I was out in Italy just before Christmas, one of the great things about going for a couple of days is that there’s time to get to know people and get some climbing in as well as doing the lecturing.
This trip was to Bergamo, just a few miles down the road from Lecco, legendary home of the Lecco Spiders and Riccardo Cassin. Maurizio Panseri, Tito Arosio, Alberto, Andrea Gaddi, Marco Anghileri and Luca Calvi catered for my every need and Marco and Andrea joined me on a 350m climb ‘via Saronno 87’ on the Medale, a fine shield of limestone just a few minutes walk from the bustling streets of Lecco.
Having ably demonstrated that Himalayan climbing and sitting in a tax office are not commensurate with keeping the rock climbing standard high I was treated to cordon bleu cooking at the offices of the Bergamo section of the Italian Alpine Club before providing the evening’s entertainment.
Andrea’s publishing company has published my book On Thin Ice in Italy so, with Luca ably translating, we kicked off with a private presentation focused on the book and then moved onto a well attended public lecture based on the west face of Gojung in West Nepal that I climbed with Dave Turnbull in 2011.
All in all a great couple of days.
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