Confortola, mountain is passion

Marco Confortola was born on May 22, 1971, in Valfurva, Valtellina. Since he was young he developed a strong tie with his born place, that today he still lives here. His passion for mountains started close to home, when he was still a teenager, gaining also some interesting records.
      
In 1990, when he was only 19 years old, he became the younger Aspiring Alpine Guide of Italy, supremacy that he kept for a good five years. Then in 1993, he became international Alpine Guide, the youngest in Europe until 1996.
 
He already showed his care towards others starting from the nineties, when he took a role in the Corpo Nazional Alpine Rescue Corp as head assistant of the Santa Caterina Valfurva station, in the province of  Sondrio. He kept this task until 2003, but already showing interest for other activities from 1995. At the age of 24 years old, he became Alpine Rescue Instructor, Ski Instructor in alpine discipline and technician of Helicopter Rescue-118 at the base of Caiolo, in the province of Sondrio.
      
Whilst he was giving his help in mountain rescue activities, Marco Confortola discovered mountaineering, a passion destined to sign his life.
               
His early ventures date back to 2001, when the mountaineer decided to challenge his born mountains, those of the Ortles-Cevedale group. Actually, in that year he carried out the extreme ski climb of Pizzo Tresero North face, 3,595 metres high.
               
The following year it was the time of five North faces: Tresero-Predanzini-Dosegù-San Matteo-Cadini. He sole climbed each face and descended with skis. In 2003 he was the first Italian to carry out the extreme descent by means of skis on the North face of the Ortles, and few months later he opened the "Via del Cielo", a new route to the South face of Gran Zebrù, 3,854 metres high.
            
In 2004 Confortola turned his eyes for the first time towards the Earth’s highest peaks. In that year he indeed joined the Italian expedition ‘Everest-K2-Cnr’ leaded by Agostino Da Polenza: it was his first climb of Everest’s North face, while he couldn’t climb the K2.
            
That time he reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain with oxygen: as he explained he was young and at his first experience on 8000 metres, so he liked not to risk. This year he shall go back to the summit but without oxygen.
            
In 2005 he aimed at Asia again. But first he trained with another expedition on the Alps, and summitted four North faces of the Ortles group: Ortles, Grande and Piccolo Zebrù and Tresero. Then in October he leaved and, together with Fabio Iacchini, Mario Morelli and Silvio Mondinelli, he won the secondary peak of Shisha Pangma (8,013 metres), getting to the altitude of 8000 metres for the second time.
            
From then on he increased the desire to follow in his friend Gnaro footsteps: Confortola aims at all fourteen 8000 metres peaks, as it is showed by the expeditions he carried out from that moment on.
             
The 2006 was an intense year: together with his friends Michele Enzio, Gnaro Mondinelli and Cristian Gobbi, he summitted the main peak of Shisha Pangma, 8,027 metres of altitude. Few weeks later, on May 19, he tried to conquer the Lhotse (8,510 metres) but he had to give up because of a frost bite to the fingers of his feet.           

Not yet satisfied, in the same year, on October 12, once again with Mondinelli, he summitted top of Annapurna: it was his fourth time at 8000 metres.
               
On May 2, 2007, with the same team-mate, he climbed the Cho Oyu (8,201 metres) and two months later, on July 12, he reached the Broad Peak, at 8,047 metres. Whilst for the friend Mondinelli it was his fourteen 8000 metres, the one which made history of him as the sixth man on Earth for having perform the incredible enterprise, for Confortola it is the sixth peak, his fifth 8000 metres.

This year the mountaineering from Valfurva shall repeat the program of 2004 trying to obtain better results. He shall not only climb the Everest once again joining the expedition of Agostino Da Polenza, but he shall try to climb the K2 as well. Few weeks after the foreseen return from the Himalaya, he shall indeed dare the “mountain of mountains”.
               
Furthermore in the latest years, Marco Confortola has devoted his big energies to promote mountain and sport among the young and the youngest. In 2005 he founded the no profit association “Sport is Life”, through whose activities he aims at passing his experiences and knowledge on to the youngest.
          
Such initiative is based on his beliefs that by means of sport it is possible to teach the young the team and sacrifice spirit, the passion and the humility with which you would have to pursue your objectives in life.
              
Among the most recent initiatives, the one on September 16, 2007, has been very successful: Confortola has organized the climb to the top of Cevedale of a group of students of the primary and high school of Valfurva. Since the event has received a warm welcome, it will become an annual appointment: actually in 2008 it is foreseen the climb to the Tresero.