Having the adventure in DNA means never stopping. It means exploring the world, the most inaccessible places, only with one's own strength, but above all exploring oneself. This is the adventure according to our ambassador Danilo Callegari, Friulian doc, 33 years old, adventurer and extreme sports expert.
The mountain, which he himself defines the greatest gym of life, is the goal of his umpteenth adventure, Manaslu, which in Sanskrit means "Mountain of the Spirit", is a giant of ice, snow and rock.
Danilo, has climbed this great mountain, located in the heart of the Himalayan chain, eighth highest peak in the world for height, 8,163 meters, without supplemental oxygen and in complete alpine style, in the period between September and October 2016, reaching the summit on 1 October at 9:30 am
The adventure:
Arrived in Kathmandu on 28 August, Saturday 3 September he began his approach to the Base Camp (4,800 m) with a long trek of about 6 days through forests, enchanting valleys crossed by rivers and gullies.
The entire climb was developed on four high fields (beyond the 4.800mt Base Camp) independently mounted at the following heights:
Camp 1 at 5,700 meters after a climb between moraines and ice falls (icefall);
Campo2 at 6,400 meters, always facing inaccessible areas with all the hidden dangers between crevasses and dangerous suspended seracs;
Campo3 at an altitude of 6,900 meters on a sort of "snowy saddle";
Campo 4 at 7,400 meters on the "shoulder of the mountain" that precedes the summit. At the limits of the famous "death zone or death zone", where there is no longer a way and time for acclimatization but an inexorable physical and mental deterioration.
The maximum altitude reached, that of the summit is 8,163 meters.
The minimum temperature was recorded at 7.850mt, in the minutes of dawn: -32 ° C.
From the entire climb developed without supplemental oxygen Danilo returned with a 1st degree freezing to his toes.
These are his first words: "I achieved this goal after many sacrifices, sacrifices and risks ... studying every detail almost obsessively, comparing myself with a weather" guru "in France, with meteorology experts in Switzerland and the USA and finally even the narrow weather window was apt. What I will remember most about this long and demanding climb is not so much the climb as the descent. From Campo3 to Campo Base, a day that is worth a lifetime or perhaps more lives counting every time I played it, devoid of energy, completely alone along the way down, in the midst of constant dangers, technical passages, fifty centimeters of fresh snow and a total white out. A day that could be worth a whole book between fears, dangers, awareness and "voices from heaven". But as always, what matters most is still alive and ready for the next big adventures!".
An unprecedented account from one of the most impressive mountains on Earth that saw him engaged in one of the most complicated and dangerous descents he has ever faced and where he perceived the "slight breath of death".