Lino Lacedelli

Lino Lacedelli (4 December 1925 – 20 November 2009) was an Italian mountaineer. Together with Achille Compagnoni, on 31 July 1954 he was the first man to reach the summit of K2. He is also noted for leaving his teammates Amir Mehdi and Walter Bonatti in a life-threatening situation in order to ensure that he reached the summit first.

Lacedelli was born in Cortina d'Ampezzo. His climbing career began as a young teenager when he followed a mountain guide up a local summit. He soon came under the tutelage of Luigi 'Bibi' Ghedina, one of the best Dolomite rock climbers of the age. In 1946 he was accepted into the prestigious Cortina Squirrels club. Lacedelli was known for fast ascents of difficult routes, including: the Constantini-Apollonio South Face Direct (500 m V+ A2) on the Pilastro di Rozes (repeat with Ghedina); the first ascent of the Southwest Face of Cima Scotoni (Fanis Group) with Guido Lorenzi; first one-day ascent of the Solda Route on the SW Face of the Marmolada di Penia (with Lorenzi); and the fourth ascent of the Gabriel-Livanos Diedre on the Cima su Alto with Beniamino Franceschi.

In 1951, he achieved international recognition by completing, in the Mont Blanc massif, the second ascent of the Bonatti-Ghigo on the east face of the Grand Capucin with Bibi Ghendina in 18-hours, just weeks after the four-day first ascent. Despite his claims, Lino Lacedelli never made the second ascent of the Bonatti-Ghigo road on the Grand Capuchin. The team formed by Robert Paragot and Lucien Berardini made the second climb in 1953. The French mountaineers did not find the equipment supposedly left in place by the repeaters - Lacedelli and Ghedina - to abseil.

He became an obvious choice for the 1954 Italian K2 expedition led by Ardito Desio.

With the older and more experienced Achille Compagnoni, Lacedelli was selected for the summit team. They reached the summit to claim the first ascent via the Abruzzi Ridge on 31 July 1954. The summit was not reached again until 1977.

Lacedelli ran the outdoor shop K2 Sports in Cortina, trekked to K2 Base Camp in 2004. In 2005, he was awarded Italy's highest honour, Knight of the Grand Cross. He died aged 83 on 20 November 2009 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the house he had lived his entire life.

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Wikipedia