“Two men and one leg”: with self-irony about their condition, but above all with tenacity and determination, they are reaching extraordinary goals. It is really true that, as one of them reports on his website, "the limits are only in our mind". This is Andrea Lanfri, from Lucca, born in 1986, who at 29 contracts meningitis with meningococcal sepsis. After a month of coma he loses both legs and seven fingers. Thanks to the willpower and passion for sport, within a year he returns to his former life, approaching paralymipic athletics, starting to run with a pair of carbon fiber prostheses, purchased thanks to a fundraiser. First Italian athlete with double amputation of the lower limbs to go below 12 seconds in the 100 flat meters, he conquers three national records, two bronze medals, together with a silver at the European Championships, and a silver at the 2017 World Championships. In the same year he also returns to beloved mountain, already practiced before the illness: climbing and mountaineering, and begins to dream of climbing Everest. In 2018 he began his preparation with mountains over 5000 meters (Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador). He is the first multi-amputation athlete to reach an altitude of 7300 meters (Putha Hiunchiuli in Nepal).
The other protagonist of the story is Massimo (Max) Coda, from Biella, born in 1970, who in 2010 was the victim of a serious accident in the mountains that compromised the functionality of his right leg. After an ordeal that lasted 8 years and 16 surgeries, with months of forced bed rest and the definitive loss of correct walking, despite the apparent recovery, in 2018 he decided to have his right limb amputated to return to climbing and climbing. Mountain climbing.
Both returned to full possession of their lives thanks to the prostheses, the two met during a race in Liguria at the beginning of 2019 and, given the common passion, they decide to climb together, without resorting to other rope companions. Thus, this year, in total autonomy, they launch the ambitious #fivepeaks 2020 project: reaching the peaks of Gran Paradiso, Mont Blanc, Punta Gnifetti, Monviso and Cervino. Only on the Gran Becca did they stop before the summit, at Pic Tyndall.
This is why the Club4000 board of directors has decided to appoint Lanfri and Coda as honorary members for 2020. Thinking of these extraordinary people who, barring Covid impediments, we will celebrate at the shareholders' meeting, scheduled for Saturday 21 November in Turin , one cannot fail to mention Oliviero Bellinzani (1955-2015), the "man with wings", already appointed honorary member of the Club, capable of climbing 21 four thousand peaks with an artificial limb.
