Hamilcar Crétier

A verrezziese mountaineer, who in the course of his short human adventure was able to leave an indelible mark, not only thanks to the number of climbs he made, many on new routes and one a first (today's Punta Crétier), but by virtue of the new philosophy with which he approached the mountains.  

A verrezziese mountaineer, who in the course of his short human adventure was able to leave an indelible mark, not only thanks to the quantity of climbs he carried out, many on new routes and one an absolute first (today's punta Crétier), but by virtue of the new philosophy with which he approached the mountains. 

Finished the heroic era of the absolute firsts of the most famous peaks; finished then the period of the firsts of the different walls of the same mountains, the era of sport mountaineering had begun, of the 'solution to the problems' posed by the rock faces: the study and realisation of a particular route, thus, for passion, to measure oneself with nature, for sport at last. He promised himself the utmost prudence, in fact he said: 'Whatever some gentlemen mountaineers may say, I honestly confess that in certain passages I am afraid'. But evidently courage and self-control had the better of him, as in the course of his 24 years he managed to inaugurate 51 new routes: in addition to the aforementioned first ascent of Punta Crétier (then called 'Vierge' des Dames Anglaises, 1928), the NE of the Grivola (1926), the NORTH of Mont Emilius with a live marmot in his rucksack (1927) the SE of Mont-Maudit, the Gran Paradiso from the NW (1930), the Sud of the Aiguille Noire de Peutérey (1932), the Matterhorn from the West face of Tiefenmatten to the Italian ridge (1931) and the Pic Tyndall via the South ridge (1933). This last ascent was fatal for him: after a bivouac on the face, the rope group formed by Crétier, Basilio Ollietti and Antonio Gaspard fell on the return route, in a generally non-dangerous spot, betrayed by an unstable snow slab. It was 8 July 1933. "Some fragments of glass held the hands of Ollietti's watch steady. It marked half past five. They were buried next to each other, in the small cemetery of Valtournenche, on Friday, 14 July 1933. The Matterhorn had been climbed for the first time by Edward Whymper, on that Friday, 14 July 1865".* His life and his notes inspired the writer-mountaineer Giuseppe Mazzotti, who later became brother-in-law of the now fallen Crétier, to write the biographical volume "Montagnes valdôtaines" and the sad sixth chapter of *Great exploits on the Matterhorn.