Back in 1954, Italian Achille Compagnoni reached the peak of K2, along with fellow expeditioner Lino Lacedelli. The feat was a huge one, coming just a year after Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach Everest.

Compagnoni’s and Lacedelli’s achievement was a moment of great pride for Italy, a country with immense mountaineering tradition. They conquered the peak a few years after both British and US expeditions had been defeated, and it was to be another 23 years before anyone made it to the top again.

Compagnoni has died at the age 94, after a lifetime of achievements, including being Italy’s Nordic ski champion and completing other climbs of the Matterhorn. The memories from the Alpine soldier of the 1954 K2 expedition are recorded in his books “Men on K2″ (1954) and “K2: Italian Conquest, History and Memory” (2004).

Source | Life In Italy

Photo | Corriere della Sera

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