Processo al K2 [Trial on K2]

This is Bonatti’s first book devoted to the Italian K2 affair of 1954. The events of the expedition, and resulting fallout, are a complicated story involving the actions of Bonatti, Achille Compagnoni, and Lino Lacedelli and the successful first ascent of K2. Ardito Desio’s official account of the expedition discounted Bonatti’s crucial contribution to the success of the summit pair. Compagnoni went further to claim that Bonatti had used some of the summit oxygen himself, thus jeopardizing their lives. Bonatti won a libel suit yet publications continued to support the official account of the expedition. Finally, he wrote this book, the first of three devoted to the issue, to discuss the libel case and refute, through detailed analysis of events, the accounts written by Desio and Compagnoni. Despite this work, the Italian Alpine Club refused to take any action to set the record straight. More time would need to pass before Bonatti received proper recognition. In Italian, no English translation.