Dolomiti giorni verticali

All stories have a beginning and an end, protagonists, a background. This book tells one that unfolds for a century and a half, from the last days of the summer of 1857 to the spring of 2007. Just a look at the protagonists of the first and last chapters is enough to discover how much the years of the Risorgimento and the industrial revolution were far from those of globalization and the Internet. The evolution of technology, from means of communication to vehicles, has transformed culture, ways of thinking, every facet of life. Between John Ball's 1857 adventure on Pelmo and Hansjörg Auer's free solo adventure on Pesce a century and a half later, this book recounts dozens of other great days in the mountains, in the vertical world of the Pale Mountains. The protagonists are very different from each other in terms of origin, class and culture, but from the years of the third to those of the ninth and tenth grade, the motivation has always remained the same. “Because it's there”, as George Leigh Mallory explained with extraordinary effectiveness before leaving for Everest where he would lose his life. Whether it's a virgin 8000er, a line still to be opened on the wall, a rope pitch or a single passage still to be freed, the challenge has always remained the same.