Giusto Gervasutti has died

On 16 September 1946, he was with Giuseppe Gagliardone on the eastern ridge of Mont Blanc du Tacul: they abandoned the ascent and began to abseil down. As had happened to him on several occasions in the midst of dramatic moments, the rope could not be retrieved: they had to climb back up to free it. “It seems impossible, but on almost every climb involving difficult abseils, it happens to me that, at least once, the rope gets stuck at the top. That’s what happened to me on Cima De Gasperi, on the south face of Pic Adolphe, on the north face of the Jorasses, and I could go on. To a large extent, it’s down to carelessness, but there must also be my old friend ‘chance’ who, at just the right moment, gives me a little nudge under the feet”. From above, the strong climber asks his partner to get all the pitons ready to speed up the descent, and whilst the latter bends over the rucksack, he barely has time to catch a glimpse of him before he’s already sliding down the slabs to his left, with thelast bit of rope slipping out of the ring.