Romano Benet

Romano Benet (born April 20, 1962 in Tarvisio , Province of Udine ) is an Italian mountain guide, adventurer and forester. He is one of the most successful Italian high-altitude mountaineers. He has been married to his regular rope partner Nives Meroi since 1989 . After numerous first ascents in the Julian Alps , they gradually developed into extreme mountaineers as a team . Without exception, they are also traveling together on the eight-thousanders of the Himalayas . In doing so, they do not use bottled oxygen. Romano Benet and Nives Meroi climbed all 14 eight-thousanders together. You are the first couple to have succeeded.

Romano Benet lives with Neves Meroi in Fusine Laghi, a small village in the Fusine fraction, municipality of Tarvisio , province of Udine , region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia .

Style and nature of the expeditions

All activities to the mountains in the Himalayas are small expeditions. Benet and Meroi limit themselves to minimal equipment and a close circle of friends, which mostly included Luca Vuerich († 2010). This concept enables a flexible organization of the company, in addition, extensive support from a sponsor can be dispensed with. All eight-thousanders climbed by Romano Benet were reached without additional oxygen or outside assistance.

timeline

After the ascent of Kangchenjunga was abandoned in 2009 due to acute exhaustion at an altitude of around 7500 meters, Romano Benet returned to Italy for medical treatment. A cerebral haemorrhage could already be ruled out on site, but everything still indicated a serious illness. It was only in mid-August 2011 that Nives Meroi announced that her husband had been diagnosed with severe bone marrow aplasia two years earlier . Among other things, two bone marrow transplants and a long period of isolation were necessary for his recovery . Romano Benet saw in coping with his illness together "the ascent of the fifteenth eight-thousander, the most important". He also stated: "You counter illness like a mountain: one step at a time, with humility and without ever losing heart." After a new beginning in summer 2011 with easier ascents in the Alps, a trekking in the Himalayas is planned for autumn of the same year . That is where it will be decided whether Romano Benet can even set off to great heights again.

Chronology of expeditions and successes

• 1994 Attempt to climb K2 over the NW wall on a partly new route with Nives Meroi and Filippo Sala, 8450 m are reached.
• 1995 Bhagirathi II ( 6450  m ) in the Garhwal Himalayas , new route on the north face, new route in the descent over the south face, subsequent ascent over the normal route.
• 1996 Mount Everest , failed at 8000 m due to bad weather conditions on the north ridge.
• 1998 Nanga Parbat , first eight-thousander summit, from the last camp on the Kingshofer route to the summit in just nine hours.
• 1999 summit of Shisha Pangma , only 10 days later summit of Cho Oyu , attempt on Mount Everest .
• 2000 attempts to climb the previously unclimbed north side of Gasherbrum II , one of the last "problems" of the Himalayas. Bad weather prevents success, but five more difficult six-thousanders can still be climbed for the first time.
• 2001 Mazeno Peak ( 7120  m ), the political situation after the events of September 11th led to the early termination of the "three-man" expedition (Benet-Meroi-Vuerich) and thus prevented a successful first ascent of the difficult combined 3000 meter high north face in alpine style .
• In 2003 only the second rope team in total and Nives Meroi as the first woman ever to climb the three 8000ers of the Gasherbrum group ( Gasherbrum I , Gasherbrum II and Broad Peak ) in a row. Romano Benet, Nives Meroi and Luca Vuerich needed 20 days for this, in 1983 it took Erhard Loretan , Marcel Ruedi and Jean-Claude Sonnenwyl 15 and the latter 17 days. Attempt of the K2 from the north.
• 2004 Lhotse summit with his wife and Luca Vuerich . An attempt to climb K2 via the north side to mark the 50th anniversary of its first ascent had to be canceled due to poor weather conditions.
• In 2005 the ascent of Dhaulagiri failed at the 8157  m high pre-summit due to poor conditions and lack of a rope. An attempt at Annapurna is canceled due to bad weather.
• 2006 summit of Dhaulagiri . An attempt on the Annapurna is canceled because of constant ice avalanches at 6600 meters. Summit of the K2, first Italian, up to then only the seventh woman in the world, besides the Italian couple, only two other Japanese mountaineers (but with additional oxygen) will reach the summit this year.
• 2007 Summit of Mount Everest, first summit success of an Italian woman without bottled oxygen by his wife Nives Meroi . An attempt to climb Makalu in the post-monsoon period fails above Makalu La ( 7400  m ) due to excessive amounts of snow that could not be crossed to the summit in pairs, no other expedition was on the mountain.
• 2007/2008 Attempt to climb Makalu for the first time in winter , stormy winds destroy the camps that have been set up , resulting in loss of all equipment, food supplies and communication devices . Nives Meroi breaks his fibula on the escape to Hillary Basecamp.
• 2008 Manaslu together with the meanwhile recovered wife and Luca Vuerich , the main summit was reached already 13 days after arrival in the base camp, the descent from the summit to the base camp with dismantling of all intermediate camps took place in 10.5 hours. At 6,900 meters, Leila Meroi, the sister of Nives Meroi and fiancée of Luca Vuerich, carried out altitude medical examinations.
• In 2009, an attempt with his wife Nives Meroi on the Annapurna south face was stopped due to poor glacier and snow conditions. After the journey to the Kangchenjunga had to be canceled before the Annapurna attempt due to political unrest, the return to the Kangchenjunga, however, had to be ended after camp 3 at approx. 7,500 meters due to Romano Benets' acute state of exhaustion; , Nives Meroi, contrary to her husband's assurances, renounced another ascent and brought her husband back to base camp alone with great difficulty.
• 2011 after a long break due to illness ascent of Gran Paradiso ( 4061  m ), in the fall is Himalaya - Trekking with friends to Mera Peak ( 6476  m in) Khumbu planned -Tal. The expedition went without a hitch and both reached the summit.
• 2012 At the beginning of April departure for the Himalayas, where the ascent of the Kangchenjunga is planned.
• 2014 Romano Benet and Nives Meroi reach the summit of Kangchenjunga on May 19th.
• 2016: On May 12th, Nives Meroi and Romano Benet reach the summit of their 13th eight-thousander: the Makalu.
• 2017 Romano Benet and Nives Meroi stand on the summit of Annapurna on May 11th .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stephanie Geiger: Ewige Hochzeit , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , accessed on May 11, 2017.
2. ↑ Personal homepage of Nives Meroi (Italian)
3. ↑ ^{a b} Sara Sottocornola: Nives Meroi e Romano Benet tornano in the Himalaya: dopo la malattia, il Mera Peak ( memento of the original from August 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: montagna.tv, accessed August 14, 2011 (Italian) 
4. ↑ report on orf.at
5. ↑ Nives and Romano: Only in doubles. (No longer available online.) May 20, 2014, archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; Retrieved July 11, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Nives and Romano climb Makalu. May 13, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Stephanie Geiger: Ewige Hochzeit , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , accessed on May 11, 2017.