1. Walter Bonatti was noted for many climbing achievements, including a solo climb of a new alpine climbing route on the south-west pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in August 1955, the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958, and, in 1965, the first solo climb in winter of the North face of the Matterhorn on the mountain's centenary year of its first ascent.
Immediately after his solo climb on the Matterhorn, Bonatti announced his retirement from professional climbing at the age of 35, and after 17 years of climbing activity.
Walter Bonatti authored many mountaineering books and spent the remainder of his career travelling off the beaten track as a reporter for the Italian magazine Epoca.
Walter Bonatti died on 13 September 2011 of pancreatic cancer in Rome aged 81, and was survived by his life partner, the actress Rossana Podesta.
In 2009, Walter Bonatti was awarded the first-ever Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award.
Walter Bonatti is widely considered as being one of the greatest climbers in history.
An only child, born in Bergamo, in Lombardy, Italy, Walter Bonatti spent his childhood in the Po Valley dreaming of adventure.
Walter Bonatti's father was a fabric merchant, Bonatti took to gymnastics through a sports association in Monza.
At age 18, Walter Bonatti started climbing on the Grigna, a rocky mountain of the Italian Prealps, where he spent the summer of 1948 climbing intensively.
Walter Bonatti had limited financial means and his first climbs were done with very basic equipment, including pitons that he had manufactured personally.
In less than two years since he started climbing, Walter Bonatti had already joined the restricted circle of the best Italian climbers.
In 1954 Walter Bonatti was assigned to the Alpine regiment and for four days each week he trained men to climb; for the other three, he was allowed to head off into the mountains on his own.
Walter Bonatti was the youngest participant of the 1954 Italian expedition to K2 organized by Ardito Desio.
However, years after the expedition Walter Bonatti found himself accused and at the center of a bitter controversy based on conflicting accounts of events that occurred during the ascent.
Walter Bonatti knew that he and Mehdi needed the shelter of a tent to survive a night at this altitude without risk of frostbite or worse, but the Camp IX tent was placed at the end of a dangerous traverse across icy slopes and visibility was too reduced to get there.
Compagnoni gave the explanation that his decision to change the agreed site of the camp was to avoid an overhanging serac, but Walter Bonatti accused both of having deliberately changed the location to make it impossible for Walter Bonatti and Mehdi to remain overnight at that height, so there would be no way they too could attempt the summit themselves.
Walter Bonatti was in the best physical condition of all the climbers and the natural choice to make the summit attempt, but Ardito Desio selected Lacedelli and Compagnoni.
Walter Bonatti was later accused by Compagnoni of using some of the oxygen to survive his bivouac, causing the climbers to run out of oxygen earlier than expected on the summit day.
Walter Bonatti immediately claimed that he could not use this supplemental oxygen because both the mask and the regulator were at Camp IX.
Walter Bonatti brought evidence supporting his response that Compagnoni had lied about running out of oxygen en route to the summit.
However, he attributed this not to Walter Bonatti's alleged use of the oxygen, but to the physical exertion of the climb causing the use of more oxygen than expected.
Walter Bonatti leaves a great spiritual testament: he was a clean man vilified for 50 years over what happened on K2, but in the end, everyone accepted that he was right.
Walter Bonatti tried to organize a solo ascent of K2 without oxygen the following year to put the record straight but could not get the backing, so he retreated to Courmayeur, where he became a mountain guide in 1954.
Walter Bonatti put together all the slings and small sections of ropes he had on him, attached one end of the rope in a crack, and swinging on the other end managed to negotiate the difficulty.
In December 1956, together with his partner Silvano Gheser, Walter Bonatti attempted a winter ascent of the Pear Route on the Brenva side of Monte Blanc.
Close to the end of the climb at 4pm, Walter Bonatti's party was around 100 metres higher.
Walter Bonatti managed to pass the night unharmed but his companion Gheser started to suffer from frostbite to one foot.
Walter Bonatti decided to take the second option, the safest but the longest and more painful because it required the four men to gain 500 metres of elevation in a winter storm.
Walter Bonatti pushed the men to climb as fast as possible because he realized time was limited; Gheser's feet and hands were suffering from severe frostbite.
On 9 March 1961, Walter Bonatti climbed together with Gigi Panei and made the first winter ascent of the Via della Sentinella Rossa, a classic route on the Brenva side of Mont Blanc in a record time of 11 hours from the bivouac of La Fourche.
In 1958 Walter Bonatti joined an Italian expedition led by Riccardo Cassin to the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan.
In four days, between the 6 and 10 August 1964, Walter Bonatti climbed for the first time the Pointe Whymper together with Michel Vaucher.
In February 1965, Walter Bonatti tried with two companions to climb a new, direct route on Matterhorn Nordwand but the team was turned around by a storm.
Walter Bonatti considered his options and then set off on 18 February 1965 for a second attempt alone.
Shortly after the climb, Walter Bonatti announced his retirement from professional climbing at the age of 35 and after only 17 years of climbing activity.
Walter Bonatti worked for more than 20 years as a reporter for the weekly Italian magazine Epoca, traveling off the beaten track.
In 1980 Walter Bonatti met the former actress Rossana Podesta in Rome and they soon relocated to Dubino, a small town in the Alps.
Walter Bonatti's funeral took place in Lecco on 18 September 2011, where he was cremated and the ashes interred in the cemetery of Porto Venere.
Walter Bonatti called his climbing philosophy "The pursuit with the extremely hard".
Walter Bonatti pulled off a fantastic number of audacious ascents plus more remarkably survived some horrific climbs that killed some of his associates.
Walter Bonatti was always fiercely opposed to the use of expansion bolts.
The life of Walter Bonatti has inspired entire generations of climbers, in Italy and worldwide.
In 2009 Walter Bonatti was awarded the Piolet d'Or for his lifetime achievement.
British climber Doug Scott wrote in his 1974 book Big Walls that Walter Bonatti was perhaps the finest alpinist there has ever been, while in 2010 Reinhold Messner described him as one of the greatest climbers of all time and a marvellous person.
The legendary Chris Bonington said about Walter Bonatti: He was a complex person and a sensitive one too.