Tommaso Lamantia summits K2, his first 8000er

The news just in from K2 Base Camp is that during the night on 28 July Tommaso Lamantia also reached the top of the second highest mountain in the world. The 42-year-old Italian mountaineer from Varese summited alone at 04:45, without supplementary oxygen and without the help of high altitude porters. An Italian on the summit of K2 therefore, almost precisely 70 years after the historic first ascent, carried out by the Italian expedition on 30 July 1954.

Lamantia is a member of the CAI Biella expedition comprised of Gian Luca Cavalli, Dontella Barbera, Matteo Sella, Cesar Rosales and Dario Renieri; after reaching base camp in mid-June, the group acclimatised on K2 and nearby Broad Peak, not without difficulty given the uncharacteristically terrible weather in the Karakorum this summer (see video below during the acclimatisation phase).

Lamatia is a member of the Italian Academic Alpine Club and of the Varese Mountain Rescue squad. K2 is is his first eight-thousander, but he is certainly not new to major outings. In 2018 for example he climbed Cerro Torre via the West Face Ragni route, while in 2020 he repeated the Central Pillar of Frêney on Mont Blanc. He is currently resting at Base Camp, we hope to provide more details about the entire expedition in due course.