The great «master of winter» mountaineer lives in the cold out of habit: «The more you dress, the more you spoil yourself, the sicker and weaker you get. low temperatures keep you active»
«I would like to be remembered for having been an explorer of the cold at high altitude, the only man in history who managed to climb 4 8000m peaks that were still virgin and unclimbed in the cold season: Shisha Pangma in 2005, Makalu in 2009 , Gasherbrum II in 2011 and Nanga Parbat in 2016». Words of Simone Moro, 55, known as «winter maestro», one of the greatest Italian mountaineers for whom «living in the cold is now a habit, a necessity, a therapy». When he faced his Siberian adventure in 2018, on Mount Pobeda, the temperature had dropped to -71°C, the coldest place on the planet. «With the cold everything becomes more silent, less chaotic, more wild. Men run away from the cold as from a demon while in doing so they weaken and become intoxicated with dependence on heat and comfort».
Moro didn’t escape the cold even when he saw death in the face: in 1997 on the “mortal mountain”, Annapurna, an avalanche overwhelmed his roped party and he was the only one to save himself. Or when he slept sweating at 8,000 meters after rescuing a mountaineer in distress to whom he donated his sleeping bag to protect him during the night before he was transported downstream. «I chattered my teeth all night, for this rescue I received the gold medal for civil valor. I decided to climb in winter to savor the taste of exploration, of the past, of the men of the past. A crisis, a war or a moment of economic difficulty is enough to find yourself living and surviving as it was normal to know how to do and which we instead consider extreme or tragic».
Per Moro, who has almost 70 mountaineering expeditions behind him and has reached 8 of the 14 eight-thousanders and Everest four times, the more you dress, the more you spoil yourself, the more you pamper yourself, the more you get sick and weak. «I rarely get sick, I haven’t been to a family doctor for decades and apart from the luck I’ve had, I’ve contributed a lot to my health, always being outdoors as much as possible, in the cold. And eating well: no wine, no alcohol, lots of sport and resting 7/8 hours a day: in the bedroom I keep the window open all year round» continues the explorer. «I have known the people of the cold places of the planet and I have always found them all healthy and strong. In short, a little cold is good for youI don’t know if it preserves, but it certainly keeps us active».
Can you train for the cold? Maybe not, but you can get used to it. “To get used to it, you have to make an effort to get to know him,” says Moro. «If a person is well, running or walking outdoors instead of on the treadmill is already an option that I would recommend, perhaps after consulting a sports doctor. Both activities can also be practiced in the rain or on cloudy days, it doesn’t mean sacrificing yourself to suffering, but carving out some time and peace for yourself. Thermoregulation and thermogenesis, the metabolic process through which the body produces heat to keep the body temperature constant, are stimulated by outdoor and cool activities and with equal effort more calories are burned. My anti-cold remedies are: use technical materials, have underwear and socks made of merino wool and not cotton, move around instead of being subjected to cold temperatures, don’t stray too far from known routes unless you have a wrist or laptop GPS» .
December 2, 2022 (change December 2, 2022 | 16:43)
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