Lino Lacedelli facts for kids
Lino Lacedelli in 1954
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Quick facts for kids Personal information |
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| Nationality | Italian |
| Born | December 4, 1925 Cortina d'Ampezzo |
| Died | November 20, 2009 (aged 83) |
| Climbing career | |
| Type of climber | Mountaineer |
| First ascents | K2 |
Lino Lacedelli (born December 4, 1925 – died November 20, 2009) was a famous Italian mountain climber. He is best known for being one of the first two people to reach the top of K2. He achieved this amazing feat with Achille Compagnoni on July 31, 1954.
Becoming a Climber
Lino Lacedelli was born in a town called Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy. He started climbing mountains when he was just a teenager. He learned a lot from a famous local guide named Luigi 'Bibi' Ghedina. Ghedina was one of the best rock climbers in the Dolomites mountains.
In 1946, Lino joined a special climbing group called the Cortina Squirrels. He became known for climbing difficult routes very quickly. One of his impressive climbs was the Bonatti-Ghigo route on the Grand Capucin mountain. He completed this climb in just 18 hours! This was much faster than the first team who took four days.
Because of his great skills, Lino was chosen for a big Italian climbing trip in 1954. Their goal was to climb K2, one of the world's highest and most dangerous mountains.
Conquering K2
Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni were chosen as the main team to try and reach the summit of K2. K2 is the second highest mountain in the world. It is known as the "Savage Mountain" because it is so hard to climb.
On July 31, 1954, Lino and Achille made history. They successfully reached the very top of K2! They climbed using a path called the Abruzzi Ridge. After their climb, no one reached the summit of K2 again for another 23 years. This shows how difficult and special their achievement was.
Life After the Climb
After his famous climb, Lino Lacedelli opened an outdoor sports shop called K2 Sports in his hometown. He even returned to the K2 area in 2004, trekking to the base camp.
In 2005, Italy gave him a very high award called the Knight of the Grand Cross. Lino Lacedelli passed away on November 20, 2009, at the age of 83. He lived his whole life in the same house in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
For many years, Lino Lacedelli did not talk much about the K2 climb. But in 2004, he wrote a book called K2: The Price of Conquest. In his book, he shared his side of the story about what happened during the climb.
He explained that on the night before they reached the summit, two other climbers, Walter Bonatti and Amir Mehdi, were supposed to bring oxygen bottles to their camp. However, Lino and Achille had moved their camp higher up the mountain. Bonatti and Mehdi could not find them and had to spend a freezing night outside at a very high altitude.
Over the years, there were different stories about what happened that night. Some people claimed that Bonatti had tried to get to the summit first. They also said he used some of the oxygen meant for Lino and Achille. Lino's book helped to explain his view of the events. He wanted to make sure his story was heard.
