Karakoram: Ascent of Gasherbrum IV

by Fosco Maraini, James Cadell (Translator)

Genres: Nonfiction, Mountaineering

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

(Source: wikipedia)
Nacque il 15 novembre 1912 dallo scultore Antonio Maraini (1886-1963), di antica famiglia ticinese, e dalla scrittrice Yoï Crosse (1877-1944), di padre inglese e madre ungherese di origine polacca.

Bilingue italo-inglese fin dalla nascita, crebbe e si formò nell'ambiente intellettualmente vivace proprio del suo nucleo familiare e della Firenze degli anni 1920 - 1930. Nel 1934, spinto dalla sua immensa curiosità nei confronti dell'Oriente, si imbarcò sulla nave Amerigo Vespucci come insegnante di inglese, visitando l'Africa del Nord e l'Anatolia. Nel 1935 sposò la pittrice siciliana Topazia (n. 1913), dell'antica famiglia Alliata di Salaparuta, principi di Villafranca, da cui ebbe le tre figlie Dacia (Fiesole, 1936), Yuki (Sapporo, 1939 - Rieti, 1995) e Toni (Tokyo, 1941).

Maraini si laureò in Scienze Naturali e Antropologiche all'Università degli Studi di Firenze. Nel 1937 raggiunse l'orientalista maceratese Giuseppe Tucci, che conosceva assai bene sanscrito, tibetano, hindi, nepali, bengali e altre lingue asiatiche, in una spedizione in Tibet, alla quale ne sarebbe seguita un'altra undici anni più tardi, nel 1948. Da tale esperienza scaturì la grande passione che lo portò a dedicarsi allo studio delle culture e dell'etnologia orientale e a scrivere Segreto Tibet.

Prima della seconda guerra mondiale, Maraini si trasferì in Giappone, dapprima nel Hokkaidō, a Sapporo, e poi nel Kansai e a Kyōto, come lettore di lingua italiana per la celebre università locale. L' 8 settembre 1943 si trovava a Tokyo e rifiutò, assieme alla moglie, di aderire alla Repubblica di Salò. Venne quindi internato in un campo di concentramento a Nagoya con tutta la sua famiglia. Durante la prigionia compì un gesto d'alto significato simbolico per la cultura giapponese: alla presenza dei comandanti del campo di concentramento si tagliò il mignolo della mano sinistra con una scure. Non ottenne la libertà, ma una capretta ed un orticello permisero alla famiglia Maraini di sopravvivere. Finita la guerra tornò in Italia, per poi ripartire verso nuove mete quali il Tibet, Gerusalemme, il Giappone e la Corea.

Conosciuto per i suoi numerosi lavori fotografici in Tibet e in Giappone, Maraini fotografò le catene del Karakorum e dell'Hindu Kush, l'Asia centrale e l'Italia in generale; fu insegnante di lingua e letteratura giapponese all'Università di Firenze e uno dei massimi esperti di cultura delle popolazioni Ainu del Nord del Giappone.

Maraini si cimentò anche nella composizione poetica, utilizzando la tecnica da lui definita metasemantica, di cui è un esempio l'opera Gnosi delle fànfole.

Noto anche come alpinista, svolse la sua attività principalmente nelle Dolomiti, dove compì le sue prime ascensioni con Emilio Comici, Tita Piaz e Sandro del Torso. Partecipò inoltre ad alcune importanti spedizioni del Club Alpino Italiano: quella del 1958 al Gasherbrum IV (7980 m, nel Karakorum, Pakistan), guidata da Riccardo Cassin, e quella del 1959 organizzata dalla sezione di Roma del CAI al Saraghrar Peak (7350 m, nell'Hindu Kush, Pakistan), guidata da Franco Alletto e Paolo Consiglio. Su entrambe le spedizioni scrisse un libro: Gasherbrum 4, Baltoro, Karakorum e Paropamiso (vedi la sezione dedicata alle opere).

Dopo aver divorziato da Topazia Alliata, nel 1970 sposò in seconde nozze la giapponese Mieko Namiki con la quale visse a Firenze, nella villa paterna di Torre di Sopra, presso il Poggio Imperiale, lavorando alla sistemazione del suo archivio fotografico e dei suoi moltissimi libri rari.

È morto nel giugno del 2004, con la volontà di essere seppellito in un piccolo cimitero della Garfagnana.

Descrisse la prima parte della propria vita nell'autobiografia romanzata Case, amori, universi, pubblicata presso Mondadori nel 1999. I suoi libri più rari sono disponibili nella biblioteca del Gabinetto G.P. Vieusseux di Firenze.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karakoram: Ascent of Gasherbrum IV is a mountaineering book, but so much more. Fosco Maraini, is one of the last remaining modern day 'Renaissance Explorers' who knew about anthropology, botany, glaciology, ethnology and much more, which makes Karakoram the best mountaineering book I have ever read. It was originally written in Italian and translated into English, which make for a few small grammatical errors. I never thought there a mountaineer of such high caliber undertaking such a difficult climb (Gasherbrum IV is perhaps one of the most difficult and dangerous climbs in the world), could write with such passion not only about the mountaineering experience, but delightfully capture the flora, fauna and prodigious residents of this unique place. I wish Fosco Maraini had done more writing, as he is so brilliant in prose, as well as climbing talent.

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a classic mountaineering account of a summit bid on one of the highest peaks in the world: Gasherbrum IV in the Karakoram. What makes this one a bit different, and in my view, quite special, is the magnificent descriptions of the landscape and the mountains themselves - almost as living, breathing beings. Much of the book is spent in the struggles of managing an expedition of this size, both in materials and in manpower. But if you stay with it, you will be rewarded with not only an excellent account of the summit success, but of vivid passages that let your mind and imagination form your own picture. One example - describing the night: "Night up here is pitiless. Cold prowls its way down the mountain, it seems to steal out of the crevasses in the glacier, a great silent sigh of cold..." and then describing the dawn to follow: "The first gleam of light in the tent. What a spectacle, though...a ceremony of the stars palely dying, of ice becoming light, colour, flame. The mountain has imprisoned the sun, it's battened down the hatches of its great mountain walls on the sun: the sun is trying to burst free, its howls are those rays that rend the sky. The sun is a shell-burst of flame, ever more powerful, more unquenchable."

[robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un des meilleurs récit d'ascension que j'ai lu. La prose est juste magnifique (on dirait de la SF par moments) les réflexions et les remarques de Maraini sont à chaque fois super intéressantes (+bonus les images sont géniales). Quelques passages que j'ai adoré en dessous :


'K2 est un nom d'une originalité saisissante, sybillin,magique. C'est un nom approprié à notre époque de formules alchimistes et calculs atomiques. Nom bref, prêt à exploser, plein de mystère, un nom sans passé, sans histoire, sans état civil, sans latitude, qui a trait directement à la pierre et aux tempêtes. C'est un nom qui n'a rien d'humain, d'avant ou d'après le séjour de l'homme sur la terre."

"[...] il n'en reste pas moins que ces lieux demeurent uniques : paysages de démiurge, pierres inspirées. Ici apparaissent les effets concentrés de la puissance cosmique et de l'océan des âges, de ces forces secrètes qu'ailleurs on retrouve diluées ou moins merveilleusement significatives. Il est donc juste de s'avancer avec un certain respect et une crainte réverentielle."

[Mihai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is a lesser known expedition report from the classic age of Himalayan mountaineering (roughly 1950 to 1964), which details the gigantic efforts that resulted in the first successful ascent of Gasherbrum IV, the 17th highest peak in the world. While not breaking any literary barriers, especially given the less than stellar English translation, Fosco Maraini's account remains a valuable cultural study of the Baltistan region in the 1950s, as well as providing fascinating insights into the sociology and psychology of large expeditions of those times.

The 1958 Italian Karakoram Expedition was an all-out commitment by the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) to record another major first ascent in the Himalayas, following the electrifying success on K2 in 1954. To that end, massive amounts of money were poured into this endeavor, the team of which was hand-picked with the leadership entrusted to Riccardo Cassin, widely considered the best mountaineer of his country at the time. Following a three-month ascent using the typical siege style tactics of the day, the expedition succeeded in getting two climbers to the summit, one of them being Walter Bonatti, who would go on to become a legend in his own right.

Maraini participated as the official photographer and video recorder of the expedition, but he also played an important role first in handling the incredible logistics of the approach, and later by doing his share in the inglorious task of setting up the supply lines for the summit team. The book records the experiences of his role, some of which were truly amazing.

Unfortunately, Karakoram is also ridden with stereotypes and Western arrogance, which is not surprising given the time period but still somewhat unexpected. While the Italian frustrations at having to ensure the progression of a massive caravan of over 450 local porters are understandable, as well as dealing with a Pakistani liaison officer with ambitions of his own, ultimately the report cannot overcome its biases of cultural inferiority.

The format is likewise unappealing, with more than half of the book recording in painstaking detail the monumental task of moving large masses of people from Skardu to base camp. Doing so required exhausting work in coordinating movement of supplies, paying salaries and settling disputes. Such efforts seem hard to believe sixty years later, with a strategy that stretched out over three months and almost resulted in failure as all the work during the approach, then during the climb took a heavy toll physically and psychologically. It is therefore even more amazing two men reached the top and returned, while the entire expedition did not suffer a single loss of human life, in the context of the infamous bad weather and the ferocious technical difficulty of that particular mountain. The success is also a testament to the team spirit that the Italians showed, with all the rest concentrating their entire efforts in supporting the summit pair once they had been chosen. The history of mountaineering is full of stories of conflict and personal ambition, but those are nowhere to be found here - or at least they were not mentioned at all by Maraini. This sacrifice was successful only because the weather cooperated and because of the superhuman efforts of Bonatti and his partner Mauri to reach the top.

Karakoram is a key study for the serious student of the history of mountaineering, but otherwise its specific subject matter makes it uninteresting to most other readers.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding photography