Riccardo Cassin, 100, Dies; A Legendary Mountaineer
Riccardo Cassin, a climber who scaled hundreds of the world’s most daunting peaks with daring, tenacity and technical brilliance, died Aug. 6 at his home in Piano dei Resinelli, near Lecco, Italy. He was 100.
The news of his death was posted on the Web site of his education and conservation foundation, the Fondazione Riccardo Cassin.
In a career lasting more than six decades, Mr. Cassin (pronounced cass-EEN) made about 2,500 climbs, more than a hundred of them first-time ascents, sealing his reputation as one of the greatest mountaineers of the 20th century.
Using almost laughably crude equipment, he established himself as one of Europe’s most fearless and inventive climbers in the 1930s, when he and a handful of fellow enthusiasts known as the Lecco Spiders scaled, for the first time, the western summit of the Lavaredo in the eastern Alps, the northeast face of the Piz Badile in the Swiss Alps and, most famously, the north face of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc Massif, considered the most difficult challenge in the Alps.
Mr. Cassin later led a five-man team, called the City of Lecco, up the south wall of Denali, also known as Mount McKinley, for the first time. The route, up the highest peak in North America, is now called Cassin Ridge. At 85 he climbed the Luna Nascente in Val di Mello, Italy...
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The news of his death was posted on the Web site of his education and conservation foundation, the Fondazione Riccardo Cassin.
In a career lasting more than six decades, Mr. Cassin (pronounced cass-EEN) made about 2,500 climbs, more than a hundred of them first-time ascents, sealing his reputation as one of the greatest mountaineers of the 20th century.
Using almost laughably crude equipment, he established himself as one of Europe’s most fearless and inventive climbers in the 1930s, when he and a handful of fellow enthusiasts known as the Lecco Spiders scaled, for the first time, the western summit of the Lavaredo in the eastern Alps, the northeast face of the Piz Badile in the Swiss Alps and, most famously, the north face of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc Massif, considered the most difficult challenge in the Alps.
Mr. Cassin later led a five-man team, called the City of Lecco, up the south wall of Denali, also known as Mount McKinley, for the first time. The route, up the highest peak in North America, is now called Cassin Ridge. At 85 he climbed the Luna Nascente in Val di Mello, Italy...