7 minute read
PETER MOSER AURAI
BY MARTA MANZONI PHOTOS BY ROBERTO DE PELLEGRIN
Aurai, from pre-Latine "Aur", a grassy area around waters, from which comes Lagorai.
The first thing I understand about Peter Moser is that for Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and the elite of Silicon Valley, Peter Moser, simply does not exist. No trace of him on the World Wide Web. Today's revolutionaries don't have social media. The second thing I understand about Peter Moser is that he loves Lagorai as much as I do. Except that he, one of the best Mountain Guides in the area, knows it like the back of his hand. “There is Cima d’Asta, my kingdom. Behind there is the farm where I live, lost in the mountains” he tells me, pointing to the summit located between the Tesino Plateau, the Valsugana and the Vanoi Valley. In February 2020, before the world stopped, Peter Moser, the irreducible, linked all the peaks of more than thousand meters of the Lagorai-Cima d'Asta chain. Crests at the edge of the sky, steep and very exposed slopes, technical swooping descents, unpublished ski mountaineering routes. Every day he covered more than six/seven thousand meters in altitude, climbing crests strictly in alpine style, light and essential. "I only had a little water and a few peanuts with me, which I often didn't even eat. I didn't have a set time, I didn't care about the record, it was just an excuse to be out in my environment. I knew that I would have to adapt to the conditions I found at high altitude, navigating by sight. The program was just an idea. In the end, however, it took me fourteen days”.
A journey of exploration of the soul and uncontaminated nature. As adventure companions, deer, eagles, chamois and wolves. The snow under the feet, the wind in the hair, looking at the horizon and, in the ears, the sound of breath. “I am very jealous of my home mountains. Lagorai is the last wild outpost of Trentino, far from the tourism spotlight, and I want it to remain as it is. It is unique and it has a priceless value. It is a no man's land. Its origin is volcanic, if you look at it from above it is made up of huge ridges that line up as far as the eye can see. Here the only resort is the Cermis and there is only one road, closed in winter. For the most part it is not even a Natural Park, if you think about it it is indicative: it means that are the mountaineers who have preserved it intact, the same as millennia of years ago".
An eagle dances at the zenith, circling curiously above our heads. It is the only friend we would meet during the day. It seems that humanity has never existed here. “I move in silence, as an animal, following my own instinct. The mountain must not notice my passage. If I notice footprints of a wolf, I go the other way, in order to not to interfere. I'm even sorry to leave my mark on the snow. I dive into the mountains and become part of them. Do you think that if there had been thirty other people with us, today would have been such a special day anyway?”
The question, of course, is rhetorical. And it is impossible not to agree with the implicit answer. “The mountains are not for everyone. I know I'm selfish, but that's the way it is. It takes a gradual, respectful approach. If I find that a person does not share my values, I prefer to avoid that company. I happened to say no to a client who had offered me a large amount of money to climb three classic Northern Alps because I realized that he was just a collector”.
Peter Moser, South Tyrolean roots written in the surname, a son of an artist of the mountains, self-taught. Improvising is his mantra. “My family is made of farmers, I have no mountaineering relatives. At first, it was the simple consequence of a re-
call. So as a child, around the age of ten, when I took my first steps on the wall, I learned everything by myself. At twelve I climbed my first 8a. I was used to living with fear, since a risk situation arose at every adventure, it was inevitable. I remember once, on the edge of a trail, I saw blood come out of my nails as I tightened my grips. I was thirteen and went ahead always first. Now I would never tell the kids I teach to do that. I consider myself a bit of a survivor. A healthy fear is good, it always makes you alert. These experiences have forged my personality and my knowledge of the mountains. I have always been attracted to adventures, these strong sensations and all activities: ice climbing, ski mountaineering, multi-pitch routes. The important thing is to stay in the mountains”.
When he was twenty Peter Moser became a Mountain Guide. In his curriculum there are repetitions of routes above 8c, ascents to the great Norths of the Alps, hundreds of routes in the Dolomites and throughout the Alps, numerous first openings both on rock and on ice.
Rebellious and indomitable curvy hair, just like their master, lean and ready to shoot, a perfect name, destined to become legend, for a few people. “I have never respected the rules, since I was a child: you don't know how many times my mom slapped me in the face! I consider myself a rebel: I have never done anything in my life that has been imposed on me. This is what I am”. Peter Moser is a wild spirit, a pure one. An authentic person, a force of nature. A mountaineer that wants to be and not to appear. “With sponsors I immediately make things clear and I have said many no to several proposals I have received. I feel good with Aku precisely because we share the same vision of the mountain. A common passion that goes far beyond the simple sport performance. There is a lot of comparison related not only to the development of innovative shoes such as the Rock DFS GTX, but to the outdoor world in its multifaceted nature. Another model of the company that I find interesting is the Hayatsuki GTX: a boot suitable for challenging and mixed routes”.
After a very bad injury and the breakup of the cruciate ligament, Peter Moser agreed to join the army as a professional athlete and mountaineer. After five years, however, military discipline began to get tight. He decided to end this experience, which helped him understand what he is really looking for in the mountains: mountaineering is his parallel universe of freedom, his escape. Anarchist by nature, understood as a libertarian ideal based on the autonomy and freedom of individuals, as opposed to any form of constituted power. “Being free allows me to express myself. I think I'm not good at anything, except at struggling. I am a hard head: if I have a goal I do not give up. This is why I go to the mountains alone: I am faster and every emotion is stronger. I have direct contact with nature. I have a hard time finding someone who has my same ideals and my same time pace”. In fact, for someone who is used to pulverizing two hundred thousand meters of altitude difference a year, I imagine it is difficult to find joyride partners. “Sometimes I meet a new climbing partner but the next times he always finds some excuse not to come…”.
Peter tells me that in the future he would like to test himself in some international expedition, since he has never experienced any of that. But of course he doesn't tell me where he would like to go. Today, we’re spending together a decidedly alternative Easter day. Starting from the Val Cava, we walk up to the Cima del Gronlait, which divides the Valsugana from the Val dei Mocheni, an area known for the presence of a German-speaking linguistic minority of medieval origin. We descend from the south- east side, arriving in Val Portella. We go back on our skins to the top and ski down to the village of Fierozzo, where some friends come to pick us up by car. A little taste of his Lagorai. A peak, while he, during his crossing, covered thirty peaks a day, indomitable. Up and down from the ridges to the edge of the sky, all in one breath. Peter Moser, the irreducible. And his Lagorai, so beautiful when it’s beautiful, so amazing, so peaceful.
