Ardito Desio

Count Ardito Desio (1897 to 2001) was an Italian geologist, explorer, mountain climber and cartographer, born in Palmanova in Friuli, who lived to the age of 104. A professor of geology at the University of Milan for decades, he led geological and geographical expeditions in Libya, Ethiopia, Iran, the Karakoram, Afghanistan and Tibet. In 1933 his expedition to Iran climbed several of the highest peaks of the Zagros Range and opened a new route on Mount Damavand, the country's highest summit. From 1952 to 1955 he led three expeditions to the Karakoram and Hindu Kush, the second of them the main expedition for the first ascent of K2, the world's second highest peak. In 1989 he planned the Pyramid, a permanent high-altitude laboratory at 5,050 metres at the base of Mount Everest.