Italian Climber Riccardo Cassin Dies at Age 100
The great Italian climber Riccardo Cassin died on August 6 at his home at Piani Resinelli near Lecco at the tender age of 100. Cassin, born on January 2, 1909, did 100 first ascents and over 2,500 major climbs. Many of the routes he established, beginning in the 1930s, are still benchmarks by which modern climbers measure themselves. Is there a greater legacy than that?
Cassin began climbing in northern Italy in 1930 on the limestone towers at Grigna above his home in Lecco on the shores of Lake Como. By 1934 Cassin was making stunning first ascents in the Dolomites, including the Southeast Face of the Cima Piccolissima di Lavaredo, the Southeast Pillar of Torre Trieste, and the North Face of the Cima Ovest, with his buddies, who were called ragni di Lecco, the Lecco Spiders.
In July, 1937 he did the first ascent of the historic Northeast Face of the Piz Badile, one of the great rock climbs of the Alps, in three days. He repeated this classic route several times, including twice at age 78. The route is called Via Cassin or Cassin’s Route. Jocelyn Chavey wrote of the ascent: “Riccardo Cassin had figured out the way forward at this point. There are no other cracks, no alternative corners as distinct as the ones...right in the center of the face. How did they do it? No bolts, no climbing shoes. Just sheer willpower and lots of audacity: the will to invent and follow their route right to the apex of this gigantic funnel. The Badile is a gift to the present from the climbers of the Thirties, a masterpiece of modern climbing.”
The following summer of 1938, Riccardo Cassin, along with Gino Esposito and Ugo Tizzoni, made another great first ascent, this time up the famed Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses, a peak in the Mont Blanc massif, in 82 hours. It was simply another masterpiece of climbing and remains a testpiece for aspiring alpinists. In later years he made many expeditions from the Karakoram in Pakistan to Alaska and the Andes. He led an expedition that climbed Gasherbrum IV and made the first ascent of the stunning South Face of Denali via the Cassin Ridge in 1961.
With today’s equipment and mind-set, Cassin’s routes are well within reach of most climbers so it’s important to remember the gear he climbed with—mountain boots, crude hemp ropes, a handful of handmade pitons and steel carabiners—and the times. There were no rescue helicopters, few climbers, and transportation to the mountains was by train, bicycle, and foot. “I always climbed with severity,” he remembered. "That is how the mountain became my friend, and never hurt my climbing partners or me. I always brought home everyone who came along, and never lost a friend on a rope.”
Riccardo Cassin added, “I'm stubborn. What I start, I have to finish. I never came down from a mountain without reaching the top.” His wisdom and energy and life-force will be missed.
Read more about Riccardo Cassin:
Riccardo Cassin on the Cassin website.
Goodbye Riccardo Cassin by Vinicio Stefanello/PlanetMountain.com
Riccardo Cassin: Mountaineer Times OnLine Obituary
Photographs above: Riccardo Cassin was simply one of the greatest climbers and mountaineers of the 20th century. Photographs courtesy Riccardo Cassin
Comments
What a rich life! Thank you Riccardo – your routes opened a new era of challenges in the climbing world.
Perhaps it is only my nostalgic thoughts about climbing which cause me to say that Cassin’s death further closes the window to the type of climber we may seldom see again.
In the days when vision, skill and determination were primary ingredients which made up the character of these climbers there was only a hand-full of them compared to the masses who now climb. Their climbing style did not seem to have any shortcuts and their routes, whether great or small, remain as “classics” despite the almost unbelievable technological advances that now are a normal part of climbing.
There is nothing wrong with advancing the ways and means of climbing or with the increasing number of people who are in the climbing scene. In the larger context of how people enjoy themselves and the world around them, these changes may well be a good thing.
It is just my hope that Cassin’s passing will cause all climbers to pause and consider that maybe, just maybe, climbing is one of those things that is more about the person and his or her character than it is about a rock or a mountain or accomplishing a “to do” list or the value of technology.
Character is something that can never be defined easily, conveniently or by the latest technology. Character, like Cassin’s climbing, is defined by one’s vision and determination to live by that vision, without shortcuts. That may be the harder way to do things but it may be more meaningful in the long run.
Cassin: celebrate the man and what he can teach us.
Great comment! I appreciate your thoughts and agree with them. Riccardo lived his life, both climbing and otherwise, with character, integrity, and by fair means. You’re so right…climbing is much more than about numbers, grades, route names, and tick lists, but about the style and grace with which we climb and how we live and move in both the vertical and the everyday world. He can teach us much.