06:45 am CDT Oct 15, 2009
(Mounteverest.net/Madrid) Italian Roby Piantoni fell to his death on Shisha Pangma's south face earlier today, climbers in BC just confirmed.
"It's a tragedy," a member in Edurne Pasaban's BC team has just told ExplorersWeb. "Roby was climbing together with Marco Astori and Yuri Parimbelli. The face was in very tough, cristal-ice conditions and, apparently, he lost his footing and fell. We are all devastated."
Roberto "Roby" Piantoni, a professional alpine guide from Bergamo (Italy) had previously summited GII and Everest without O2, plus had attempts on Manaslu and Broad Peak. He was 32 years old.
Team on summit push despite the wind
Roby, Marco and Yuri's goal on Shisha Pangma this season was to forge a new route up on Shisha Pangma's south face. Last weekend the climbers aborted a first summit push due to high wind conditions. According to their latest report on Monday, they were waiting in BC, hoping for better conditions in order to give the face another try.
While details on the accident are still sketchy, Montagna.org reports Roby's team was apparently on a summit push via the face's Bonington route. Roby's lethal fall probably took place early in the morning, local time.
Also in Roby's team are Adriano Greco and Veronique Lathuraz, aiming for a sky-ski descent down Shisha's south face.
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