PADUA – Silvia Loreggian, 33 year old mountain guide of Padua, is preparing to leave for the first half-Italian and half-Pakistani mountaineering expedition, but composed of women only none other than on legendary K2 (8,611 meters). This is the “K2-70” project wanted by CAI to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the 1954 expedition, led by Ardito Desio, who was the first in the world to set foot on the top of the impervious Himalayan peak.
The Italian expedition will leave next Sunday, May 16, for Pakistan where it will reunite with four natives and will move to reach the base camp at 5 thousand meters above sea level towards the end of the month. He will coordinate the team Agostino Da Polenzamountaineer and president of EvK2Cnr and then after the necessary physical adaptation, the group will leave for the climb: the arrival at the top is scheduled for the end of July.
An all-women expedition, what does it mean?
«It’s nice that we are all women and it’s a message to the mountain world, where now a small minority of practitioners are female, and only 2% of mountain guides. The fact that we are all women therefore has great significance, especially if you consider that there are four Pakistanis.”
Is that why he agreed to be part of the expedition?
«When they asked me to be part of the team, I took a few days to think about it. The first thought was not to put aside the more technical climbing, the actual rock climbing. But then I enthusiastically embraced this splendid project, a very important challenge, and the thing I feel most strongly is linked to the imposing natural environment and the sharing I will have in reaching the summit with the other companions.”
PASSION
Silvia was born in the city, yet she is a mountain guide. She herself tells how her passion for the mountains was born. «Since I was little my family took me to the Alps, because my father and mother were passionate; so I have frequented the mountains since birth, it is my natural environment, I have always hung out there. And as time went by I started to meet a lot of people who had the same passion, especially young people like me. I made many friends and therefore the mountains, mountaineering and rock became my life.”
And the studies?
«Naturally I continued them, I graduated in geography and tourism economics. To support myself I started working, at 24 I joined a travel agency, but I continued with my projects and I found Stefano Ragazzo, my boyfriend, who shared the same “illness” as me. We organized fun activities related to the mountains, the very standard work in the agency no longer satisfied me. So I resigned and shortly afterwards we both moved to Chamonix, France, where we took the course to become mountain guides.”
And this is his real work activity: he accompanies groups of climbers to the Alpine peaks. «In the winter we work in Chamonix, in the summer we are based in Val di Fassa and act as guides in the Dolomites. But all this is for living, then our projects range over many ideas.”
Two years ago Silvia and Stefano accomplished a sort of small feat in the Himalayas, climbing an unclimbed peak on Sato Peak, in the Kangchenjunga valley in Nepal; last month Stefano climbed El Capitain solo, in Yosemite park (USA), the first Italian to achieve the feat. A couple united by a great passion, but not bound to always do everything together. And in fact Silvia is now preparing for the feat on K2. «This challenge – he concludes – will make me understand better how my body behaves at high altitude, I will see how I will react to certain stimuli, but it will give me a lot in terms of personal growth, for the bonds that will be created between adventure companions and in relationships with these mountains.”
Her journey (and that of her companions) to the summit will be continuously monitored from the base camp and by Agostino Da Polenza. The progress of the expedition will be announced on the CAI Instagram profile.
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The Gazzettino
