Walter Bonatti

Before I started climbing mountains, I started reading about climbing mountains. Walter Bonatti, who died Sept. 13 at 81, was one of those guys I looked up to, this iconic alpinist doing what he did simply for the love of doing it. In 1954, his team was the first to climb K2, the holy grail of mountaineering. Bonatti and Amir Mahdi, a Hunza porter, heroically carried oxygen canisters to 26,000 feet (7,900 m), making their teammates' summit bid possible. But those teammates--fearful that Bonatti would steal their glory--hid the highest camp, forcing him and Mahdi to endure the highest open bivouac to that date. Bonatti waged a half-century legal battle to prove his role in the expedition.

A year later, Bonatti climbed the west face of the Petit Dru, alone, in six days. He said he was very disgruntled with expeditions; to make the experience as pure as possible, you go alone--with just your skills and intelligence and basic equipment. Back then, the gear Bonatti had wasn't all that advanced. He was a true hard man.

Viesturs has summited every 8,000-m mountain without carrying oxygen