Leading Italian alpinist and mountain guide Corrado "Korra" Pesce is presumed dead following incapacitating injuries sustained in an ice and rock fall on the north face of Cerro Torre (3,128m) in Patagonia on Friday 28 January.
© Korra Pesce
The 41-year-old was bivvying overnight on the descent from the summit having established a new route on the east face alongside Argentinian climber and guide Tomás Aguiló when a rime ice mushroom collapsed at around 3 a.m., releasing debris.
Pesce's injuries - possibly including pelvic and/or spinal fractures - prevented any movement or descent. Aguiló also sustained serious injuries including fractures and a collapsed lung, but was able to help Pesce to reach the Box de Los Ingleses, a rudimentary shelter in the wall, before eventually finding their InReach in the snow and descending before being rescued and airlifted to hospital.
Poor weather and snow conditions and the inaccessibility of Pesce's location delayed and ultimately ended rescue efforts yesterday (30 January).
Dr. Carolina Codó of the Comisión de Auxilio de El Chalten told Italian news agency ANSA: "Only today we have been able to enlarge the images from a drone on Friday morning in the area of the incident. You can see Pesce's body which had slid 50 metres below the platform where he had spent the night with an Argentinian colleague. At that altitude, and without adequate protection, death from hypothermia comes after two hours at the most."
Pesce was widely regarded as one of the foremost - but understated - alpinists of his generation, with first ascents and significant repeats of routes in the Alps, Patagonia and the Himalayas. He qualified as a guide in 2009 and had been living in Chamonix since 2004.
In February 2016, Pesce made the much sought-after second ascent of Psycho Vertical (950m 6b A3 M8, 90° ice) on the south east face of Torre Egger in Patagonia with Tomy Aguilo, Roland Striemitzer, Iñaki Coussirat and Carlitos Molina (UKC Interview). In June 2016, Pesce repeated Estrella Impossible (1984, 1300m, VI+, A3) on Bhagirathi III (6454m) alongside Damien Tomasi, Martin Elias and Sebastien Corret. Last year, Pesce partnered with Will Sim to repeat the Voie des Papas / Via Bonatti on the SW Pillar of the Petit Dru in the Mont Blanc massif.
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During Aguiló and Pesce's ascent, an Italian team was simultaneously attempting a new route on the east face of the mountain and later shared an account of their climb and rescue efforts on the Ragni di Lecco blog. According to their account, David Baci, Matteo De Zaiacomo and Matteo Della Bordella met Aguiló and Pesce below the summit and they climbed the final pitch to the summit together in succession.
Each team subsequently decided on a different descent option. The Italians chose to spend the night at the summit before descending via the Compressor Route (the south-east ridge) the following day, while Aguiló and Pesce chose to descend the north face through the night, to 'reduce the risk of ice and rock collapses to a minimum,' the blog states.
Despite the debris slide sweeping most of their equipment away, Aguiló was able to find their InReach buried in the snow to call for help hours later. A team of 40 rescuers from the Comisión de Auxilio de El Chalten was involved in the mission to rescue to the pair.
Upon descending and hearing the news of the accident, the Italian team used their drone to locate Aguiló and became engaged in the rescue operation but ultimately suspended efforts when their own conditions deteriorated. Aguiló was airlifted to hospital by the Argentine military yesterday (30 January). He suffered from multiple fractures and a collapsed lung.
Della Bordella wrote in the Ragni di Lecco blog (translated from Italian):
'The decision [to stand down] was bitter, but unfortunately we were already well beyond our physical and psychological limits, we understand that Korra will stay on that mountain forever. Afterwards, the rescue team told us that in Korra's condition, any hope of finding him alive would have been in vain.
'We call the route that David, Giga and I have just climbed "Brothers in Arms" in honour of Matteo Bernasconi, Matteo Pasquetto, Korra Pesce and all our brothers who have been lost in the mountains we love so much.'
Watch a video profile of Korra Pesce below:
Comments
Gut-wrenchingly tragic. Such an amazingly talented climber. RIP
Very sad news. I met Korra briefly many years back when he worked at Snells gear shop in Chamonix. He was extremely open and generous sharing information about the latest routes and conditions to us spotty oiks, something not always easy to come by if you weren't a local. This was 20 years ago and Korra was just beginning to impress with his climbing. It was a real pleasure to follow his development to a real mountaineering master, with super technical first ascents and repeats of the most daunting routes in brilliant style such as his second ascent of Psycho Vertical on Torre Egger. There is a fund raiser to help support his daughter here https://www.leetchi.com/c/help-to-korras-pesce-daugther
Me and my mate Billy met Korra whilst staying in the same hostel in Chalten. He told us about his multi-year project, on Cerro Torre that he'd just descended from as conditions on the line had closed down for the year. It looked utterly amazing - surely one of the most striking lines in the mountains anywhere - talking us through the difficulties as if we might decide to wander up there ourselves!
After, he sat with us and talked us through the intricacies of reading Patagonian forecasts and enthused about mine and Billy's own lowly plans and reassurring us the window was good; we packed, walked in and climbed our routes - cheers for the help Korra.
What a cool, unassuming and enthusiastic man.
Rest in peace.
Yeh, a really cool, much liked, and under-stated guy, Ian. A stand out example on that strange Chamonix scene...
John Cuthbert
Tragic news. Matteo and his partner were actually completing the line from the E and N faces, that myself and Tom Proctor climbed to within 2 pitches of the summit in 1981, but were closed down by huge loose/soft ice mushrooms. I’m glad it’s finally completed.