Alongside Walter Bonatti, Andrea Oggioni stands as one of the rare and outstanding climbers who shaped the brilliant history of postwar alpinism. On July 16, 1961, he died at the age of just thirty on the Central Pillar of the Freney Face of Mont Blanc. At his side were the renowned Walter Bonatti and Pierre Mazeaud, among others. This tragedy was later made into a film a decade afterward by Mazeaud and his companions. Mazeaud would later enter French politics and serve as a prominent minister.
I first came to know of Oggioni when I joined a local mountaineering club. A now-deceased mentor of mine, whom I would call my teacher, was utterly devoted to Oggioni. In the mountains he referred to himself as “Oggioni” and encouraged us to call him by that name. He preferred always to lead the rope, and being small in stature himself, he may well have projected his own image onto Oggioni.
Oggioni was born in Monza, near Milan. As a teenager, he began climbing by imitation and intuition. His first rappel was made not with proper gear but with a laundry line. He later joined a climbing group in Monza, where he met Josve Aiazzi, who became his rope partner. In time, he also met Walter Bonatti, who at that point knew nothing about mountaineering. Yet as Oggioni drew him into the mountains, Bonatti soon revealed extraordinary talent.
Oggioni quickly progressed to handling Grade V and VI routes in the Dolomites. After climbing the south face of Croz dell’Altissimo, he tackled the northeast face of Piz Badile—first climbed by the great Riccardo Cassin—and succeeded despite poor clothing and equipment, battling rain and storm. Gaining momentum, he turned to the Mont Blanc massif, where he met Bonatti again. Together they attempted the second Italian ascent of the Walker Spur on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses. Despite skeptical looks from French guides, the two, only nineteen years old and poorly equipped, completed the ascent. He later climbed the north face of the West Zinne with Aiazzi in storm conditions.
Oggioni’s career cannot be separated from that of Bonatti. They began together and ended together, both standing at the forefront of Italian—and indeed global—alpinism. Yet there were subtle differences between them. Bonatti took part in expeditions to K2 and Gasherbrum IV, while Oggioni, despite his wishes, was not selected. He later wrote of his frustration, questioning the vague and unconvincing reasons given.
In 1955, Bonatti made his celebrated solo ascent of the southwest pillar of the Dru, while Oggioni had been involved in earlier attempts. Hearing of the success by radio, he expressed admiration mixed with a sense of exclusion. Bonatti later described that climb as “a kind of redemption—a protest—against what happened on K2,” an episode that reveals the subtle divergence in their positions.
Oggioni later joined a private expedition to Peru, achieving several first ascents of 6,000-meter peaks. After returning, he resumed climbing in the Mont Blanc region, frequently partnering with Bonatti. In June 1961, the two joined an expedition to the north peak of Rondoy in the Andes and returned successfully.
Soon afterward, events took a tragic turn with the fatal climb of the Freney Central Pillar.
The following is quoted from the translator Fumio Yokokawa’s afterword:
This volume is a complete translation of Le mani sulla roccia (1964). Its author, Andrea Oggioni, was one of modern Italy’s foremost alpinists, a distinguished climber who died at the young age of thirty. Across the Dolomites, the Mont Blanc massif, and throughout the Alps, he achieved numerous brilliant ascents and opened new routes. He also took part in expeditions to the Peruvian Andes, making several first ascents of 6,000-meter peaks.
Though called a “diary,” it is more accurately a set of memoirs written in anticipation of his untimely death, intended for those who would follow him. As such, it may also be regarded as a documentary record of modern alpinism—a chronicle of a model mountaineer’s life.
Born into a farming family, Oggioni worked as a mechanic at an oil refinery in Monza. His early acceptance into the highly selective Italian Alpine Club was due not only to his outstanding climbing ability, but also to his unpretentious, sincere, and unaffected character.
Remarkably, by the age of twenty, he had mastered the techniques of alpinism entirely through self-study. When he first visited the Grigna cliffs at eighteen, his only equipment was an unbounded passion for the mountains and a length of clothesline.
Over the next decade, his dreams steadily became reality. With refined technique and an iron will, he challenged an unclimbed route—the Central Pillar of the Freney Face—on the Mont Blanc massif in the summer of his thirtieth year. Just eighty meters below the summit, he was struck by a violent storm, and on July 16, 1961, amid freezing winds and snow, his brief yet fulfilled life came to an end.
The world-renowned Walter Bonatti was Oggioni’s closest friend. It was in fact Oggioni who first invited Bonatti into the mountains, making him in a sense Bonatti’s senior. Bonatti, who revered nature as his teacher, possessed a calm and balanced spirit, and Oggioni too shared a similarly honest and simple outlook on life.
At the age of nineteen, compensating for poor equipment with fierce passion and determination, the two climbed the Walker Spur on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses in 1949, marking the beginning of their distinguished careers. They later extended their achievements to the Himalaya and the Peruvian Andes.
Shortly after returning from such expeditions came the tragic accident that claimed Oggioni’s life. Pierre Mazeaud, who remained with him until the end and miraculously survived, later published a diary written each midnight in anticipation of death. His account movingly conveys the deep bonds and selflessness shared among true mountaineers.
He wrote:
“At 2:15, Andrea died in my arms…
Your name, Andrea Oggioni, was a symbol to me. It cannot be separated from Bonatti’s. Only together do they form a true name. You died because you tried to save us. Taking the rear, urging us forward… I saw you enter your long sleep with my own eyes. You taught me that death is nothing…”
His life was short. Yet through his decade of climbing, Andrea Oggioni embodied a way of life—simple, humble, courageous, and clear—that continues to offer deep inspiration.
September 1969
Fumio Yokokawa
Andrea Oggioni was an outstanding Italian alpinist active in the same era as Walter Bonatti. Yet perhaps because his presence was somewhat understated, and because he died young, he is not widely known today. Through this book, I would like to reflect on the man he was.
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