October 9, 2023, by Camilla Pizzini
There are different ways to experience exhaustion.
Exhaustion is a familiar feeling to everyone, and it has many different shades. The first is the kind that haunts you psychologically, making you feel destroyed even without having exerted yourself physically. The second is the kind that, after great effort, makes you collapse without energy into a deep sleep. But the third is the kind that, despite everything, despite your body telling you to give up, never brings you down enough to make you stop. You have trained yourself to handle that kind of tiredness, especially if you have been an athlete, because you feel that deep down, despite everything, you still have the energy to keep going.
The tiredness I see in Stefano's eyes is this last one. It is not the first time I have seen it and perhaps, for this very reason, whenever I think of Stefano La Mastra, two words always come to mind: “Despite everything…”
Every project has its “Why”.
We are in Milan, or perhaps more in the Varese area. At Stefano's house, there is a photo of a little boy in the mountains with a bandaged hand. A crooked smile, a yellow and green hat, posing like any good mountaineer. On the back, there is a note: “July 24, 1989 - Trip to Bernina 2599m with Stefano, due to a storm we did not set foot on the glacier. Too cold for Stefano, injured in one hand”. Apparently, we are not about to tackle the Pizzo Bernina without a good reason.
Pizzo Bernina - 4049 m
Known by many, also called Piz, the Bernina is one of those mountains that has a reputation for being complicated, twisted, with more negative than positive facets, but still special in its own way. You could say it is the Mountain of the Lombard Alps.
The journey counts more than the summit.
With many thoughts, but with a single priority in mind, Stefano leaves home on his beloved bike. 161km and 2577m of elevation gain, this is what awaits him for this first section on two wheels. “Perhaps the bike will always be the sport in which I will never have too much difficulty” indeed, we are the ones in the support car following him, having trouble keeping up with him along the shores of Lake Como. He speeds through the cars and as long as the daylight assists him, there are no setbacks. Pedal after pedal, we get closer to the goal. The light fades, a quick outfit change, a little solid food and we continue. Anyone who found themselves on the climbs of Valmalenco in the darkness of the night would perhaps one day understand how much they are a mixture of desolation and physical pain caused by their steepness. Yet Stefano continues, between shouts and silence.
It is time to run.
Stefano has a great passion: the Vertical, his own way of tackling a mountain. You leave home on your own two feet and reach the top of a peak without ever taking transportation, shortcuts or breaks. And that is why now it is time to run. Arriving at the parking lot of Rifugio Zoia, the tiredness is there, but not too much. So much so that he sits down to eat something quickly, changes, one last kiss to the saint who decided to marry him and we set off again. With us Saro the mountain guide, who seems happier than all of us, including Stefano, to start running towards the start of the Bernina.
The night is young, we are less so.
11km and 1190m of elevation gain, in total darkness, with only headlamps to move forward and cut through the night. There is a mixture of adventure, recklessness, preparation and courage in tackling the mountain this way. Human beings are not made to stay in the dark, we are genetically programmed to lead a daytime life, and yet here we are at midnight running along the slopes of a mountain. Perhaps setting limits has never been part of Stefano La Mastra's essence. The beauty of facing the night in this way is that little by little, at 4 in the morning, when you begin to see a little light, you realize what really is around you and you feel small, insignificant. Yet you feel like a god. That is how we felt at Rifugio Marinelli Bombardieri - 2,813 m at 4:15 in the morning, after a more than deserved pasta. There are many good things in the world, but eating carbohydrates after a sleepless night seems to be everyone's favorite.
4:30 am, the rope team sets off for the Bernina: 1220m of final elevation gain.
We saw Stefano set off for the last stretch of this climb. The difficult part comes now, just when the most complicated moment has just begun. 4:30 in the morning, after a sleepless night and 170km in the legs, is one of those moments where you really ask yourself why you are doing it. The last 6km on Piz Bernina are also the most complicated: you start with a section of rocky path, until reaching the long-awaited glacier. It is a period of great temperature fluctuations and between the crevasses and the rockfalls, this is one of those places that can make you feel how fragile life can be. And given the conditions, Saro, the mountain guide, leads everyone along the via ferrata, the safest route, towards Rifugio Marco Rosa 3,609m above sea level. It is not much further, but 400m of elevation gain at these altitudes are special. We continue like this, between a curse, a small fall into a crevasse and fatigue-induced hallucinations, towards the last great challenge: the final ridge. A thin thread of rock separates us from the goal. The desire pushes us, but we must be careful. But then suddenly, there it is, the summit.
What did you feel once you reached the top?
Accomplished. I cared about it so much and I had been planning this Vertical for two years. In the last 10 years of my life, little by little, I am closing a whole series of projects I have had for a long time. In my opinion, when you complete everything you set out to do, it means that things are going in the right direction. Just look at the photo of me as a little boy with a bandaged hand, I have carried this project with me forever. All this makes me feel really good about myself, as if there were someone giving me confirmation that I am following the right path in my life.
Watch the video story of the Vertical on our YouTube channel: watch now.
© photo: Camilla Pizzini, Luca Matassoni