10:55 am CDT Oct 16, 2009
(MountEverest.net) A memorial was held in BC at 10:00 am today and now all climbers on Shisha south side have joined up to retrieve Roby Piantoni's remains.
Packing up when they heard of the accident, Edurne Pasaban, Asier Izaguirre and Ferran Latorre postponed their departure in order to help Roby's Italian mates recover the body. Also taking part in the effort are Edurne's Sherpas Zangmu and Pasang as well as Jean Troillet and climbing mate Jean-Ives Frederiksen.
Meanwhile more details are surfacing about the accident.
Roby, Marco Astori and Yuri Parimbelli were climbing slightly behind Swiss 10x8000ers summiteer Jean Troillet on the British route. According to Montagna.org, Troillet saw Piantoni lose balance and fall while handling ropes on an icy section. The three surviving climbers descended to Roby and buried him nearby.
Rescue at family's request
Piantoni’s relatives and friends in Bergamo, Italy, want to bring him home. This is not the first mountaineering fatality in the family: during a climb in Peruvian Andes, an avalanche took the life of Roby’s father in 1981.
"Roby's family asked us to do everything possible to repatriate the body," a member in Edurne's BC team told ExWeb. "Edurne and her mates volunteered at once, it's the right thing to do."
"It's going to be a tough operation," Pasaban's mate said. "Roby's body is in a tough spot near the Scott Bivouac (6,200m). Climbers will split up in two teams and try to somehow bring him down to BC. We'll then have to transport the body on a yak all the way to the Nepal border as Chinese authorities have banned helicopters in the area."
Simone Moro: He fought to make his dreams come true
Piantoni had stated on his website that his summit of Everest without oxygen was a childhood dream come true, opening a new world to him of many other mountains he wanted to climb.
Simone Moro knew Roby for almost 20 years and he told L’Eco di Bergamo: “Robert managed to make a life out of his dreams, a remarkable achievement in times like these. He fought with perseverance for what he wanted and overcame many difficulties, such as his mother’s resisting to her son becoming a mountaineer.”
Simone made clear that Roby was skilled climber. “Roberto’s accident was bad luck,” he said. “The link between two ropes, which had held two other climbers before him, snapped without warning - something he could not have foreseen. Perhaps the ropes were old but it's like a car crash, unavoidable, lethal and it could have happened to anyone."
"Don't forget that Roby was not only a mountaineer and a guide, but a master of masters who knew exactly what he was doing – there was no improvisation in his moves.”
“We last met in Kathmandu about a month ago,” Simone said. “He got a permit to enter Tibet on the very last day. I can’t help thinking that if he had failed to obtain the visa he would still be among us. On the other hand though, he perished pursuing his dream, and that’s just fair.”
Roberto "Roby" Piantoni fell to his death yesterday, October 15th, while climbing the British route on Shisha Pangma's south face. Teaming up with Marco Astory and Jury Parimbelli, the expedition's original goal was to forge a new route up the face.
A professional alpine guide from Bergamo (Italy), the young Piantoni summited GII and Everest without O2, in addition to his attempts on Manaslu and Broad Peak. He was 32 years old.
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