Walter Bonatti

Walter Bonatti (1930 to 2011) was an Italian mountaineer, alpinist, explorer and journalist, noted for a solo climb of a new route on the south-west pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in August 1955, the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958 and, in 1965, the first solo winter climb of the north face of the Matterhorn, made in the centenary year of its first ascent. Immediately after the Matterhorn climb he announced his retirement from professional climbing at the age of 35, after 17 years of climbing. He wrote many mountaineering books and spent the rest of his career travelling as a reporter for the Italian magazine Epoca. Famed for his climbing panache, he attempted and succeeded in barely known and technically difficult climbs in the Alps, the Himalayas and Patagonia. He died in Rome in 2011, aged 81, survived by his partner, the actress Rossana Podestà.