Walter Bonatti (1930-2011) was an Italian mountain climber, explorer and journalist. Famed for his climbing panache, he pioneered little known and technically difficult climbs in the Alps, Himalayas and Patagonia. Among many climbing achievements, he is remembered for a solo climb of a new route on the southwest pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in 1955, the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958 and the first solo climb in winter of the north face of the Matterhorn in 1965. Immediately after the Matterhorn climb, Bonatti announced his retirement from professional climbing at age 35. He authored many mountaineering books and spent the remainder of his career travelling off the beaten track as a reporter for the Italian magazine Epoca. He died of pancreatic cancer in Rome, age 81.
Here, in 1955 at age 25, he is the handsome fellow in the foreground on Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps: