Ardito Desio - Exploration of Mountains in Asia

Exploration of Mountains in Asia

In 1929 he was a member of the Italian Geographical Expedition to Karakorum, under the leadership of the Duke of Spoleto, in the capacity of geographer and geologist. On this occasion he covered Kashmir and Baltistan in Northern Pakistan, and developed his scientific activity in the valleys of Baltoro and Panmah glaciers on the south slope of the range, and in the Sarpo Laggo and Shaksgam valleys, between the Karakorum and the Aghil ranges, the Abruzzi valley climbing, for the first time, the Conway Pass. The results of this expedition are contained in a volume, which was published under the aegis of the Royal Geographical Society and the Italian Alpine Club in 1936.

During the summer of 1933, Desio led an expedition to Iran. The expedition climbed some of the highest peaks of the Zagros Range including development of a new route to the summit of Iran's highest peak, Mount Damāvand (5,610 m). He published some scientific reports on this trip.

From 1952 to 1955, he led 3 expeditions to the Karakorum Range and Hindu Kush. The first was a preliminary expedition; the second, the main expedition for the first ascent of K2 (8,611 m, second highest peak in the world); the third, for geological, geophysical and ethnographical researches. The results of the studies carried out during these expeditions have been published in many papers and more largely developed in 8 volumes of scientific character.

During the summer of 1961, he led an expedition to Badakhshan and Katagan (North¬eastern Afghanistan) with a geological and geophysical program, and in the summer of 1962 he led another expedition to the Karakorum Range, exploring geologically the upper Hunza valley and the Chogo Lumba, the Basha and the Hoh Lumba glacier valleys.

In 1967 and 1968 he carried out geohydrological investigations in the Mu River basin (Central Burma) for a UN irrigation project, while in the 1970 he developed a geological study in Mindanao (Philippines).

In northern Pakistan Desio carried out three other geological expeditions during the summers of 1971 (Middle Indus Valley), 1973 (Gilgit-Skardu) and 1975 (Punjab and Gilgit).

By invitation of Academia Sinica, in June 1980, after a scientific symposium in Beijing, Desio crossed Southern Tibet under the leadership of Chinese scientists.

In 1989 he planned, organized and realized a permanent high altitude scientific laboratory-observatory in a prefabricated glass and aluminum pyramid-shaped structure, which was installed at an altitude of 5,050 m at the base of Mount Everest. The aim was to grant multidisciplinary scientific investigations at high quote. The “Pyramid” is still existent, and the laboratory still works.