Gino Soldà

Gino Soldà (born March 8, 1907 in Recoaro Terme ; † November 8, 1989 ibid) was an Italian mountaineer who made numerous first ascents, mainly in the Dolomites .

biography

After school he worked as a mountain guide and later as a beverage wholesaler in his birthplace. From 1923 on he completed numerous rock climbing trips in the Italian Dolomites. He achieved tours for the first time at the highest level of difficulty at the time (VI UIAA ), many of them in the Piccole Dolomiti (small Dolomites), a mountain range in the southeast of Trentino . Already in 1924 he had achieved the first winter ascent of the Baffelàn east face there on his own. Many more tours followed and a participation in cross-country skiing at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid , where he reached 26th place.

In 1934 he succeeded, among other things, the first ascent of the direct north face of the Zahnkofel (Dolomites) with Franco Bertoldi, as well as the first ascent of the north-west face of the Ortler (Eastern Alps) with Giuseppe Pirovano. 1936 followed with Umberto Conforta the internationally acclaimed first ascent of Marmolada -Südwestwand (Dolomites) and Franco Bertoldi the first ascent of the direct north wall of the Langkofel (Dolomites). He achieved two more important first ascents in 1947 with the southern intersection on Piz Ciavazes (Dolomites) with Guido Pagani and in 1953 with the north-west face of the Sass Pordoi (Dolomites) with Franco Falconi.

In 1954, due to his experience, his organizational talent and his knowledge of English, he was a participant in an Italian Karakoram expedition led by Ardito Desio , in which Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli managed the first ascent of K2 (8611 m). Soldà himself was the oldest member of the expedition to reach an altitude of about 7100 m.

Gaston Rébuffat and Hans Kraus were among his other rope partners . With Kraus, he opened the John F. Kennedy route at the Torre d'Émmele in the small Dolomites in 1963 . He undertook his last climbing tour in 1978 at the age of 71. Until his retirement in 1978 he was head of the Recoaro-Valdagno mountain rescue station.

swell

• Der Bergsteiger , September 1982, p. 57 u. 58
• Gino Soldà in the database of Olympedia.org (English)
• SummitPost