Cime di guerra

Year: 2004 Pages: 138 + 16 plates In the spring-summer of 2002, six Swiss and one Italian mountaineers attempted to climb the north-east ridge of Gasherbrum IV, to retrace the footsteps of Riccardo Cassin, Walter Bonatti, Carlo Mauri and the others members of the expedition that in 1958 first reached that peak of 7929 metres. In the mountain massif dominated by K2 and, after 11 September 2001, deserted by mountaineers, the group experiences the contradiction of an adventure planned in the wrong place at the least opportune moment: the one in which the conflict between India and Pakistan, which is dragging on for years now, has come to the brink of nuclear war. The difficult political situation, combined with disastrous weather conditions, will prevent the goal from being reached, but the complex adventure offers an opportunity for Mario Casella, head of the expedition, to reflect on the absurdity of the war and on the motivations of those who went to the Himalayas for half a century ago, compared with those of those who return today while new wars, terrorism and the threat of a clash of civilizations would seem more than ever to discourage the "conquests of the useless".