David Smart offre un portrait fouillé et actuel d’Emilio Comici, dont l’identité était intimement liée au nationalisme italien. Un livre d’une grande valeur pour les lecteurs anglophones, qui découvrent enfin cette période méconnue de l’alpinisme italien.
Emilio Comici: Angel of the Dolomites
Trieste, années 1930 : un homme redéfinit l’escalade. Emilio Comici: Angel of the Dolomites retrace le destin fulgurant du pionnier italien, inventeur de la direttissima et auteur de plus de 200 premières ascensions.
Winner of the Banff Mountain Book Competition: Climbing Literature AwardThe first English-language biography of one of the most renowned Italian climbers, Emilio Comici, who bagged over 200 first ascents in the Eastern Alps prior to his death at 39 years of age in 1940.
Between 1925 and his death in 1940, Emilio Comici was the pre-eminent climber in the Eastern Alps, the hotbed of global rock climbing at that time. He made first ascents on some of the highest and most notorious walls in the Alps, including the northwest face of the Civetta, as well as dozens of other climbs.
Comici invented many modern big-wall techniques and the big-wall idiom itself that later took root in Yosemite Valley. Comici also made solo ascents of some of the hardest routes in the Alps, including his climb on the north face of the Cima Grande. He also designed the first artificial climbing wall that was ever actually built.
This book explores how family tragedy and growing up in working class Trieste under Austrian occupation shaped Comici's complex personality and attitudes toward climbing. He was loyal to his friends, deeply concerned about the vulnerable, including his fellow climbers, and yet highly competitive, a born vagabond and yet also a dandy, irresistible to women, and yet unable to settle down, devoted to his mother and to the mountains, and finally, like many other Italian climbers of the period, a member of the Italian fascist party although he was profoundly anti-German and opposed to racial persecution.
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Between 1925 and his death in 1940, Emilio Comici was the pre-eminent climber in the Eastern Alps, the hotbed of global rock climbing at that time. He made first ascents on some of the highest and most notorious walls in the Alps, including the northwest face of the Civetta, as well as dozens of other climbs.
Comici invented many modern big-wall techniques and the big-wall idiom itself that later took root in Yosemite Valley. Comici also made solo ascents of some of the hardest routes in the Alps, including his climb on the north face of the Cima Grande. He also designed the first artificial climbing wall that was ever actually built.
This book explores how family tragedy and growing up in working class Trieste under Austrian occupation shaped Comici's complex personality and attitudes toward climbing. He was loyal to his friends, deeply concerned about the vulnerable, including his fellow climbers, and yet highly competitive, a born vagabond and yet also a dandy, irresistible to women, and yet unable to settle down, devoted to his mother and to the mountains, and finally, like many other Italian climbers of the period, a member of the Italian fascist party although he was profoundly anti-German and opposed to racial persecution.
shield_question Foire aux questions
Ce livre est la première biographie en anglais d’Emilio Comici, un des alpinistes les plus influents du XXe siècle. Il offre un éclairage unique sur ses innovations techniques (comme la direttissima), ses ascensions solitaires audacieuses, et son rôle dans l’histoire de l’escalade moderne. Primé à plusieurs reprises, ce récit mêle aventure, politique et passion pour les montagnes.
L’ouvrage explore l’escalade extrême, l’innovation technique, le contexte politique de l’Italie fasciste, et la quête de reconnaissance d’un homme issu d’un milieu modeste. Il aborde aussi la rivalité entre alpinistes, l’esthétique des voies d’escalade, et l’impact de la Première Guerre mondiale sur la région des Dolomites.
Aux passionnés d’alpinisme, d’histoire sportive, ou de biographies inspirantes. Les amateurs de récits d’aventure, de défis humains, et ceux intéressés par l’Italie du XXe siècle y trouveront aussi leur compte. Accessible aux néophytes comme aux experts, il séduit par son mélange de technique et de drama humain.
Vous pourrez interroger le livre sur les techniques d’escalade inventées par Comici, ses ascensions les plus célèbres (comme la face nord de la Cima Grande), son rapport avec le fascisme italien, ou encore l’influence de son enfance à Trieste sur sa carrière. Demandez aussi des détails sur ses rivalités, ses échecs, ou son héritage dans l’escalade moderne.
newsmode Revue de presse
Ce livre m’a rappelé la chanson finale de Hamilton : Comici, obsédé par la grandeur et le regard des autres, aurait pu chanter : « Qui vit, qui meurt, qui raconte ton histoire ? » David Smart lui rend justice avec brio.
La description envoûtante de l’ascension de la face nord de la Cima Grande par Comici en 1933 m’a coupé le souffle. Ce récit place cette performance au même niveau que les premières du Cervin ou de la face nord de l’Eiger. Une des meilleures biographies d’alpinistes que j’aie jamais lues.
tag Mots-clés
emilio comici
dolomites
alpinisme
escalade
biographie
david smart
direttissima
cima grande
premières ascensions
années 1930
trieste
italie fasciste
big wall
techniques d'escalade
mussolini
alpes orientales
north face
histoire de l'alpinisme
grimpeurs légendaires
civetta
pitons
escalade solo
montagne
aventure
sport extrême
banff mountain book award
boardman tasker prize
livre primé
20e siècle
rivalités en montagne
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