Linda Cottino and Silvia Metzeltin were recognised by the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation for their work “L’alpinismo è tutto un mondo” [Mountaineering is a world unto itself] at an evening event held on 15 September as part of the “Pordenonelegge Festa del Libro con gli Autori” book festival, in collaboration with the Pordenone CAI Section and Montagne360.
Ph. Gigi Corazzin
Mountaineering is a world unto itself…
for women too
The Italian Alpine Club (CAI) has published this ‘open conversation’ between mountaineering geologist Silvia Metzeltin and journalist Linda Cottino who has devoted much attention to the memory of women in mountaineering, including their feats, exploits, achievements and resignations, as well as their friendships, encounters, affections, comparisons, readings and reflections. UNESCO Dolomites Foundation director Mara Nemela and the Foundation’s technical bodies selected this work because it is particularly consistent with the principles underlying the establishment of the UNESCO Dolomites Special Award, specifically, to recognise the work of people who contribute to promoting the values that have made recognition possible by stimulating the process of spreading awareness in communities about UNESCO’s exceptional universal values.
Regeneration
This is the word that the curators of the 2022 edition of “Pordenonelegge” have chosen to interpret the “hope of being able to intertwine courage and will, as well as intelligence and good fortune to the extent needed to renew life, which in recent months has appeared to be under greater threat and more fragile than ever before.” The need for regeneration is more urgent than it ever has been for a society that has had to come to terms with a pandemic and a war; it is also a reference to the earth and sharing what it has to offer. This theme is the perfect reminder of the need to offer a sustainable shared future to the mountains and to the Dolomites particularly as a World Heritage Site. One of the ways in which we can do this is by recognising people who, like Silvia Metzeltin and Linda Cottino, know how to tell the story of their love for the earth, which in this case, they experienced, challenged and contemplated through their mountaineering activities.