ISLAMABAD, Sept 9: The inauguration of a four-day event, ‘The Italian Science and Cooperation at the Shadow of K2’, began with the opening of a photo exhibition highlighting Filippo De Filippi’s scientific expedition in Central Asia in 1913-1914.

Almost 300 people were present at the Pakistan National Council of Arts’ (PNCA’s) National Art Gallery for the exhibition and films.

Titled ‘Rediscovering the Abode of Snow’, the exhibition is made of photographic material extracted from the original photo albums of the expedition. These albums are conserved in the archives of the Society for Geographic Studies of Florence, Italy.Similarly, a film festival featured two short films on the first night.

“In the Heart of Asia”, a 20-minute documentary retracing Filippi’s expedition in 1913, was directed by Stefano Ardito.

“Next Time Inshallah” was directed by Alex G. de Bikuna and documented the experiences of mountaineers as they reached the summit of the Gasherbrum.

Four other films are to follow on Tuesday. Also scheduled for Tuesday is a day-long scientific conference for experts to deliberate on the issues pertaining to glaciers, water and ecosystems in the Karakoram.

Federido Bianchi, the head of the Cultural Affairs at the Italian Embassy, said, “The Karakoram Range and K2 have been familiar names in Italy for a very long time. It was in 1909 that the Duke of Abruzzi, the son of our then king, crossed the Karakoram, creating an ideal bridge between the two countries.

“Since then, many Italian scientists, explorers and mountaineers have come to the region. Amongst these Ardito Desio (who visited the area in 1929 for the first time) and his companions Lacedelli and Compagnoni were the first climbers to reach the top of K2 in 1954.”

Ardito Desio continued his expeditions until a few years before his death in 2001, and in order to commemorate his achievements, an Italian Museum was inaugurated in Skardu in 2004.

Mr Bianchi said the Italian Government, within its portfolio of development programmes worth over 226 million Euros, had decided to fund different activities in the mountainous areas of Pakistan.

“The main programme is the Social Economic Environmental Development Project (SEED) that amounts to about 8 million Euros and is implemented by the Everest-K2-CNR Committee in collaboration with the Karakoram International University,” he said.

The president of Ev-K2-CNR, Agostino da Polenza, said the Italians were working in the Karakoram for the past 100 years.

“Having inherited Professor Desio’s dreams and scientific planning, the Ev-K2-CNR is on its way to explore and research issues of the Karakoram. For the past five years, we have focused on consolidation of the Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP) in the K2 region under the framework of SEED,” he said.

He added, “The Karakoram range has all the superlative features which make us love the giant mountains. The features include size, strength, harmony, shape, colour, and light, to the unique majesty of K2.”

Maurizio Gallo, the technical advisor to the Ev-K2-CNR, discussed the inception of the Concordia Rescue Team, an initiative close to his heart as a mountaineer which provides rescue service in the Karakoram ranges.

Created in response to an incident in 2008 in which 11 people died on K2, the service can potentially mean the difference between survival and death.

The team has been built in collaboration with an Italian rescue team which has worked to build the capacity of local guides so that they could assist people. Charmingly enough, a short amateur video introduction mentioned that many of the rescue cases thus far were related to coughs amongst porters.

Also present at the inauguration was Vice Chancellor Karakoram International University Dr Najma Najam, who hoped SEED projects and various capacity building initiatives would translate into sustainable development in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.

The International Mountain Film Festival was then launched by Samina Baig, the first Pakistani woman to scale Mount Everest.

She said, “Mountains are life for the people living there and in the plains and downstream [as they are] providing water and ecological services.”

Unfortunately, there were no opportunities for the youth to explore the snow covered habitats on glaciers and peaks, she added.

Samina Baig said, “Foreigners come to scale the summits on our lands but we have no chance of exploring our own mountains. Providing educational and adventure activities to the youth is not the priority of our government, so we have to depend on foreign friends.”