When Marco Confortola claimed on July 21 from the summit of Gasherbrum I that he'd climbed all 14 of the 8,000m peaks without oxygen, the reaction was not applause. Instead, the best-known Italian alpinists, starting with Simone Moro and followed by heavyweights like Silvio Mondinelli, Marco Camandona, and even Reinhold Messner -- still forceful in his opinions at 80 -- accused Confortola of photoshopping summit pictures and making false claims.
This was not the first time doubts have been raised about Confortola's Himalayan climbs. But only now have so many illustrious mountaineers and fellow Italians spoken on the record. Their skepticism has sparked a new debate about trust and the need for proof in mountaineering.
In 2021, Confortola posted about his summit of Kangchenjunga. To illustrate his success, he included a photo of the summit area. However, he had clearly cropped the image from the photo of a previous summiter -- Shehroze Kashif of Pakistan. (Read the entire story here.)
At the time, other climbers on the mountain reported that Confortola showed them some photos taken on the peak's upper slopes, but not at the summit or anywhere near. Confortola's outfitter, Seven Summit Treks, refused to comment, but significantly, didn't include him on their list of summiters.
At the time, we tried to contact Confortola for his side of the story, but he never replied. Nor did we find anyone willing to speak on his behalf. Off the record, we were told he...
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