Alessandro Gogna (born 29 July 1946) is a

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

and

mountain guide A mountain guide is a specially trained and experienced professional mountaineer who is certified by local authorities or mountain guide associations. They are considered to be high-level experts in mountaineering, and are hired to instruct or ...

from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Biography

Born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, he is one of the key figures of Italian

mountaineering Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...

, both as an active climber and as one of the foremost writers about the mountain world. He has lived and described the transition from classic mountaineering to modern climbing. The first ascents were on the mountains of his native

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

. His interest moved to the walls of the

Dolomites The Dolomites ( ), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range in northeastern Italy. They form part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Va ...

and he has since climbed in all possible environments, from sea level to the high camps of K2. He count over 500 new climbs in Italy. He still is one of the international guarantors of

Mountain Wilderness Mountain Wilderness is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the preservation of mountain areas, in their natural and cultural aspects. The organization was founded in Europe and has a stronger presence in alpine and pyren ...

having been among the founders. In 1981, Alessandro Gogna, with

Maurizio Zanolla Maurizio "Manolo" Zanolla (born in Feltre, 16 February 1958) is an Italian rock climber and mountaineer, and a pioneer of sport climbing in Italy during the 1980s and 1990s. Climbing career Manolo came to international attention with his free sol ...

, climbed the Aguglia of Goloritzè in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, initiating the original development of the

Selvaggio Blu Selvaggio is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Antonio Selvaggio (born 1958), Italian long-distance runner * Giulio Lorenzo Selvaggio (1728–1772), Italian canonist and archaeologist * Piero Selvaggio Piero Selvaggio (born ...

a trekking route.

Notable ascents

*1967: Scarason (Alpi Liguri), NE wall, first ascent *1968: Pizzo Badile, NE wall, route Cassin, first winter ascent *1968:

Grandes Jorasses The Grandes Jorasses (; 4,208 m; 13,806 ft) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif, on the boundary between Haute-Savoie in France and Aosta Valley in Italy. The first ascent of the highest peak of the mountain (''Pointe Walker'') was by H ...

, N wall, route Cassin, first solo ascent *1969:

Grand Capucin The Grand Capucin (3,838 m) is a rock pinnacle located underneath Mont Blanc du Tacul in the Mont Blanc Massif in Haute-Savoie, France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France ...

, SE wall, Diretta dei Ragni, first winter ascent *1969:

Monte Rosa Monte Rosa (; ; ; or ; ) is a mountain massif in the eastern part of the Pennine Alps, on the border between Italy (Piedmont and Aosta Valley) and Switzerland (Valais). The highest peak of the massif, amongst several peaks of over , is the D ...

Macugnaga Macugnaga (Walser German: ''Z'Makana'') is a mountain village and a comune at elevation, in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the north of the Piedmont region of Italy. It is located at the base of Monte Rosa (), the second-tallest mounta ...

E wall, via dei Francesi, first solo ascent *1969:

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

, Naso di Z’Mutt first ascent *1970: Grivola, NE wall, via Cretier, first winter ascent *1970: IIa Pala di S. Lucano, SW wall, first ascent *1970:

Marmolada Marmolada (Ladin language, Ladin: ''Marmolèda''; German language, German: ''Marmolata'', ) is a mountain in northeastern Italy and the highest mountain of the Dolomites (a section of the Alps). It lies between the borders of Trentino and Ven ...

, S wall, first ascent direct route *1971: Pilier d'Angle, full Peutérey ridge, first winter ascent *1971: Cima di Terranova

Monte Civetta Monte Civetta (3,220 m) is a prominent and major mountain of the Dolomites, in the Province of Belluno in northern Italy. Its north-west face can be viewed from the Taibon Agordino valley, and is classed as one of the symbols of the Dolomites. ...

, NW wall, first ascent direct route *1972: IIIa Pala di San Lucano, W wall, first ascent *1972: Brenta Alta, NE ridge, first ascent *1972:

, S wall, first ascent *1972: Aiguille de Leschaux, NE wall, first ascent direct route *1974: IIa Pala di San Lucano, E wall, first ascent *1974: IVa Pala di San Lucano, S wall, first ascent *1974: Campanile dei Zoldani (Moiazza), W wall, first ascent direct route *1974: Palazza (Monti del Sole), SW wall, first ascent *1981: Guglia di Goloritzé, first ascent ever *1984: Liss dal Pesgunfi (Val Màsino), E wall, first ascent *2005: Cima di Pino Sud (Col Nudo), E wall, first ascent

Expeditions

*1973:

Annapurna Annapurna (; ) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the 10th highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the difficulty and danger involved in its as ...

, attempt on the NW ridge *1975:

Lhotse Lhotse ( ; ; ) is the List of highest mountains#List, fourth-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. At an elevation of above sea level, the main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of Chin ...

, S wall, attempt *1978:

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

(

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

), Salathé route, first Italian climb *1979: K2, Abruzzi spur

Other activities

*Speaker (400 talks in Italy and worldwide, starting 1968 until today) *Writer, about 200 articles on magazines, newspaper, web *Trekking tour leader in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, dal 1972 al 1978 *creator and coordinator of outstanding initiatives, such as: Clean Marmolada, Free K2, Save the Glaciers, Levissima for Everest,

Club Alpino Italiano The Club Alpino Italiano is the senior Italian alpine club which stages climbing competitions, operates alpine huts, marks and maintains paths, and is active in protecting the Alpine environment. It was founded in Turin in 1863 by the then fin ...

cleanup of Baltoro Glacier, ecc.

Selected bibliography

Alessandro Gogna has written over 40 books, in many languages, and co-authored many more. *Gogna, A., Grandes Jorasses Sperone Walker (Tamari, Nordpress, 1999) *Gogna, A., Un alpinismo di ricerca (Dall’Oglio, 1975) *Gogna, A.

Reinhold Messner Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from the German-speaking province of South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent o ...

, K2 (De Agostini, 1980) *Gogna, A., La parete (Zanichelli, 1981) *Gogna, A., Cento nuovi mattini (Zanichelli, 1981) *Gogna, A., Mezzogiorno di pietra (Zanichelli, 1982) *Gogna, A., Rock story (Edizioni Melograno, 1983) *Gogna, A., Cento pareti di ghiaccio nelle Alpi (Zanichelli, 1984) *Gogna, A., A piedi in Valtellina (De Agostini, 1984) *Gogna, A., Dal Pizzo Badile al Bernina (Zanichelli, 1986) *Gogna, A., Sentieri verticali (Zanichelli, 1987) *Gogna, A., Mesolcina - Spluga (CAI - TCI, 1999) * Gogna, A., K2. Uomini. Esplorazioni. Imprese *Gogna, A., I Grandi Spazi delle Alpi (8 volumes) *Gogna, A., Le Montagne più belle (11 volumes), La Stampa - Priuli&Verlucca, 2006 e 2008 *Gogna, A., La verità obliqua di Severino Casara (with Italo Zandonella, Priuli&Verlucca, 2009) RecensioniDiLibri.it
*Gogna, A., Insieme in vetta, (with Raggio, A. Mondadori 2013)

Sources

External links

Intervista su AlpiniaIntervista sull'EspressoGruppo GISM Trentofilmfestival
*K
Photo agency
co-owner. One of the most complete archives of mountain photo: over 100'000 images of the Alps and of other mountains worldwide.
personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gogna, Alesssandro 1946 births Sportspeople from Genoa Italian mountain climbers Free soloists Living people