Interview to Michele Colturi, mountain guide
A few months ago we were contacted by Michele Colturi, a mountain guide, who would soon leave for Patagonia. On that occasion we had no way to send him Bivo in time for his departure. We made up for it on this occasion, a few days before he left for Alaska.
Q: We would first like to know what you do when you are not engaged in trekking and your businesses around the world.
Michele: My story is a bit peculiar. After having worked for 15 years at a bank, I decided to change my life and I turned all my energies towards what I loved most, living nature and the mountains in particular. For this reason, about four years ago, I started the training course to become an aspiring Alpine Guide. A fantastic journey that I finished last year. Since then I have been working this full-time profession, alternating freeriding, ski mountaineering and ice-climbing in winter, with climbing and walking in the high mountains in summer.
Q: When was your passion for the mountain born? How long have you been a mountain guide?
Michele: I certainly owe my father his passion for the mountains. He who has always been a sports fan introduced me first to skiing and then unintentionally to climbing and mountaineering. I say unintentionally because when I started my mountaineering activity around the age of 15 he had already stopped, but his stories and the photographs he showed me from time to time, as well as finding abandoned equipment in the cellar were too tempting . The first few years I discovered this world with my brother and a small group of friends, but then slowly the valleys around the house were no longer enough for me and I began to wander around the Alps, fantasizing about the epic ascensions of Messner, Bonington, Cassin, Casarotto and then the extra-European mountaineering of the very strong English climbers of the 70s and 80s as well as Poland and the mountaineers of the former Yugoslavia. Perhaps the mountaineers of Eastern Europe have made me understand how the determination to achieve their dreams is worth much more than any difficulty.
Q: We know that you have just been to Patagonia, would you like to tell us a little about your latest venture?
Michele: I have been to Patagonia for the first time this year with two of my friends and companions in the Guide course. It was a long time since I had dreamed of seeing those magnificent places I had read so much about and in the end the occasion arrived, and what a chance! I would say that as a first experience it could not have gone better. We organized the departure in just one month and this meant that we all traveled three different flights. While I was waiting for my connection from Sao Paulo to Brazil with El Calafate in Argentina I received a text message from my friends who had already arrived in El Chalten “boy, we have a window of good weather, as soon as we arrive we leave for Fitz Roy!”. Having said that, arriving in the evening in El Chalten after 3 days of travel and in the morning we are already marching towards the wall. We were a little scared to aim at a great goal right away but the weather seemed really nice and after a few minutes of hesitation we aimed rights to the Supercanaleta’s attack. During the approach I was immediately captivated by the wild environment and by the immensity of the place, just what I expected! We left at 2 am from our tent on the glacier and immediately realized that the route was not in great condition, very little snow and ice throughout the first part, usually quite easy, immediately put us to the test and after a very long day on the sides of this incredible giant to 21 we reach a small place from bivouac that gives us in compensation a resounding sunset on the Cerro Torre. Tired but happy the next day we start again at the first light towards the summit and at 13 we are on top of Fitz Roy with a wonderful time! I think it was the first time we were moved to the top of a mountain. But the real challenge for the nerves began here. After a few usual photos, we immediately set off with abseiling to return to our tent. The mild temperatures of the afternoon have meant that the line of descent had become a gutter of water and the thin ice that had allowed us to ascend the previous day was literally shattered under our feet. Arriving soaked but happy to the tent around 10pm, we decide to continue and immediately exit the glacier with the headlamps walking with the last energy until 3am, where we enjoy a well-deserved rest in a clearing in the middle of the trees. This was undoubtedly the most exciting climb of my trip. In the following days we also managed to climb Aguja Guilliamet by the Bonington route. Another incredible ascent made in 30 hours with no-stop climbing and walking. Finally we also experienced the famous Patagonian wind (I assure you that it is not a legend !!). With a window of good weather of only a day and a half we try to take us to the base of the Cerro Torre to take advantage of our last days in Argentina. After a first day of discrete time we fight for almost ten hours against a deadly wind that forces us to desist well before arriving at the base of the Via dei Ragni di Lecco on the Patagonian Hielo sur. Well one more reason to think about returning to this fantastic land.
Q: Was the mission you just completed the most important of your career or did you collect other memorable companies?
Michele: I would say that without a shadow of a doubt it was the most important mountaineering adventure I’ve ever done, an unexpected gift that repaid me for so many efforts and efforts.
Q: Of the various excursions you have done in your life, I imagine it is difficult to choose one, but, striving, can you tell us what the most excites you to remember? Can you tell us about it?
Michele: Well it is really difficult to choose a single memory. I have beautiful anecdotes related to my vertical passion. Perhaps one of the most intense was an unexpected bivouac on the northwest wall of the Civetta. What a wall guys! A few days before we had climbed the Sugarloaf for via Tissi. There were four of us and we managed to get on the road fairly quickly. We felt in great shape and decided to return to climb a little more in the center of the great wall for a historic route. The choice falls on Andrich / Faè, a classicona of about 1000 meters of development opened by a nineteen-year-old boy in 1934. We were told that the exit channels were probably still wet from winter but the desire to climb had been stronger . Having left early we reach the base and go up untied the first part of the plinth. We are three, Marco and Marcello. After 4-5 shots we begin to understand that something is wrong. The way is too difficult compared to the relationship and we are getting so damn slow. Fortunately, the phone picks up, we send a message to a friend of ours and we send in reports from the neighboring streets. We understand immediately that we are on a much tougher variant. We lowered ourselves for a couple of shots and started again on the correct line but by now we had lost 2-3 hours. Although we proceed, we will be sent to the dark at the beginning of the exit channels. We decide to continue with the front lights also because we have nothing at all to bivouac. I move on and find myself soon climbing a very wet wall. We know that there is little left to exit so I force myself to continue even if you see practically nothing. After a couple of shots I start from a sloping ledge with still a lot of snow on the bottom looking for a passage I can’t find, after a couple of hours of battle I’m exhausted. My companions no longer speak and are frozen means because at the stopping point water continues to run. Returning to the last protection, an hourglass the size of a finger, I lay down with a tape and decide that I will wait for the dawn there. I don’t want to go back down and it’s impossible to continue without light. I spend the night sitting on a shelf the size of a book’s back. Despite the fatigue, I can’t help remembering the stupendous view enjoyed from up there! Alleghe lit up and the whole valley wrapped in the black of the night, no noise and the feeling of being at the end of the great privileged ones to spend the night there. The next day I let myself drop to the stop because the position of the night put my legs to sleep and Marco goes on to lead. After 2 more shots and 2 hours of combat we reach the exit at 7 am. It was a very strong emotion to reach the summit early in the morning after a night on the wall.
Q: The next question can only be about your next shipment. We know you’re going to Alaska … Would you like to tell us a few more details?
Michele: On May 14th I will leave for Alaska. I will reach a Chilean friend of mine who is already there and together we would like to climb the highest mountain in the North American continent with its 6,190 meters on the summit of Denali. It will be a challenging adventure for many reasons. Denali is also famous for being one of the coldest mountains in the world. Because of its location very close to the North Pole it is in fact exposed to the terrible arctic winds. In addition, the atmosphere layer is particularly low, so we will have oxygen that is usually at 7000 meters.
We’ve both never been to that altitude so we don’t know how our body will react. The approach to the base camp is far from easy. From Talkeetna you have to take a small plane that will deposit us on the glacier at about 2200 meters. From here it takes usually 5-6 days on skis to reach the 4300 meters of the base camp. Our project is to bring the skis with us to the summit to then descend one of the challenging couloirs on the west wall. It will be important to have stable snow conditions to deal with this difficult descent. We will use this ascent to acclimatize properly and then try to climb the very long and very elegant line drawn by Cassin and his group in 1961, a ridge of almost 3000 meters of development on the South wall. It will be a great challenge with ourselves in a super environment .
D: Alaska … and then? Do you already know where your passion for life will lead to adventure?
Michele: Well there are some things I would like to do before I get too old , some friends of mine will be leaving for an expedition in September in Pakistan to try an unbroken 7000-meter crest, a great project! Then I would like to visit my friend in Chile sooner or later where the opportunities are not lacking. But for now let’s focus on Alaska.
D: The last question can only be about Bivo … why did you choose Bivo as food for your outdoor excursions?
Michele: I met Bivo by accident, I was hiking with a friend in the Alps and he told me good things about this new product and he made me try it. I immediately liked it, both for its ease of use and for the energy it gives you during long walks without weighing you down. From there I immediately thought of its use in mountaineering as it combines lightness with the need to eat healthily. I will take Bivo with me in Alaska to test it even more in the most extreme environmental conditions, but I am sure that Made in Italy will not disappoint me.
And are you organizing a business? Or do you just want to tell us about your last excursion? Write to us at info@bivo.it and we will publish your story on the Bivo blog.
