I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 10: it was Christmas 1979. The first years with the disease were marked by a general lack of glycemic control and difficulty with diabetes self-management. Through sports and above all, alpinism, I discovered a new balance and a better awareness of what I could accomplish as a person and as diabetic.

At present, my HgbA1c values routinely range between 6,8 and 7,2% and my insulin therapy consists of 22 units per day of Actrapid (Regular) and 16 units of Protaphane (NPH) divided into 4 injections a day. In some situations, to bring down blood sugar or during strenuous and extended physical exertion, I use Humalog (lispro).

I have been climbing for over 12 years on steep rock and ice and have climbed more than 100 routes in the Alps including routes on Monte Bianco; the Grandes Jorasses; west face of Bernina; north-east face of Pizzo Badile; north-east face of Ortles; north-west face of Gran Zebrù. In the the Dolomiti (the Dolomites, for you English speakers): the south face of Marmolada; north-west face of Civetta; north face of Tre Cime di Lavaredo; north face of Agner; north face of Sass de la Crusc, and lots more.

During 1999 I went to the Cordillera Blanca in the Peruvian Andes where I climbed Nevado Urus (5495 m., 18029 ft.), Nevado Ishinca (5553 m., 18219 ft.), Nevado Pisco (5756 m., 18885 ft.), the Ferrari route on the south-west face of Nevado Alpamayo (5946 m., 19509 ft.) and Nevado Huascaran (6769 m.), where I reached 6200 m. (20342 ft.).

I also enjoy doing marathons, trail running, cross-country skiing, and ski-mountaineering .

I do consider IDEA 2000 a great chance, perhaps an unrepeatable one, to compare my experiences, my way of thinking and my culture with other diabetics that found –as I did- in sport and alpinism, a valid way to assert the normality of their condition and a good way of living.