Dr Grappein', as he went down in history, was born in Cogne and, as was often the case at the time, especially in Valle d'Aosta, was directed towards ecclesiastical studies. In this case, however, non-vocation prevailed and he turned to the study of medicine, graduating on 21 May 1804. From then on, Dr Grappein practised the profession of doctor in Cogne until his death, often free of charge to help the poorer strata of the population.

In all probability, when Mr and Mrs Desio on 18 April 1897 chose to impose the name Ardito on their son, they did not imagine how correct and almost prophetic this choice would prove to be.

Hermann Buhl was born in Innsbruck onon 21 September 1924, the youngest of four brothers. At the age of 4 he lost his mother after a long illness and ended up in an orphanage. AtSix years old, he is taken in by the family of an aunt. In the 1930s, he...

A Verrezziese mountaineer, who in the course of his short human adventure was able to leave an indelible mark, not only thanks to the quantity of climbs he carried out, many on new routes and one an absolute first (today's punta Crétier), but also by virtue of the new philosophy with which he approached the mountains. Once the heroic era of the absolute firsts of the most famous peaks had ended; then the period of the firsts of the various faces of the same mountains had ended, the era of sports mountaineering had begun, of the 'solution to the problems' posed by rock faces: the study and realisation of a particular route, thus, out of passion, to measure oneself against nature, for sport at last.

To summarise Abbot Amé Gorret's life in just a few lines is absolutely impossible: there is a risk of privileging certain aspects while leaving out others that are no less significant. But since we must begin with one of them, I would like to emphasise first of all how he was one of the greatest exponents of the 19th century phenomenon, typically Valdostan, of the union between the clergy and mountaineering.

 Shepherd, hunter, farmer and craftsman, but above all great climber, the first Valle d'Aosta man whose summit conquering spirit became legendary. 

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Born in Valfurva on 26 September 1914, where he resided during his childhood years and his long period of military service where he excelled in Nordic skiing.

First ascents 11 August 1858 - First ascent of the Eiger (3970m)

The doyen of Valle d'Aosta mountain guides, Jules Bich, passed away in Breuil-Cervinia on 10 February 2003. He was 95 years old and the last member (in the mountaineering field) of a family, the Bich family, nicknamed the 'tailleurs', who had already known the...

Dougal burst onto the mountaineering scene in the late '1950s by climbing new routes in Scotland together with Robin Smith. He went on to make an initial English ascent of the Eigerwand, was a major force in the creation of the direct Eiger, took ...

A verrezziese mountaineer, who in the course of his short human adventure was able to leave an indelible mark, not only thanks to the number of climbs he made, many on new routes and one a first (today's Punta Crétier), but by virtue of the new philosophy with which he approached the mountains.  

Born in 1930, he was at the end of the 1950s and throughout the following decade one of the greatest exponents of world mountaineering, according to some observers inferior to only Walter Bonatti. His mountaineering is the child of the technical evolution of the se...