Il volo del corvo timido

«With this last pearl we have closed our series» writes Nives Meroi returning to Kathmandu after having completed the ascent of all fourteen of the Earth's eight thousand peaks with Annapurna. Always roped together with her husband Romano, always with a light and essential style, without oxygen tanks or climbing Sherpas. Their journey was not only a hymn to the beauty of the boundless landscapes, but also an itinerary of growth and awareness. Each peak marked a passage - especially Kangchendzonga, with Romano's illness and recovery - and brought a teaching, like the latter, Annapurna. Nives and Romano set off without knowing that they would face a journey of change: they thought of excluding the helicopter but they made use of it, they thought they would only go up as a couple and had to open up to an extended group, with two Chileans and two Spaniards, very different from them. Yet, "right there where opposites met, the energy was released to resist the storms and obstacles together, to the point of shuffling the cards of a game that seemed lost." Only by each putting their own experience into play (Romano searching for the ideal route, the Chileans with the vigorous strength of youth...), and by all questioning their own presumed certainties (what is essential? what is superfluous?), were they able accomplish a feat that would otherwise have been impossible. A climb from times gone by, made of respect for the mountain and trust in others, demonstrating that in nature there is no more formidable force than the alliance between people, solidarity and collaboration. An act of rebellion against the individualism of our cynical time. Almost a utopia taking shape.