Luigi (Louis) [1] Carrel aka Carrellino (1901–1983) was an Italian mountain climber, mountain guide and ski mountaineer.
Carrel was the son of the mountain guide Jean-Joseph Carrel and his wife Joséphine Pellissier. He was born in Crétaz (pron. creta) and later moved to Cheneil, two villages of Valtournenche. In 1933 he won the first Mezzalama Trophy, together with Valtournenche guides Antoine Gaspard and Piero Maquignaz.
In 1932, he climbed together with Antoine Gaspard and Enzo Benedetti at first the south side of the Matterhorn, and together with Giacomo Chiara and Alfredo Perino at first completely the Furggen ridge (Furggengrat) of the same mountain during World War II. [2]
He also took part in several expeditions to the Gran Paradiso and in the Dolomites as well as in South America, especially in the Patagonian region, where he climbed in the group of the Chilean Andes, on the Monte Fitz Roy and on the Cerro Torre.
His son Antonio is also an alpine guide. [3]
The Matterhorn is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, whose summit is 4,478 metres (14,692 ft) high, making it one of the highest summits in the Alps and Europe. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points and are split by the Hörnli, Furggen, Leone/Lion, and Zmutt ridges. The mountain overlooks the Swiss town of Zermatt, in the canton of Valais, to the northeast; and the Italian town of Breuil-Cervinia in the Aosta Valley to the south. Just east of the Matterhorn is Theodul Pass, the main passage between the two valleys on its north and south sides, which has been a trade route since the Roman Era.
Edward Whymper FRSE was an English mountaineer, explorer, illustrator, and author best known for the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. Four members of his climbing party were killed during the descent. Whymper also made important first ascents on the Mont Blanc massif and in the Pennine Alps, Chimborazo in South America, and the Canadian Rockies. His exploration of Greenland contributed an important advance to Arctic exploration. Whymper wrote several books on mountaineering, including Scrambles Amongst the Alps.
The Illinizas are a pair of volcanic mountains that are located in the north of Latacunga, Cotopaxi, Ecuador. They are located in the Illinizas Ecological Reserve. These twin mountains are separated by a saddle that is about a kilometer long. The peaks are among the highest in Ecuador, with Illiniza Sur standing slightly taller than Illiniza Norte, its northern counterpart, at 5245 metres and 5126 metres respectively.
The Dufourspitze is the highest peak of Monte Rosa, an ice-covered mountain massif in the Alps. Dufourspitze is the highest mountain of both Switzerland and the Pennine Alps and is also the second-highest mountain of the Alps and Western Europe, after Mont Blanc. It is located between Switzerland and Italy. The peak itself is located wholly in Switzerland.
Walter Bonatti was an Italian mountaineer, alpinist, explorer and journalist. He was noted for many climbing achievements, including a solo climb of a new alpine climbing route on the south-west pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in August 1955, the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958, and, in 1965, the first solo climb in winter of the North face of the Matterhorn on the mountain's centenary year of its first ascent. Immediately after his solo climb on the Matterhorn, Bonatti announced his retirement from professional climbing at the age of 35, and after 17 years of climbing activity. 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 on 13 September 2011 of pancreatic cancer in Rome aged 81, and was survived by his life partner, the actress Rossana Podestà.
Carrel is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Valtournenche is a town and comune in the Aosta Valley region of north-western Italy, 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above the sea level. It is named after and covers most of the Valtournenche, a valley on the left side of the Dora Baltea, from Châtillon to the Matterhorn. Valtournenche is close to Cervinia and in winter the two towns are connected also with the ski slopes. In fact, they are part of the same ski resort with also Zermatt, Switzerland.
Breuil-Cervinia is a frazione of the comune of Valtournenche, and is considered one of the most renowned winter and summer tourist resorts in the Alps.
The golden age of alpinism was the decade in mountaineering between Alfred Wills's ascent of the Wetterhorn in 1854 and Edward Whymper's ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865, during which many major peaks in the Alps saw their first ascents.
Michel Auguste Croz was a French mountain guide and the first ascentionist of many mountains in the western Alps during the golden age of alpinism. He is chiefly remembered for his death on the first ascent of the Matterhorn and for his climbing partnership with Edward Whymper.
Jean-Antoine Carrel was an Italian mountain climber and guide. He had made climbs with Edward Whymper and was his rival when he attempted to climb the Matterhorn for the first time. Whymper ultimately succeeded in making the mountain's first ascent in July 1865 while Carrel led the party that achieved the second ascent three days later. Carrel was in the group that became the first Europeans to reach the summit of Chimborazo in 1880. He died from exhaustion when guiding a party on the south side of the Matterhorn.
The Mountain Calls is a film directed by Luis Trenker which recreates the struggle between Edward Whymper and Jean-Antoine Carrel for the first successful ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865.
The first ascent of the Matterhorn was a mountaineering expedition made by Edward Whymper, Lord Francis Douglas, Charles Hudson, Douglas Hadow, Michel Croz, and two Zermatt guides, Peter Taugwalder and his son of the same name, on 14 July 1865. Douglas, Hudson, Hadow and Croz were killed on the descent when Hadow slipped and pulled the other three with him down the north face. Whymper and the Taugwalder guides, who survived, were later accused of having cut the rope below to ensure that they were not dragged down with the others, but the subsequent inquiry found no evidence of this and they were acquitted.
Refuge Jean-Antoine Carrel is a refuge in the Alps at an altitude of 3,830m in Aosta Valley, Italy. It is located on the south-west ridge of the Matterhorn, near the Swiss border.
Mont Brouillard is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the Val d'Aosta, Italy, being a satellite peak on the south ridge of Mont Blanc.
Amé Gorret (1836-1907), known in his native Aosta Valley as the "Abbé Gorret", was a priest and Alpinist (mountaineer).
Grand Tournalin (3,379m) is a mountain of the Monte Rosa Massif in the Pennine Alps in Aosta Valley, Italy. It is the highest mountain between the Ayas Valley and Valtournenche. The mountain is composed of two summits, the north being higher than the south summit by just 9m.
Émile Rey was an alpine mountain guide from Aosta Valley in Italy. Dubbed "the Prince of Guides" in Courmayeur, he was one of the most renowned guides at the end of the 19th century, making many first ascents on some of the highest and most difficult mountains in the Mont Blanc massif of the Alps. He has been described as "one of the greatest guides of his generation."