The Second World War, like the first, supposed a forced parenthesis in the exploration and conquest of the highest peaks of the Earth. After the devastation that left a trail of tens of millions of people dead, many countries completely razed, million displaced and the world divided in two, little by little normality would return to the cities, the fields and the mountains. Some of the most important mountaineers set out to make up for lost time. But the changes were immediately noticed.
Until the outbreak of the second world war, expeditions to the highest peaks of the Himalayas had been directed by the Tibet since the kingdom of Nepal, that hosts eight of the fourteen peaks of more than eight thousand meters, had remained closed to foreign influence. But now the expeditions had to start exploring the southern slopes of these mountains.. The geopolitical situation had transformed the conditions of access to the highest mountain range on Earth. To the north Tibet, after the Chinese military occupation, it was forbidden to foreigners, while to the south Nepal it was opened as a virgin territory to be explored by the new generation of mountaineers. The history of the conquest of the great mountains of the world would suffer a dramatic turnaround. Today we are able to say that those years involved a golden age in the conquest of the highest mountains on Earth.
The history of the conquest of the great mountains of the world would suffer a dramatic turnaround
Since the restart of expeditionary activity in the Himalayas, from 1950, in just fourteen years the fourteen peaks would be defeated. And if the Chinese had not closed Tibet it is certain that the Shisha Pangma would have been scaled much earlier too. Course, the technological advances derived from the great contest will be very important in these achievements, thanks to the contribution of alloys and new fibers, pen equipment, best boots (with the famous Vibram soles, invented by the Italian mountaineer Vitale Bramani in 1939), more technical ice axes and carabiners, light and resistant, less heavy and more efficient tents and sleeping bags and oxygen equipment. But the courage, the decision and the psychological change of the mountaineers was decisive.
After the devastation caused by the war, the great nations needed symbols necessary to undertake the enormous task of reconstruction that lay ahead.. There was an unspoken cast, that in general was respected, and in this way the Everest it was for the british, the K2 for Italians and North Americans, the Nanga for Germans and Austrians, the Kangchenjunga for Germans and English, etc.. And in the same way that it happened in the Matterhorn from 1865, suddenly the doors of that exclusive abode of the gods were broken, that seemed insurmountable, climbers and interned, if only for a moment, in the exclusive realm of altitude.
After the devastation caused by the war the great nations needed symbols necessary to undertake the enormous task of reconstruction
Then some of the most beautiful mountaineering pages were written, heroic, strenuous, and solidarity. Although personal ambitions also arose that clouded the understanding capacity of some. In general it can be said that they were exceptional years. In a short time, the giants of the Earth were conquered by a great generation of mountaineers framed in expeditions turned into national symbols.
It would be impossible to summarize all of them here. But I think that even in a brief glance I should not omit some like the French expedition to Annapurna in 1950, in which it was possible to reach the top of an eight thousand for the first time. Composed of great mountaineers of the best French generation, as Terray, Couzy, Schatz, Lachenal, Rebuffat and the expedition leader, Maurice Herzog, that would play a determining role in reaching the top, becoming a hero upon arrival in France, with twenty fingers amputated.
Then some of the most beautiful mountaineering pages were written, heroic, strenuous, and solidarity
Nor can we forget the British expedition of 1953, at the command of the competent John Hunt, what would i get, finally and in complete safety, the top of Everest. Although probably the best alpine feats of those years were the solo ascent, in its last stretch, of Nanga Parbat in charge of the Austrian Hermann Buhl, and the climb of the K2 in 1954 by a powerful Italian team (in which a young man already appears Walter Bonatti, who played a prominent role in raising the oxygen cylinders - along with a Hunzaki porter- to the last field so that his teammates could reach the top the next day), that signed the Italian obsession, from 1909, through the most beautiful and difficult mountain of the giants on the planet. A year before, Charles Houston, commanding a North American team, He had his chance but a sudden change in the weather denied him the summit he most wanted and that, probably, the Americans had also deserved for their perseverance.
Herzog would play a determining role in the achievement of the first eight thousand, becoming a hero upon arrival in France, with twenty fingers amputated
Then, one by one, the rest of the highest mountains were inexorably falling, until, in 1964, with an expedition of 200 People, the Chinese were able to climb the Shisha Pangma, the last of the eight thousand to be climbed. Of this magnificent time, a host of great mountaineers such as Tichy, Pasang Dawa, Hillary, Tenzing, Buhl, Diemberger, Bonatti, Terray, Band, Brown, Couzy, and great expedition leaders, as Herrligkoffer, Desio o Hunt, whose influence would be notable in the organization of the expeditions of the following years.
And of course an endless list of great anonymous mountaineers and explorers who would write some of the most heroic pages of modern mountaineering.. The impact of many of these expeditions was remarkable. Movies were made, books were written, lectures were given and an unstoppable process would begin that would change the face of mountaineering, of the expeditions and the economy of some of these Himalayan countries.
