Walter Bonatti was an Italian mountaineer, alpinist, explorer and journalist. He was noted for many climbing achievements, including a solo climb of a new alpine climbing route on the south-west pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in August 1955, the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958, and, in 1965, the first solo climb in winter of the North face of the Matterhorn on the mountain's centenary year of its first ascent. Immediately after his solo climb on the Matterhorn, Bonatti announced his retirement from professional climbing at the age of 35, and after 17 years of climbing activity. He authored many mountaineering books and spent the remainder of his career travelling off the beaten track as a reporter for the Italian magazine Epoca.
He died on 13 September 2011 of pancreatic cancer in Rome aged 81, and was survived by his life partner, the actress Rossana Podestà.
Walter Bonatti in 1964
North Face of the Grandes Jorasses. The Walker Spur, climbed by Bonatti in 1949, is number 9.
Grand Capucin
Position of Camp IX and of the unplanned Bonatti-Mehdi open bivouac
Alpine climbing is a type of mountaineering that involves using any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes in an alpine environment. While alpine climbing began in the European Alps, it is used to refer to climbing in any remote mountainous area, including in the Himalayas and in Patagonia. The derived term alpine style refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly-equipped teams who carry all of their own equipment, and do all of the climbing.
Moving together on Kuffner Ridge (D, UIAA V, French 4c), Mont Maudit.
Czech alpinists Marek Holeček and Tomáš Petreček [cs] in full gear about to start their unsuccessful 2015 alpine-style ascent of the southwest face of Gasherbrum I
Alpinist crossing a large snow field underneath a dangerous hanging serac, Grand Pilier d'Angle.
The deadly White Spider ice field on the north face of the Eiger into which avalanches and rockfalls are funneled; alpine climbers move through it as quickly as possible.