2015 Tom Ballard Solo Winter Six North Faces of the Alps

Italy🏔️ 5 Peaks

Riccardo Cassin

Riccardo Cassin was born on January 2, 1909, in San Vito al Tagliamento in Friuli, Italy. Moving to Lecco near Lake Como as a teenager to work in a steel plant, Cassin was captivated by the limestone spires of the Grigne. Possessed of titanic physical power, immense hands, and an unshakeable will, Cassin became the driving force of the famous 'Ragni di Lecco' (Spiders of Lecco) climbing club, revolutionizing European extreme sixth-grade climbing. During the 1930s, Cassin systematically solved the greatest remaining climbing problems of the Alps. In August 1935, alongside Vittorio Ratti, he conquered the terrifying, overhanging North Face of the Cima Ovest di Lavaredo in the Dolomites. In July 1937, Cassin established the historic first ascent of the sheer 800-metre Northeast Face of the Piz Badile in the Bregaglia. Then, from August 4 to 6, 1938, having never previously visited the Mont Blanc massif, Cassin, Gino Esposito, and Ugo Tizzoni made the immortal first ascent of the 1,200-metre Walker Spur on the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses, enduring three days of freezing bivouacs and lightning storms. During World War II, Cassin fought heroically as a partisan commander against Nazi forces in the mountains above Lecco, suffering severe bullet wounds. In 1954, despite having organized and scouted the successful Italian expedition to K2, Cassin was controversially dropped from the team following a medical examination arranged by expedition leader Ardito Desio. Undeterred, Cassin led the 1958 Italian expedition that achieved the historic first ascent of Gasherbrum IV (7,925m) via the Northeast Ridge by Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri. In July 1961, at fifty-two years of age, Cassin led a team of Lecco climbers to Alaska and made the audacious first ascent of the South Face of Mount McKinley (Denali, 6,190m) via the magnificent line now known universally as the 'Cassin Ridge'. Over his centenarian life, Cassin founded the renowned CASSIN mountaineering equipment company, inventing early titanium pitons, ice axes, and climbing harnesses. He passed away peacefully at his home in Piani Resinelli on August 6, 2009, at age one hundred.

United Kingdom🏔️ 5 Peaks

Tom Ballard

Thomas 'Tom' Ballard was born on October 16, 1988, in Belper, Derbyshire, England. The son of legendary Scottish mountaineer Alison Hargreaves and Jim Ballard, Tom was introduced to extreme climbing from infancy, bivouacking in high alpine huts while his mother conquered the great north faces of Europe. Following his mother's tragic death on K2 in 1995, Ballard made the high mountains his life's sole devotion, developing an intensely private, purist approach to solo climbing. Living in a camper van across the European Alps with minimal financial support, Ballard honed unmatched physical dexterity on vertical rock and thin mixed ice. In the winter of 2014–2015, Ballard launched his audacious 'Starlight and Storms' project: attempting to solo all Six Great North Faces of the Alps (Cima Grande di Lavaredo, Piz Badile, Petit Dru, Matterhorn, Grandes Jorasses, and the Eiger) in a single winter season. Moving fast and light without support teams, Ballard completed the hexalogy on March 19, 2015, atop the Grandes Jorasses, becoming the first person in mountaineering history to solo all six north faces in a single winter. Turning his sights to the Greater Ranges, Ballard established extreme new dry-tooling and mixed routes across the Dolomites, including 'Titanic' (M5/A3) on the Eiger and groundbreaking lines in Val di Fassa. In early 2019, Ballard joined Italian winter specialist Daniele Nardi to attempt the unclimbed Mummery Spur on the Diamir Face of Nanga Parbat (8,126m) in pure alpine style in winter. On February 24, 2019, after reaching an altitude of approximately 6,300 metres amidst brutal sub-zero storms, Ballard and Nardi made their final radio contact from Camp 4. Despite an extensive search operation coordinated with Spanish climber Alex Txikon using high-powered drones and telescopes, the two climbers were spotted on March 9, 2019, hanging from their ropes high on the Mummery Spur, having succumbed to hypothermia and avalanches. Ballard is remembered as one of the purest solo alpine talents of the modern era.