Simone Moro

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Simone Moro (2011)

Simone Moro (born October 27, 1967 in Bergamo ) is an Italian extreme mountaineer and certified mountain guide . He lived for a long time in Ponteranica , a municipality in the Bergamo province. Since his marriage to Barbara Zwerger, he has been commuting between Bergamo and Bozen ( South Tyrol ). His goals are mainly to climb untouched mountains and 8000m without additional oxygen on difficult routes or their first winter ascents . Simone Moro climbed four eight-thousanders for the first time in winter with Shishapangma , Makalu , Gasherbrum II and Nanga Parbat . To ensure that it is a complete first ascent in winter, Moro started his expeditions after the start of winter on December 21st. He was therefore more successful with the first winter climbs than the Poles Jerzy Kukuczka and Krzysztof Wielicki , who each climbed three 8000ers for the first time during the coldest season. He's less interested in having successfully climbed all 14 eight-thousanders . Despite several attempts, Moro has not yet been able to reach the summit of Mount Everest without using additional artificial oxygen. Simone Moro works closely with the meteorologist Karl Gabl on his expeditions .

Alpinist curriculum vitae

Simone Moro grew up in a middle-class family in the municipality of Valtesse and was given intensive support in his passion for the mountains from his climbing and mountain bike-loving father. His first attempts at climbing were made on the Presanella and other mountains in the Bergamasque Alps when he was 13 years old. This was followed by instruction in rock climbing by Alberto Cosonni and Bruno Tassi in the Alps of Grigne and the Dolomites .

From 1985 to 1992 he was an athlete for the national team FASI and climbed in the difficulty range 8a and 8b +. He then became the coach of the Italian national sport climbing team. Climbing is still his basic training. In 2003 he completed his sport studies (dissertation on "Alpinism in extreme heights") with the highest number of points ( cum laude ) at the University of Bergamo .

In 2001 Simone Moro made the traverse between Mount Everest and Lhotse . There he met the British mountaineer Tom Moores, who had got into mountain difficulties while climbing the Lhotse. In order to save him, Moro decided against advancing. For this he received the “of the Fair Play Pierre de Cubertin” award from UNESCO , in 2002 the Gold Medal of Merit (Medaglia d'oro al valor civile) from Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and the Lombardy region , as well as the David Sowles Memorial Award from the American Alpine Club .

In 2009 Simone Moro was honored with the third award of the alpine prize “Marco e Sergio Dalla Longa” for the first ascent of the southern summit of the Beka Brakai Chhok , which he had undertaken together with Hervé Barmasse . An online vote led to the receipt of the " Eiger Award ". Together with Denis Urubko , he had previously made the first winter ascent of Makalu. He has a close friendship with Urubko.

In February 2012, the award of the “Golden Piton” alpine prize by the US magazine “Climbing” for the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum II, together with Denis Urubko and Cory Richards in 2011, was announced.

Aeronautics

In addition to mountaineering, Simone Moro also does skydiving , which he considers to be far less dangerous in comparison. He also does wingsuit jumps. In the spring and summer of 2009, Moro obtained the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) private and commercial helicopter pilot's license in California . The plan is to set up their own helicopter company in the Himalayas.

Moro passed a supplementary helicopter exam at the Nepalese Aviation Authority in 2010 and started working for the helicopter company Fish Tail Air . This offers sightseeing flights and transport in the Himalayas, but is also increasingly being used for rescue operations up to the service peak . Fish-Tail-Air works in a joint venture with the Swiss company Air Zermatt . New rescue systems are developed and tested and used with great difficulty. At “ IMS Brixen 2010”, Gerold Biner (Air Zermatt) reported on the experience in a lecture . A Eurocopter AS350 B3 plus acts as the helicopter type . In 2013 Simone Moro bought her own helicopter (Eurocopter AS 350 B3) and had it transported to Nepal in order to build up her own team with pilots and technicians. In the same year his helicopter crashed, completely destroying it, and as a result a person later died in hospital.

On November 12, 2015, Moro set a new world altitude record for two-seater helicopters up to 500 kg take-off weight with his Alpi SYTON AH 130 helicopter (marking I-7896). The turbine-powered two-seat small helicopter (category E1-a, <500 kg) has a service ceiling of 5,000 m (16,404 ft). Moro took off from Bolzano Airport and reached a maximum height of 6,705 m. The previous record was 4,879 m and was set in 1953 by Jean Dabos with a turbine-operated Sud-Ouest SO 1221 . For the test, the air space over Bolzano was blocked in a radius of 1,000 ft. And up to an altitude of 27,000 ft. After 27 minutes, Moro reached its record high with an outside temperature of −50 ° C. Moro used supplemental oxygen on this flight, also because he was aiming for an altitude of 8,000 m (26,247 ft.); the outgoing oxygen forced him to stop prematurely. In 2005 the Frenchman Olivier Gensse reached a maximum height of over 6,600 m with a piston engine-powered Guimbal Cabri G2 . Simone Moro's world altitude record relates to the helicopter type mentioned and does not represent a general world altitude record for helicopters. In 2005 , French pilot Didier Delsalle set the record for the highest landing by flying to the summit of Mount Everest (8848 m) with a Eurocopter AS 350 B3 on. Frédéric North holds the record for the highest height ever reached by helicopter at 12,954 m, reached with a Eurocopter AS 350 on March 25, 2002.

Expeditions

  • 1992 first Himalayan expedition, Mount Everest ( 8848  m ), reached an altitude of 7400 m;
  • 1993 summit at Cerro Mirador ( 6089  m ), South America, winter ascent over a new route in the north face; first winter ascent of Aconcagua ( 6961  m ), in only 13 hours, further attempts on the south face, but canceled due to avalanche danger at 6200  m ; Makalu ( 8463 m ), single-handedly  up to 8300  m via the Kukuczka route;
  • 1994 Shishapangma up to 7400  m ;
  • 1995 Kangchenjunga , despite bad weather up to an altitude of 7600  m ;
  • 1996 Fitz Roy ( 3341  m ) in Patagonia , west face (Super Canaletta) in alpine style , in 25 hours from base camp to the summit and back; Dhaulagiri ( 8167  m ), due to bad weather only up to 7200  m ; Shishapangma middle summit ( 8008  m ), in 27 hours, descent on skis from 7100  m altitude, in the base camp meeting with the Russian Anatoly Nikolajewitsch Bukrejew , joint projects such as the implementation of the Snow Leopard program in just one season or the Lhotse-Everest traverse was developed; Ice climbing in levels of difficulty up to M8;
  • 1997 summit of Lhotse , together with Anatoly Bukrejew, actually an attempt to combine Everest and Lhotse; Winter attempt on the south face of Annapurna , due to the danger of avalanches, it was considered to switch to the steeper and more impassable east face, with a subsequent ascent to Annapurna Fang ( 7900  m ) and Annapurna main summit, but since there were no avalanches for a month and a half, the original plan was resumed With the result that the first and only avalanche at 6300  m buried and kills Anatoly Bukreev and the cameraman Dmitri Sobolew, Moro was torn down only 800 meters;
  • 1998 Mount Everest over the north ridge up to 8200  m , bad weather prevents success;
  • 1999 attempt to climb all five seven-thousanders of the Snow Leopard program in one season, Moro reached Lenin Peak ( 7134  m ), Korschenewskaja Peak ( 7105  m ), Communism Peak ( 7495  m ) and Khan Tengri ( 7010  m ), four seven-thousanders in just one 33 days, Mario Curnis reached three peaks, Alexander Gubajew two peaks, but Denis Urubko and Andrei Molotow reached all five peaks, including Peak Pobeda ( 7,439  m ) in just 42 days and were awarded the Snow Leopard Order , only the second such Success in alpine history after 1991;
  • 2000 summit of Mount Everest with Urubko via the southern route with only two intermediate camps, five days without permanent additional oxygen at over 8000 m, but after four days on the southern saddle Moro briefly needed additional bottled oxygen, which Urubko begged on his knees from a "Sherpa", everyone other mountaineers would have descended immediately, but Moro was so fixated on the summit that after a quick recovery he successfully climbed to the summit without additional oxygen. Originally it was also planned to combine the ascent with the Lhotse;
  • 2001 Marble Wall ( 6400  m ), Tian-Schan Mountains ( Kazakhstan ), first winter ascent by a “western” alpinist in this mountain range, with Urubko in alpine style , in just 2 days without acclimatization; Attempt to cross Everest-Lhotse with Urubko, break off at Lhotse at an altitude of over 8000 m to successfully rescue the English mountaineer Tom Moore at night, Urubko reached the summit, but refrained from crossing it again because he wanted to try it again with Moro ;
  • 2002 further ascents with Urubko in Kazakhstan; Summit of Cho Oyu in just 10 hours and 30 minutes ascent; over the north flank for the second time summit Mount Everest , again with additional oxygen; Experiments on Broad Peak and K2 ; Trip to Yosemite Valley; Summit Mount Vinson ( 4897  m ), Antarctica ;
  • 2003 Kilimanjaro ( 5895  m ); Participation in the Kazakh Pakistani "three in one" expedition to Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak and K2, including Urubko, where Broad Peak ( 8047  m ) succeeds in 24 hours, a new route at Nanga Parbat ( 8125  m ) flows at an altitude of about 7000  m in the Kinshofer route, but given up at 7400  m , his rope companion on this route Jean-Christophe Lafaille nevertheless reached the highest point with Ed Viesturs , the K2 is no longer attempted; Elbrus ( 5642  m ) in 3 hours and 40 minutes;
  • 2003/04 Shishapangma , first winter ascent of the south face via the “Figueras” route, but broken off around 300 meters below the summit;
  • 2004 spectacular first ascent on the Baruntse ( 7220  m ) with Urubko and "Camos" alias Bruno Tassi with reaching the 7056  m high north summit ( Baruntse nord , also called Khali Himal ) over the north-west face, 2550 m climbing, the last 1350 m in alpine style , 3 intermediate camps, 4 bivouacs, M6 + and V + / VI with between 70 ° and 90 ° steep ice, route was christened "Ciao Patrick" and is therefore dedicated to the failed alpinist and mountain guide Patrick Berhault , this ascent won the "Russian Alpinism Championships" , so to speak the “Piolet d'Or” of the East; Attempts with Urubko on Annapurna , he reached the summit at 1:20 a.m., Simone Moro had to stop because of stomach problems;
  • 2004/05 first winter ascent of Shishapangma over the south face with Piotr Morawski ;
  • 2005 ascent of Batokshi Peak ;
  • 2006 attempt of a climbing project on Ama Dablam ( 6856  m ) with Karl Heinz Salzburger ; first south-north traverse of Mount Everest single-handedly, third personal ascent, from the summit to the base camp in 4 hours and 30 minutes, additional oxygen was partially used again, originally a third ascent of Lhotse was considered;
  • 2006/07 Broad Peak attempt in winter, 700 meters below the summit, canceled due to unbearable weather conditions; a winter trial at K2 was also planned;
  • 2007/08 renewed attempt on Broad Peak in winter, 7800  m are reached by 2 pm, too late for a winter ascent, turn around;
  • 2008 Beka Brakai Chhok south summit (approx. 6850  m ), Karakoram , first ascent in pure alpine style with Hervé Barmasse in just 43 hours;
  • 2008/09 Makalu , first winter ascent with Urubko;
  • 2009 "Trilogy-Expedition" to Cho Oyu was canceled due to the early closure of the border to Tibet, there would only have been 10 days for an ascent, a new route over the southwest face was planned together with Hervé Barmasse , the mountain runner Lizzy Hawker and the South Tyrolean Skialpinistin and hope for the future in high-altitude mountaineering Tamara Lunger wanted on the normal route to the summit, Emilio Previtali depart via the same route with a snowboard, all belong to " the North Face " -Europateam; Expedition to the Tianshan Mountains to Pik Pobeda ( 7439  m ), after 10 years Moro has climbed all five mythical "snow leopard" seven-thousanders ( Snow Leopard Project );
  • 2010 Mount Everest - Lhotse expedition with Urubko and two leading Italians. At the same time, Moro supported and advised a Russian expedition to Lhotse, to which Tamara Lunger also belonged. The plan was for Moro and his Italian customers to climb Mount Everest with additional oxygen and support from Urubko. Then Moro and Urubko wanted to try the ascent of Mount Everest in connection with the first ascent of the connecting ridge to Lhotse. A project that she and others have been trying for a long time. Moro previously announced his intention in the media, but this time not to use additional oxygen. But a lot turned out differently: One of his Italian customers had to leave the base camp after just a few days. Then Aldo Garioni, Alpine Club President from Bergamo , gave up at Camp 3 on the southern route due to illness and also started the journey home. Moro himself was struggling with a cold and began to coordinate a corpse recovery with helicopters and Sherpas from the base camp. Two climbers who had had an accident in previous years were to be rescued, including Uwe Gianni Goltz , who died of exhaustion in 2008 during the " Kari Kobler & Partner Die Bergführer Mt. Everest Expedition 08" descent from the summit and was buried near the south saddle. In addition, he supported the Lunger, which rose to the Lhotse with an oxygen mask and great difficulties. During this time, Urubko went alone from the south saddle via a new route through an intersection parallel below the ridge to the Lhotsegipfel. His descent took him back to base camp via the normal route, where trekking friends were waiting for him. Moro only had to try to climb Everest on his own. He reached the summit, but again only with the help of liquid oxygen. His fourth successful ascent of Mount Everest! In Italy, however, the type of ascent sparked a lot of polemics, on the one hand because Moro initially kept quiet about the use of oxygen and finally claimed that he would not let others dictate the type of ascent. He wanted "to experience the great emotions and impressions again in one of the most beautiful places on earth". The oxygen bottles were [Note: from three porters; Pempa Sherpa, Dawa Sherpa and Tensing] deposited at an altitude of 8,300 meters for his customers, which is why he shouldn't have used them. His fingers were already blue, his toes ached, he argued. His attitude disappointed in mountaineering circles, recognition prizes for his Makalu first winter ascent are also missing this year;
  • 2011 (February 2) Gasherbrum II , first winter ascent of an eight-thousander in the Karakoram , together with Urubko and Cory Richards , arrival to the base camp by helicopter and initial support from the Pakistani military with a special plastic prefabricated igloo and marker flags, lowest temperature −48 ° C, the only successful winter ascent of an 8000er this year, during the descent they were partially buried by an avalanche;
  • 2012 attempt of the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat with Denis Urubko over an unknown new route, as the Kinshofer “normal route” seemed too dangerous due to the ice conditions. Beginning of December 26th, 2011, reaching the base camp at 4200 meters altitude on January 3rd, 2012, construction of three camps up to an altitude of 6600 meters, from January 27th due to persistent snowfall only in the base camp, on February 15th due to consistently less favorable conditions Weather forecast Decision to break off the expedition, lowest measured temperature −41 ° C at camp 3, in base camp −26 ° C. Indirectly, the simultaneous death of Mario Merelli in the Bergamasque Alps and a little later of Vitaly Gorelik at K2, both mountaineers who were good friends with the expedition participants, influenced the conviction and motivation necessary for a successful ascent. The hoped-for summit victory should originally be dedicated to Merelli.
  • In 2013 Simone Moro wanted to climb Mount Everest as part of the NO2 expedition with the Swiss high-altitude mountaineer Ueli Steck and the British photographer Jonathan Griffith. It was planned to exceed it. But during the preparations the three climbers on the Lhotse flank came into conflict with the local Sherpas. A tangible argument followed, in which Moro, Steck and Griffith feared for their lives. Before they had dared to attempt their first summit, Steck and Griffith left. Moro stayed in the Solo Khumbu and used his helicopter to pick up mountaineers in distress from the flanks of Mount Everest .
  • In 2014 another attempt at the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat with David Göttler from the Rupal side via the Schell route. Moro made three summit attempts but was unsuccessful. He had to cancel his third attempt at the summit on February 28th due to stomach problems. David Göttler rose further with Tomek Mackiewicz from Poland. Due to difficult conditions, the two also retreated one day after Moro.
  • 2015 Attempt of the first complete winter ascent of Manaslu and crossing to the east summit together with Tamara Lunger . Ascent only up to about 5900 meters. Due to persistent heavy snowfall, the climbers had to leave the base camp by helicopter at the beginning of March.
  • 2016 (February 26th) Nanga Parbat , first complete winter ascent together with the Basque Alex Txikon and the Pakistani Ali Sadpara . The South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger had to turn back shortly before the summit. During this expedition, Moro had again obtained weather forecasts from the Innsbruck meteorologist Karl Gabl .
  • In 2019, another attempt at the first complete winter ascent of Manaslu was canceled in six days due to excessive avalanche danger due to six meters of fresh snow.
  • 2020 Attempt to exceed Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II in winter together with Tamara Lunger . The avalanche danger was considerable. The climbers struggled to find their way through the jagged Gasherbrum Glacier. The expedition ended on January 18, 2020 with a crevasse fall from Moro. Then Moro and Lunger left base camp in a helicopter.

bibliography

  • Simone Moro: Cometa sull'Annapurna. Publisher Corbaccio Editore
  • Simone Moro: In freezing cold: The eight-thousanders in winter . Malik, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-89029-436-0
  • Simone Moro: Nanga in winter. A story of awe, patience, and willpower. Tyrolia, Innsbruck 2017, ISBN 978-3-7022-3623-6

credentials

  1. Stephanie Geiger: Snow leopard in steep terrain , in: DAV Panorama, 5/2013, last accessed on April 30, 2014

Web links

Commons : Simone Moro  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stephanie Geiger: Extreme mountaineer pairs. Adventure without applause , in: Panorama 6/2015
  2. Stephanie Geiger: First winter ascent of Nanga Parbat. “Everything was just right” , in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from March 4, 2016; Retrieved March 5, 2016
  3. ^ Krzysztof Wielicki: La corona dell'Himalaya: 14x8000 . Wydawnictwo, 1997, ISBN 978-83-8621939-1 ( com.br [accessed March 14, 2016]).
  4. Interview, L'Eco di Bergamo, January 23, 2003
  5. Interview, Simone Moro dalle falesie agli 8000, PlanetMountain
  6. Huw Lewis-Jones: Adventurer of the Mountains - 100 Portraits . 1st edition. Frederking & Thaler, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-89405-926-2 , pp. 189 (English: Face to Face: Mountain Portraits . Translated by Heinz Tophinke).
  7. Everest K2 News ExplorersWeb - Part-2: Exweb Interview with Simone Moro, “My wife said, please don't go to K2”. In: www.explorersweb.com. Retrieved August 30, 2016 .
  8. ^ Simone Moro ha battuto il record del mondo di altitudine in elicottero. In: www.helipress.it. Retrieved October 3, 2016 .
  9. Helicopter height record “Will there soon be a lift to Everest?” In: www.spiegel.de. Retrieved November 2, 2016 .
  10. Machine park - technical data - Lama SA 315 B. In: www.air-zermatt.ch. Retrieved November 6, 2016 .
  11. Eberhard Jurgalski : Contribution to the heights of the Beka Brakai Chhok peaks on 8000ers.com
  12. ↑ Extreme climbers make their first winter ascent in the Karakoram. In: Spiegel Online . February 3, 2011, accessed February 4, 2011 .
  13. Stephanie Geiger: Unter der Avalanche am Gasherbrum II , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 2, 2011, accessed on February 22, 2014.
  14. ^ Stephanie Geiger: Hatred on the mountain. The quarrel between Sherpas and mountaineers escalates on Mount Everest. The business with the mountain divided , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of May 2, 2013
  15. Stephanie Geiger: The Nanga Parbat remains unclimbed in winter . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . March 3, 2014, accessed March 6, 2014 .
  16. Stephanie Geiger: End of the winter season , Neue Zürcher Zeitung, March 20, 2015
  17. Stephanie Geiger: Alpinists for the first time in winter on the Nanga Parbat , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 26, 2016
  18. Stephanie Geiger: "The greatest danger was snowfall" , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 19, 2019
  19. Stephanie Geiger: Simone Moro falls into a crevasse, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of February 21, 2020