The long life of partisan who was fascinated by Lecco's mountains
Climber and war hero Riccardo Cassin, who lived for most of his life
in Lecco, was born on this day in 1909.
Despite his daring mountain ascents and his brave conduct against the
Germans during World War II, he was to live past the age of 100.
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| Riccardo Cassin |
By the age of four, Cassin had lost his father, who was killed in a
mining accident in Canada. He left school when he was 12 to work for a
blacksmith, but moved to Lecco when he was 17 to work at a steel plant.
Cassin was to become fascinated by the mountains that tower over Lago di
Lecco and Lago di Como and started climbing with a group known as the Spiders
of Lecco, Ragni di Lecco.
Lago di Lecco is the south eastern branch of Lago di Como. The Bergamo
Alps rise to the north and east of the lake.
In 1934 he made his first ascent of the smallest of the Tre Cime di
Lavaredo. The following year, after repeating another climber’s route on the
north west face of the Civetta, he climbed the south eastern ridge of the
Trieste Tower and established a new route on the north face of Cima Ovest di
Lavaredo.
In 1937 Cassin made his first climb on the granite of the Western Alps .
Over the course of three days he made the first ascent of the north east face
of Piz Badile in the Val Bregaglia in Switzerland. Two of the climbers
accompanying him died of exhaustion and exposure on the descent.
This is known today as the Cassin Route, or Via Cassin, and he confirmed
his mountaineering prowess by climbing the route again at the age of 78.
His most celebrated first ascent was the Walker Spur on the north face
of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif in 1938, which was universally
acknowledged as the toughest Alpine challenge. Even though Cassin knew little
about the area before going there he reached the summit and made a successful
descent during a violent storm.
Cassin made a total of 2,500 ascents, of which more than 100 were first
ascents.
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| Mountains tower over Lago di Lecco |
During World War II, Cassin fought on the side of the Italian partisans
against the Germans. In 1945, along with another partisan, he attempted to stop a
group of Germans escaping along an alpine pass into Germany. His comrade was
shot dead by them but Cassin survived and was later decorated for his heroic
actions.
Cassin was supposed to have been part of the Italian expedition that
made the first ascent of K2 in the Karakoram, having sketched the route and
done all the organisation. But the expedition leader left him out after
sending Cassin for a medical examination in Rome, where he was told he had
cardiac problems.
Cassin believed the expedition leader had felt threatened by his
experience and from then on he organised and led expeditions himself,
such as the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in the Karakorum range and an ascent
of Jirishanca in the Andes.
In 1961 he led a successful ascent of Mount McKinley in Alaska. The
ridge was later named Cassin Ridge in his honour and he received a telegram of
congratulations from President Kennedy.
Cassin began designing and producing mountaineering equipment in the
1940s and formed a limited company in 1967. In 1997 the CAMP company bought the
Cassin trademark from him.
Cassin wrote two books about climbing and received two honours from the
Italian Republic. He became Grand’Ufficiale dell Ordine al merito in 1980 and
Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al merito in 1999.
The book, Riccardo Cassin: Cento volti di un grande alpinista, was
produced for his 100th birthday, containing 100 testimonials from people who
had been associated with him, including President Kennedy.
Cassin died in August 2009, more than seven months after celebrating his 100th
birthday, at his home in Piano dei Resinelli, Lecco.
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