Italian climber Marco Confortola was up Mount Dhaulagiri when the Himalayan range shook on April 25th. His second ascent of the more than 8,000-metre super-peak [he has scaled eight of the world’s tallest] this time was to deliver recyclable supply containers. <br /><br /> We talk to him back at home in Valfurva, in the Italian Alps. <br /><br /> Confortola has survived many such climbs, but this was his first earthquake. <br /><br /> “At first it wasn’t clear what was going on, then with the continuous tremor we realized it was an earthquake. Ten minutes later there was a strong shock and we understood the discharge of energy must have caused a disaster down in the valleys.”<br /><br /> Correspondent Daniela Castelli asked: “So you decided to leave the base camp. Walking up and down mountains is your job, but what spurred the decision here?” <br /><br /> “Helicopters were available at Mount Everest [some 370 kilometres away] to retrieve severely injured people, [but] we were well off, physically. Our descent [of Dhaulagiri] was very
