Right IconThis ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet.
Italian mountaineer and explorer Reinhold Messner teamed up with Austrian mountaineer Peter Habeler to be the first to climb Mount Everest without using oxygen cylinders. He is also the first to complete a solo ascent of Everest and the first to climb all the 14 mountain peaks that stand above 8000m.
Walter Bonatti was an Italian explorer, mountain climber, and journalist. He made a solo climb of a new route on the southwest pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in August 1955, among other achievements. He retired from mountaineering at the age of 35 and pursued a career as a reporter. He also wrote several books on mountaineering.
Achille Compagnoni was a Lombard skier and mountaineer best remembered for his expedition to K2, the second-highest mountain in the world. Compagnoni was among the men who reached the summit of K2 on 31 July 1954. As a skier, Achille Compagnoni took part in the fourth edition of Trofeo Mezzalama where he helped his team finish second.
The son of Spanish king Amadeus, Prince Luigi Amedeo, also known as the Duke of the Abruzzia, was a passionate mountaineer and explorer, who scripted history by becoming the first to climb Mount St. Elias in Alaska. He also conquered the world’s second-highest peak, K2, and even explored parts of Africa.
A mountaineer and a cartographer, Ardito Desio was also a professor of geology. He is best remembered for leading a team of 12 climbers, 4 scientists, a doctor, and a photographer to conquer the Abruzzi Ridge amid extreme weather conditions, and then reach K2, despite losing a member to pneumonia.
After studying engineering and mineralogy, Quintino Sella taught math and mineralogy for a while before stepping into politics. He later served as the minister of finance of a newly unified Italy. Sella also convinced King Victor Emmanuel II to make Rome the capital after the French withdrew from the city.
