You Can’t Go Back: The Story of Ernesto Lomasti – Luca Beltrame
Translated from Italian by me (WTFPL).
A single mistake and… a mother’s tears, a father’s silent grief, and for everyone else life would go on just the same.
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Chapter “The Solo Ascent of the Cozzolino Dihedral”
Climbing alone is the pinnacle of mountaineering because it is the most beautiful metaphor for the Odyssean man; because it is a sign of deep resignation and boundless trust in fate. There is pain in those who climb alone, but there is also a reward that one must learn to love: serenity. However, one must come to solo climbing out of necessity: whether inner or outer, it must be a true need.
Nereo Zeper
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Chapter “Highs and Lows”
One of the goals I’ve set for myself in recent years is to nourish myself with the bread of the loser, to make use of the energy of defeat. It makes you feel far more serene and calm. And above all, there’s never a shortage of food.
Mauro Corona
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Chapter “An Important Meeting”
(ed. I can’t find the original English quote)
It’s pointless to try to analyze. If we went to the mountains purely for fun or aesthetic reasons, why would we push ourselves on the hardest routes in the toughest season? Why not settle for climbing walls happily below our abilities, rather than torment ourselves in horror stories where, from the first step to the last, the outcome is uncertain? Because… it would be boring. What fun would there be in doing what you know you can do? It’s better to test our limits: it’s the only way to learn and improve.
Joe Simpson
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Chapter “A Warm Autumn”
For me, climbing has the added value of serving no purpose.
In the great daily factory of efforts dedicated to a benefit, a return, climbing is finally freed from the duty of being useful. It disobeys the law of the market, which expects a return for investment, for risk.
…It’s free, with that little bit of grace one seeks in his movements.
Erri De Luca
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Chapter “The Pillar of the Explorers”
But, about adventure, I wouldn’t emphasize so much the risk of getting hurt or dying. Dying is a plebeian fate, it will happen to everyone. The explorer, on the other hand, faces another risk: the risk of getting lost. He ventures into unknown mental or physical territories, and there, he can lose himself.
Giovanni Badino