The son of Italians from São Paulo, Domingos Giobbi (1925-2013), is not considered a pioneer of Brazilian mountaineering for nothing. He, who founded CAP (Clube Alpino Paulista) in 1959, dedicated a good part of his life to mapping, studying and conquering more than 20 virgin summits of more than 5 thousand meters in altitude of the then still almost unknown Cordillera Blanca, a 180-kilometer-long sub-mountain range of the Andes located in Peru. And —most importantly— he made a point of passing on as much information and training as possible about his journeys to several generations of mountaineers, especially in classes and lectures promoted by the club.
If he was a restless and multifaceted engineer, musician, collector of artists such as Volpi and Tarsila do Amaral, sailor and athlete, it was in mountaineering that he left his greatest legacy. A legacy that became the book written by his admirer and disciple Cícero Augusto Vieira Neto, who lived with him since he was 16, when he took his first course at CAP.
“Giobbi was extremely meticulous and was concerned with recording his discoveries, whether through writing, photography or maps, contributing to collective knowledge”, says Vieira Neto in the presentation of his book, “O Centenário de Domingos Giobbi e o Nascimento da Aventura Brasileira em Alta Montanha”.
Giobbi’s travels to the Andes began in 1952, says the author. He climbed Aconcagua, the highest point on the American continent, at 6,961 meters, a few weeks after the first Brazilians —Orlando Lacorte and Ricardo Menescal— arrived there.
But, although Aconcagua was not yet the destination for hundreds of Andeanists that it is today, Giobbi wanted to follow the tradition of the great mountaineers of his time, the conquest of virgin mountains, at the time still numerous in the Andes. Since his first expedition to the Cordillera Branca, in 1959, that became his universe throughout his entire life as a mountaineer, until 1972. And it is the meticulously recorded accounts of each achievement that Vieira Neto brings together in the book, from the files to which he had access and which reveal the details of his planning, of each step and each obstacle along the snowy paths.
“He always demonstrated respect and genuine interest in the cultures and communities encountered along his journeys, seeking to understand their traditions and ways of life, driven by a deep, personal desire to explore, more than by external rewards or recognition”, describes Vieira Neto. “The Domingos Giobbi I met was someone who not only explored new territories, but
It also expanded the limits of knowledge”, he adds.
And no one better to define the mountaineer Giobbi than the mountaineer Giobbi himself, who says he is “a being who, hypercritical of himself, will find reasons for happiness when he manages to overcome tests, which he considers difficult and risky. Overcoming the fear that sometimes exists, despite experience. Playing with life for exploits, which he and a few others consider extremely important. Giving one’s life in exchange for nothing, for anonymity. It is a feeling of being a hero without fanfare and propaganda, but feeling like a human, in this world already full of comfort and security. Savor the value and joy of living, when just now it was almost lost.”
Service
- “The Centenary of Domingos Giobbi and the Birth of the Brazilian Adventure in Alta Montanha”, 60 pages.
- Publisher Alpino Paulista Club
- Where to buy Clube Alpino Paulista and Amazon
- How much R$ 50 e R$ 9,99 (e-book)
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