Porto i capelli come Walter B.

Born in Frascati in September 1952, Massimo Marcheggiani is one of those mountaineers who act almost silently: despite having accomplished important feats both in his homeland and in various parts of the world, he says he is resistant to any form of protagonism and competitive desire, always putting at the center of his narratives the essential meaning of every climb, which lies in the challenge with oneself and in the boundless love for the Alpine environment at every latitude. “I'm not a mountaineer. I am” is one of his most famous phrases and one of those that best represent his way of experiencing the mountains. Mountain that he discovered late, at 23 years old, after having done a thousand jobs to be able to support himself, given his origins from a poor family and a troubled school career. Growing up in a country where the word mountaineering did not exist, together with two brotherly friends he developed a self-taught approach to the mountains, which led him to become, together with Cantalamessa, the mountaineer with the greatest number of winter firsts on the most complex, difficult and isolated wall of the entire Central Apennines: the Paretone del Gran Sasso. The first time he set foot on Mont Blanc he climbed the West face of the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey and immediately after the Walker of the Grandes Jorasses; he has made 15 expeditions outside Europe, where he has climbed seven unclimbed peaks including the 6702 m Bhagirathi Karak and the spectacular Neverseen Tower in Himachal Pradesh in India. In Patagonia he repeated the Franco-Argentina route in 26 hours non-stop, with the unforgettable Tiziano Cantalamessa. Again with Cantalamessa he then attempted the Casarotto route on Huascarán Nord and the Polacchi route on the Rupal face of Nanga Parbat. For many years he has made a living from mountaineering and its derivatives: he has built and manages a large artificial wall for indoor sport climbing, he has published two books, A Choice and You Don't Know Tiziano, for SER Edizioni and for several years he has been responsible for the aerial choreographies at great heights for the Kitonb theater-dance company with performances halfway around the world. At 67, he continues his mountaineering activity in both summer and winter with pleasure and passion.