Alessandro Gogna

Alessandro Gogna, born on 29 July 1946 in Genoa, is an Italian mountaineer, adventurer and mountain guide who became one of the central figures of Italian climbing in the second half of the twentieth century. He began on the mountains of his native Liguria, then moved to the Dolomites and eventually climbed in settings ranging from sea level to the high camps of K2. Wikipedia credits him with more than 500 new climbs in Italy, among them first winter ascents on Pizzo Badile and the Grand Capucin, and a first solo ascent of the north wall of the Grandes Jorasses by the Cassin route. He took part in expeditions to Annapurna, Lhotse, El Capitan and K2, spoke publicly about climbing from 1968 onward, and has written over forty books on the mountain world. He is also counted among the founders of Mountain Wilderness.