Leader

Tamara Lunger from Bolzano, born in 1986, is the greatest Italian climber, among the best in the world. You have conquered K2, Nanga Parbat and numerous other peaks.

You claim to have two riches. The first is courage. «And the second wealth – she explains – the one that makes me feel more fortunate, is faith. But not a bigoted faith, a formal faith: none of this, because I believe in God with boundless joy. Believing always puts me in a good mood. God, or rather Jesus, I imagine him as a man of thirty, thirty-five years old, with a week's unkempt beard, slightly curly hair down to his shoulders, muscular, every now and then I even seem to glimpse that he has a crazy tortoiseshell. He is a handsome, charming man. And always listening: when I talk to him, because I talk to Jesus continuously even without needing to be in danger or in difficulty on a mountain, he always answers me with actions, with what happens.

He loves me, I'm sure of it, and knowing it gives me so much confidence. It's like having a life partner, with the difference that God or Jesus or whatever we want to call him never makes me sad but only happy. He doesn't disappoint me: he's like the mountains, which in my opinion are better than a boy, a boyfriend. This is the faith that they passed on to me in my family, the one that never makes you feel alone, because you know that there is someone who lends you a hand, who encourages you to carry on.

God is my leader, that's all. It has always been like this and I don't know any mountaineer who believes as much as I do». In difficulty, climbing Nanga Parbat, he says that "I keep praying, I pray and pray, I think of my dear friend Jesus, I think he is my best friend, my savior, I ask him to help me, I ask him kindly if he can stop this wind, even if only for two hours, I beg you to free me from this enormous weight that I feel upon me and that prevents me from being as powerful as usual. I feel so vulnerable, so scared. I manage to get under the peak, I look above my head and continue to pray, in silence. I ask God to listen to me beyond the wind, I want my thoughts and feelings to go straight to heaven".

He recites Psalm 121: «I raise my eyes to the mountains: where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip, nor will your keeper fall asleep." He talks about Tamara and her lead climber.

Renzo Agasso

NP Aprile 2023