Biography
Corrado "Korra" Pesce is a mountaineer, mountain guide born in 1981 in Novara, Italy. "Korra" lived since she was 19, in 2009, at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix to satisfy her thirst for climbing. He was the father of a daughter, Leia aged 13 at the time of his disappearance in Patagonia in 2022.
Recognized worldwide for being one of the best mountaineers of his generation, Korra has distinguished himself on the most technical peaks of the Alps, in Patagonia and in the Himalayas. Having become a guide, he continues to climb as an amateur and offers himself a few brilliant shots with various climbing companions. In March 2012, he managed the first rehearsal and the winter premiere of the Directe tchécoslovaque on the north face of the Petit Dru with Jeff Mercier, one of his favorite partners. Together, the same year, they released a few lines like Die Hard, Rep a (king) line (V 5+ M7 90°, 600 m) at the Aiguille des Pèlerins or Full Love (V 5+ M6 85° R, 500 m) at the Aiguille du Peigne (with Jon Griffith and Julien Désécures).
With the Spaniard Martin Elias, he climbed two of the steepest routes on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses. La Directe de l'Amitié in 2014, then Rolling Stones the following year, a little climbed route but recently brought up to date by Charles Dubouloz who had also taken information from Korra Pesce before embarking on his own. Last winter, in the company of Will Sim, Korra had also walked the Way of the Dads in the rubble of the western face of the Drus. In the Dolomites, he had opened in 2013, a beautiful mixed line on the west face of the Sass Pordoi with Jeff Mercier but after the Mont-Blanc massif, his other favorite playground was Patagonia. In 2014, he successively climbed the Fitz Roy and the Aiguille Poincenot with Pierre Labbre and Damien Tomasi, then in January 2016, he succeeded in the first repetition of Psycho Vertical on the Torre Egger with Roli Striemitzer, Iñaki Coussirat, Carlitos Molina and, already , Tomas Aguilo, a path opened in 1986 by the Slovenians Janez Jeglic, Silvo Karo and Francek Knez. Korra Pesce has also left his mark in the Himalayas since spring 2016, with Martin Elias and the Frenchmen Damien Tomasi and Sébastien Corret, he had successfully repeated the Estrella Impossible route (6c A3+ 60°, 1,300 m) on the west face of the Bhagirathi III (6,454 meters) in the Garhwal massif.
On January 28, 2022, they freed to open a new route on the north face of Cerro Torre in Patagonia with the Argentinian Tomas Aguilo, and were descending towards El Chalten when the avalanche mowed them down at altitude. The weather window having closed, the emergency services could not intervene and despite a great surge of energy on the side of El Chalten, the miracle did not take place. Rescuers later announced that a drone had spotted his body on the mountain.
