Montagna Magica

15/09/2025

Who could have imagined that while and were going to send the legendary route on at the same time was soloing the legendary route on ?
What a winter of triumphs in this 2025 !
my fellow senior editor got a great interview with Colin, while my interviews with the italians was published for
**🔗 check on Featured section on https://www.climbing.com/ **
Tony : [..]On September 6, Haley packed up [..]Haley’s first day on route was a big one. He dispatched all but the final three crux pitches of the Ragni and bedded down around 3 a.m.[..]The following day, with just 3 pitches to climb, Haley left camp at 11 a.m. and prepared for what he knew would be the crux [..]The 1st pitch went by easily, but the 2nd required a lot of time-consuming digging through rime to reach solid protection and axe placements.[..](3rd)He’d arrived at the crevasse entrance just 15 minutes before complete darkness[..]
At that moment, Haley gave himself a “15 or 20 percent chance of summiting.” [..] Haley was certain that if he had fallen and become wedged in the claustrophobic slot he would have eventually died there.[..]

Federico: "[..] what stands out about Della Bordella isn’t just his technical mastery—it’s his character.
Time and again, partners describe him the same way: endlessly patient, deeply determined, but above all, extraordinarily kind. He is rigorous in style, visionary in pursuing exploratory objectives with low probability of success, and a natural motivator for younger alpinists. Talking with him, I realized how much of his strength lies in keeping morale high, in maintaining focus, and in nurturing a positive partnership even when the odds seem overwhelming.
At the end of our conversation, Della Bordella reflected on Casarotto’s example and the profound joy of retracing his steps up Pilar Goretta. “It made me understand even more,” he said, “the incredible vision, the effort, and the brilliance it took to make it happen back then.”[..]
[ph mdb mm]

13/09/2025

"[..]Patience is one of Della Bordella’s greatest strengths. He relied on a longtime friend back in Italy for weather forecasts—and this time, the prediction was perfect. With lighter packs and the benefit of experience, Della Bordella and Majori reached the base in half the time of their first attempt.
At dawn on September 5, Majori led the first mixed pitches, ice tools and crampons scraping on the granite. Then Matteo took over on the steep, technical cracks he knew so well.[..]"

my story and interviews of the historic 1st Winter Ascent made by Matteo Della Bordella and Marco Majori, with the initial contribute of Tommaso Lamantia up to the Goretta Pillar aka Renato Casarotto's solitary, visionary 1250mt route climbed by the italian great alpinist in 1979 is online for Climbing Magazine

➡️ https://www.climbing.com/news/interview-climbers-make-first-winter-ascent-on-fitz-roy-patagonia/

11/09/2025

Yesterday I had the pleasure of having a long chat with and during their stopover in Madrid on their way back from Patagonia. On Sunday the 7th, at 2:30 pm, the talented duo stood on the summit of aka after completing the historic first winter ascent of 's masterpiece on the .

A 1,300m vertical route, the brutal cold and the biting winds, the technical difficulties, and the limited hours of climbing each day.

Matteo's determination, vast experience on Patagonian towers, and patience; Marco's motivation, whose father was on the expedition with Casarotto on the first attempt on the immense granite pillar, and the catharsis after the serious accident he had on K2 last year; the perfect understanding between the two; and the fundamental contribution made during the first, exhilarating attempt the other partner by — who had to return to Italy at the end of August—and much more soon online for Climbing Magazine the full story of this incredible mountaineering feat .

[ ph by MDB,Tommaso and .alganaraz ]

09/09/2025

I don't think to be exaggerating thinking that .journal - resuscitated, restyled by , my dear friend,mentor and incredibly bold and talented editor - is the most beautiful climbing printed magazine ; but more important, the quality of the stories is outstanding and I know by first hand how much care and time is taken before being published.
I was deeply moved by portrait of the brotherhood and partnership that tied in a common fate my dear,lost friends .dmitry and .
I would like also thank Michael for getting me involved , for his sensibility and for his incredible year-long journey that led him to write a truly truthful , thoughtful and respectful story .

To all my followers I strongly encourage you to subscribe and support ; one of the few lasting gems of mountaineering magazine ; you would be pleased by the exceptional print quality, the magnificent photographs and illustrations portfolio and for the gourmet-stories menu that is included in each issue.

08/09/2025

Matteo Della Bordella and lved another major "problem" in range, climbing the , aka Route up to the - better known as [3405mt], during the harsh winter season.
They reacted the summit yesterday September,7th according to the announcement done by Marco .
Waiting to get in touch with the extraordinary climbers pair to know the details,I would just say that once again Matteo proved his incredible patience and commitment, waiting until the last days of his expedition for a good weather window
Congrats guys 🤟🚀

[ph Marco Majori/Matteo Della Bordella instagram ,1st photo yellow line the route/Goretta Traverso for Renato Casarotto photo]

18/08/2025

IN LOVING MEMORY AND

The tragic epilogue that has marked me forever, the most painful double loss; two true friends, albeit pen pals and a couple of video calls, perished on the mountain I have always loved most, ever since I read in Grandpa Alfonso's archives about Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri's feat, the "shining mountain" in Fosco Maraini's words, Gasherbrum IV.
Sergei Nilov died trying to recover the body of Dmitry Golovchenko, who had tragically fallen the year before, inside their tent which slipped down the NE ridge to the glacier when they were at the last section of climb, while I communicated daily with Dmitry's wife, Sasha; I was relaying weather forecast for them and during those long days I became closer to the family worries..

The hardest lesson in remembering that there is no fate or mercy in the harsh reality of high altitudes, where avalanches, bad weather, and human error can crush even the strongest and destroy entire families.
All my thoughts to the children, widow and families of Sergei as well as for the Dmitry ones .
They were not only wonderful climbers , in my opinion they were the strongest high altitude duo ever in the two decades of their incredible journey through explorative alpinism; but beloved fathers,husbands and friends; they are much missed by all climbing community.
The dream and will of explorers are not useless for humanity, they are not futile goals; however, the price to pay is extremely high.
I share these thoughts and I give a hugs to , , who introduced me to them; to that asked me for the first time to write a story about their incredible East Wall climbing odissey.

22/07/2025

NANGA PARBAT
after the enormous achievement announced by Urubko and P**i Cardell , a new route in alpine style,no O2 on Diamir face of Nanga Parbat, I did a simple and basic overlapping of the routes, as for the accounts/sketches given by climbers (roughly) :

red (*): Denis Urubko-Maria P**i Cardell (2025)
yellow (**): Gerfried Göeschl-Louis Rousseau-Günther Unterberger-Hans Goger-Sepp Bachmair (2009)

as for this preliminary *speculative analysis* by myself, the routes are not the same, they are parallel and separated in the lower sections by about 100mt and intersect - as told by Denis - at an altitude between 6600/6800mt ; the Basin crossing at 7400mt is roughly the same and that's quite normal.
The pyramid section climbed by Denis and P**i is brilliant and never climbed before.

Sources:
(*) Anna Piunova , Mountain RU (Denis Urubko report and sketches)
(**) American Alpine Journal (Göeschl report,2010)

22/07/2025

NANGA PARBAT
after the enormous achievement announced by Urubko and P**i Cardell , a new route in alpine style,no O2 on Diamir face of Nanga Parbat, I did a simple and basic overlapping of the routes, as for the accounts/sketches given by climbers (roughly) :

red (*): Denis Urubko-Maria P**i Cardell (2025)
yellow (**): Gerfried Göeschl-Louis Rousseau-Günther Unterberger-Hans Goger-Sepp Bachmair (2009)

as for this preliminary *speculative analysis* by myself, the routes are not the same, they are parallel and separated in the lower sections by about 100mt and intersect - as told by Denis - at an altitude between 6600/6800mt ; the Basin crossing at 7400mt is roughly the same and that's quite normal.
The pyramid section climbed by Denis and P**i is brilliant and never climbed before.

Sources:
(*) Anna Piunova , Mountain RU (Denis Urubko report and sketches)
(**) American Alpine Journal (Göeschl report,2010)

13/07/2025

was the first sharing the news:



I have some info but more, are my suggestions...We still DONLouis RousseauCOMPLETED NOR FOLLOW THAT ROUTE,so this is just a speculation entirely on my own 😎
Since there was a Diamir route that needed to be completed, the partially new route Rousseau-Göeschl line (2009)below their account for :
"[..]northwest wall installed our first bivouac in a safe site at 5,300m, below the 900m couloir that we needed to climb to reach easier slopes on the northwest buttress. The “Göschl Couloir” is a hidden gully between the Czechoslovak Route (Belica-Just-Zatko-Zatko, 1978), to the right, and the Diama Glacier route, to the left (Eisdendle-Messner-Messner-Tomaseth, 2000, climbed to 7,500m).
We followed the left side of the gully. After crossing the bergschrund, we climbed 150m at 50°, followed by an ice section of 20m at 80°. (Three of us scrambled on rock to avoid the steep ice.) After about 700m of hard snow, we reached a 200m, 60°–65° section of blue ice covered under 10cm of snow. On this “Rousseau Ice Wall,” we used our rope for the first time. We placed our second bivouac at 6,300m, about 100m past the exit of the couloir.
Continuing up the northwest buttress, we had to fight very deep snow and strong wind. On the third day, we climbed a 50° slope left of a gigantic serac (“Bachmair Serac”) to reach the “Kölblinger Col” between two giant pinnacles at 6,600m. We continued to the right of the second pinnacle on easier but crevassed ground. A long snow slope led to our third bivouac (6,900m) on the flat but windy “Goger Plateau.”We had hoped to continue up the northwest buttress to 7,400m[..]"

11/07/2025

I will break my long absence here because this is beautiful.
Anna Piunova just shared this news:

26/03/2025

"[..]The reasons for Piergiorgio’s unpopularity are plenty: its west face requires a full extra day of hiking to reach; due to its remoteness, volunteer-based rescue is next to impossible; and its cracks—unlike the clean splitters of the Franco-Argentina—are woefully discontinuous. The west face demands serious commitment and physical prowess to top out. Falling is frequently not a viable option.[..]"

out on my story about the 1st patagonian Cerro Piergiorgio Nw face direct route "Gringos Locos" (1000mt , difficulty 7b-5.12d/A3) historic achievement by the team of climbers composed by , & : they completed the visionary line originally attempted by Maurizio Giordani and Luca Maspes in 1995

link 🔗 in bio


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🙏props to my dear editor, friend

26/03/2025

"[..]The reasons for Piergiorgio’s unpopularity are plenty: its west face requires a full extra day of hiking to reach; due to its remoteness, volunteer-based rescue is next to impossible; and its cracks—unlike the clean splitters of the Franco-Argentina—are woefully discontinuous. The west face demands serious commitment and physical prowess to top out. Falling is frequently not a viable option.[..]"

out on Climbing Magazine my story about the 1st patagonian Cerro Piergiorgio Nw face direct route "Gringos Locos" (1000mt , difficulty 7b-5.12d/A2) historic achievement by the team of climbers composed by Matteo Della Bordella , Dario Eynard and Mirco Grasso : they completed the visionary line originally attempted by Maurizio Giordani and Luca Maspes in 1995

read it here 🤙 https://www.climbing.com/news/first-ascent-patagonia-piergiorgio-west-face/

CAI - Club Alpino Italiano

With mandatory, sky-hook protected free climbing up to 5.12, ‘Gringos Locos’ is an apt route name for this first ascent in Patagonia.