broad Peak through its difficult North ridge. Coincidently, Oscar Cadiach would open a new route on that same side of Broad some years later.
In 1984 Renato solo climbed the 5km Ridge of No Return. Months later he would accomplish the fist winter solo climb to Gervasutti couloir, in the Grandes Jorasses (Mont Blanc Massif).
Those examples can give an idea of what kind of climber Casarotto was. Still, he was not very well know in his time. Among other things, thanks to Reinhold Messner. Casarotto would join him on an expedition to K2 in 1979. Right from the start, Messner carelessly described Renato as the ‘weakest link of the chain’. Messner would attempt the Magic Line but soon switched to the Abruzzi Spur.
Magic Line calling
Back in Italy, Renato developed an obsession for K2 and the beautiful and apparently impossible line to its summit. According to Messner, Casarrotto returned to K2 only as a revenge toward his comments, and concluded that his climb was doomed to fail anyway, due to the Italian’s limited climbing skills. Renato could not hear those statements. He was already dead.
It didn’t really make sense anyway, as Renato climbed hundreds of peaks before returning to Chogori, and to the MagicLine.
The climb
On the Magic Line, Renato climbed solo, and reached 8200m high, twice. Coming back from one of his summit bids, he fell into a crevasse on Phillipo Glacier, almost in BC. Even though he managed to contact Goretta, who was in BC, the rescue party came too late. Two Italian climbers ran to get him out of the crevasse, but they could do nothing to save his life. Renato expired in their arms a few minutes afterwards.
The Italians decided to leave his body in the bottom of a deep crevasse, at the foot of his dream mountain. That season, twelve other climbers would die on K2, sealing a year of tragedy. Ironically, it was also a season of great achievements on K2: Kukuczka and Pietrowsky would open the Central Spur on the South side, and Wroz (Poland), Piasecki (Poland) and Bozik (Slovakia) would complete, no other than the Magic Line, for the first and only time until this past summer.
Rest by the mountain
Renato’s remains rest in K2 memorial, at the foot of the Huge peak. It has been arranged that Manel de la Matta’s remains will join Casarotto’s in the K2 memorial as well.
Renato Casarotto was born in Vicenza (Italy) in 1948 and Died on K2 (Pakistán) in 1986. That same season, other 12 climbers would die in the mountain.
Messner attempted the Magic Line in 1979 with Michl Dacher. He abandoned the route after a while and climbed the Abruzzi Spur instead. It was then the fourth repetition of the Abruzzi. It is commonly said that after his climb, Reinhold described the Magic Line as suicidal, which he denied Friday.
The first Magic Line ascent was made by a Polish/Slovak team. The climbers ascended in expedition style up to 7600 m.
"Tarragona Magic Line Expedition 2004" members were Oscar Cadiach (leader), Manel de la Matta, Jordi Corominas, Jordi Tosas and Valentí Giro.
At 0:00 h. On August 17th, Jordi Corominas reached the summit of K2, accomplishing the first repetition of the route. Corominas would descend through the Abruzzi Spur. Oscar Cadiach and Manel de la Matta would turn around between 8100 and 8300 m during the summit bid. Manel suddenly felt a strong abdominal pain during the descent, and passed away in Camp 1 on Magic Line route. Manel has been dreaming of climbing the magic line since he was very young.
Image of Casarotto climbing in the late seventies, courtesy of Tecpetrol.com.
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