Good bye Walter Bonatti

What a route!

Grandes Jorasses

In four days of climb, between the 6 and 10 August 1964, Bonatti climbed for the first time the Pointe Whymper (one of the six summits of the Grandes Jorasses) together with Michel Vaucher. The climb (known today as Bonatti-Vaucher route) is still considered very technical and difficult. It is classified as ED alpine grade and consists of 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) of rock-climbing rated UIAA VI, several sections of mixed ground quoted M6 (vertical to overhanging with difficult dry tooling) and with some pitches of A2 aid climbing. This difficult climb would be repeated in winter in 1976 by Pierre Béghin and Xavier Fargeas. In 1977 Pierre Béghin would solo the route in winter.

In 1980 Bonatti met the former actress Rossana Podestà in Rome and they soon relocated to Dubino, a small town in the Alps.

Bonatti, aged 81, died alone at a private clinic where the hospital management would not allow his partner of more than 30 years spend the last minutes of his life together because the two were not married. His funeral took place in Lecco on 18 September 2011, where he was cremated and the ashes interred in the cemetery of Porto Venere.

the hospital management would not allow his partner of more than 30 years spend the last minutes of his life together because the two were not married

In February 1965, Bonatti tried with two companions to climb a new, direct route on Matterhorn Nordwand (north face)[13] but the team was turned around by storm. Back in the valley his two friends had to leave. He considered his options then set off on 18 February 1965 for a second attempt alone. Five days later he emerged on the summit, having completed a demanding climb of 1.200 metres rated ED+.

Shortly after the climb, Walter Bonatti announced his retirement from professional climbing at the age of 35 and after only 17 years of climbing activity.

This climb has been since rarely repeated solo and in winter, the two most notable repetitions being perhaps:
 February 1994: Catherine Destivelle in four days;
 March 2006: Ueli Steck in 25 hours.
 27. September 2011: Patrik Aufdenblatten and Michi Lerjen-Demjen in 7 hours and 14 minutes.

Many years after the K2 incident, Bonatti would write:

Until the conquest of K2 I had always felt a great affinity for and trust of other man, but after what happened in 1954 I came to mistrust people. I tended to rely only on myself. This was limiting me and I knew it, but at least served to protect me from further disappointment.

In the August 1955, after two attempts frustrated by the weather, he managed to solo climb a new route on the south-west pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in the Mont Blanc Group. The climb, rated ED+ with difficulties up to UIAA VIII-, required six days (and five hanging bivouacs) and still today is considered a masterpiece of climbing.

After five days of climbing on a vertical rock offering very limited protection, Bonatti found himself stalled and faced with an impassable overhanging section. On the left and on the right the rock was absolutely smooth. Bonatti put together all the slings and small sections of ropes he had on him, attached one end of the rope in a crack and swinging on the other end managed to negotiate the difficulty. This route, known afterwards as the Bonatti Pillar, is considered still today as one of the greatest achievements in alpinism. In order to overcome long vertical sections and several overhangs, Bonatti had to adapt the techniques of aid climbing to the granitic rock formations of the Dru.