4 LEGENDARY MOUNTAIN LANDINGS
Pizzo Tre Signori
In July 1910, two Italian pilots successfully landed a biplane on the summit of Pizzo Tre Signori (2554m), a popular peak in the Bergamo Alps.
Mont Blanc
The Alpine icon was ‘conquered’ by plane on 30 July 1921, when Swiss aviator François Durafour landed his Caudron G3 biplane on the sloping summit of Dôme du Goûter (4331m), part of the Massif de Mont Blanc. He then took off and returned to Lausanne. The record remained unbeaten for 30 years.
Everest
The tale of amateur British aviator Maurice Wilson’s attempt to land a plane on Everest in 1934 was recently told in The Moth and the Mountain by Ed Caesar. Wilson eventually died near Camp 3 while trying to ascend on foot. A keen newspaper reader, there is the possibility that he was in part inspired by coverage of the Helvellyn landing, eight years earlier. Not an aeroplane landing, but in May 2005, French test pilot Didier Delsall’s helicopter touched down on the top of Everest for nearly four minutes.
Mount Seler
On 13 October 1972, a plane carrying 45 passengers including 19 members of a Uruguayan rugby union team crashed high in the remote Andes of western Argentina. The story of how some of the survivors resorted to cannibalism to survive is well known (see Alive by Piers Paul Read). But often overlooked is the amazing mountaineering feat made by Nanda Parrado and Roberto Canessa, who after 72 days set off to try to get help. Without technical gear and wearing only light summer clothes and rugby boots, they trekked for 10 days across the Andes, making the first ascent of Mount Seler (4600m). They eventually reached civilisation and a rescue was organised.