Template:Did you know nominations/1954 Italian Karakoram expedition to K2

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by 97198 (talk) 03:38, 28 February 2019 (UTC)

1954 Italian Karakoram expedition to K2 edit

Compagnoni (left) and Lacedelli
Compagnoni (left) and Lacedelli

Created by Thincat (talk). Self-nominated at 18:25, 3 February 2019 (UTC).

  • I just want to say that I know how much work goes into a page like this and the page looks great. There are a few picky things I've noticed that I hope we can resolve:
  • I was able to get online access to Ghosts of K2 and Fallen Giants. The fact that the cost was "eight times greater than that of the 1953 American expedition" was not something I found in the cited Conefrey book. Perhaps it was in another source? Citations for the line of ascent chart are not clear--does the uncited material come from the Desio source? Please clarify. Assuming good faith on the other print sources, as other spot-checks were fine. No problems with copyvios.
  • Reading the lead, I was confused about the controversy about the account. Could you clarify in the lead that it was the details of the expedition, not whether or not the climbers made the summit, that were controversial? I see that the main controversy article is linked in the lead. I put in another "main article" link under "official published accounts" to emphasize the existence of this helpful page, but it may be more appropriate somewhere else.
  • The Conefrey book mentions that Desio did not bring enough material to shelter his porters in the snow, and that 120 of them left on May 12. Maybe all the details aren't necessary, but I think it's important to include the reason behind the porters' strikes.
  • New enough and long enough. Photo is in the public domain in Italy as a "simple photograph" and therefore in the public domain in the U.S. The photo looks good at a small size. I approve both hooks, which I verified with the online source. Please address the issues I mentioned to move the nomination forward. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 20:06, 14 February 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for your helpful comments. I shall go through them point by point and ping you (tomorrow probably) when I've finished.

  • "Eight times": it is in my printed library book and on the Google preview I am seeing https://books.google.com/books?id=Bp8jDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA189 (page 189 in both) "... cost about 100 milliion lira, ... around eight times more than Houston had spent and three times more than the 1953 British Everest expedition."
  • The line of ascent does not come from Desio (except possibly for the lower camps). By the time I got to 1954 Italian Karakoram expedition controversy I cited this more carefully so I'll do so for the present article. My Open Library borrowing of Desio has now expired and someone else has booked it out but I don't think this will matter (I'm next in the queue now anyway).
  • Yes, your "main" template was helpful and placed appropriately. I expect the difficulty is that the controversy, although it rather raged in Italy for fifty years, now seems rather unimportant (maybe even in Italy). I'll see what I can do to make this more clear in the lead. Yes the two climbers really did reach the top and no one has ever suggested they didn't.
  • Porters always went on strike (and until the Swiss attempted Everest in 1952 they were treated pretty shabbily) but I'll say why on this occasion they went on strike! Thincat (talk) 21:44, 14 February 2019 (UTC)
  • I've seen to those things, I believe, and in particular I've extended the lead. Please let me know if you think there should be further improvements even if they are not requirements for DYK. Thincat (talk) 19:00, 15 February 2019 (UTC)
  • Happy to approve this nomination. The improved lead will definitely help casual readers understand the gist of the article. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 17:21, 20 February 2019 (UTC)