SOME OF THE CRAZY THINGS WE DID TO GO CLIMBING [were], we had no money, but a very strong passion for climbing, so we pitched in 5 cents each and bought a 50-meter rope and some carabiners. Too bad eight of us had to tie into the rope. So we took turns: two at a time would go up, and then they’d throw the rope down, and up went the next two. 

MY BIGGEST FALL WAS 40 METERS: I was in Grigna on the Dito Dones (Italian 6a+/5c/A0, or 5.9 A0/5.10c) with my dear friend Mario d’Oro, called “il Boga,” on a pretty hard pitch, when all of a sudden I yelled, “I am flying off the wall—catch me!” But Boga was too busy smoking a cigarette, and I flew off for an infinite time and smashed back into the wall. From that time on I never climbed with him again. We remained friends, but he would climb on the right side and I on the left. 

THREE WOMEN DETERMINED MY SUCCESSES IN LIFE—without them I would not have become the climber I am today. My mother, Emilia, would cook for me; my sister, Gina, would take care of the sporting-goods store for me to let me go climb with my friends on the weekends; and my wife, Irma, would sew my climbing outfits out of scratch: backpacks, crampon laces until 1 a.m. in the morning. 

COMPETITION ON THE ROUTE WAS NOT SOMETHING OF MY TIME—it was more the desire to invent something new, to find a solution to why somebody could climb up and someone else couldn’t. I never really had rivals, except time. I had to work Monday through Friday at a steel factory, so I could only climb on the weekends. I had no choice but to reach the top before dark, because I had to go back to work the next day. And there weren’t airplanes at the time, but trains, bicycles, and lots of walking. To get to Mont Blanc to climb the Grand Jorasses, I had to take a train to Pre Saint Didier, bike until Courmayeuer, and then walk to the Col du Gigante, do half of he Mer de Glace uphill until the Rifugio Leschaux, and then get to the Tavola [Plateau] of the Grand Jorasses and start the climb. So I was already warmed up to go up by then!  

THE MOUNTAIN IS A LIFE TEACHER, because it gives you the most fulfilling sensation you could possibly get from life and teaches you how to think without fearing. One who fears should not attempt to climb; nonetheless, you must have a little prudence when you climb. One without prudence is crazy.