Two Italian Climbers Killed Simul-Climbing in the Dolomites
Italian climbers Francesco Favilli and Filippo Zanin were killed in a simul-climbing fall on the South Face of Marmolada (10,968ft/3,342m), in the Italian Dolomites, on September 3. They were much-loved members of the greater Italian climbing community, popular faces at the crags and peaks around their home of Treviso.
According to Favilli’s longtime friend and climbing partner Mirco Grasso, Zanin and Favilli were planning to climb the 20-pitch trade route Don Quixote (5.10; 2,500ft), the easiest route on the South Face. Grasso, who examined photos taken on Favilli’s phone after the accident, said it appears the men started up the wrong feature.
A few pitches off the deck, the pair seemed to realize their mistake. Favilli began to angle toward the correct Don Quixote feature, crossing a sheer, low-angle section of the face with no established routes and few cracks. Favilli led an entire rope length without finding any opportunity to place protection nor build an anchor, so Zanin disassembled his belay anchor and began simul-climbing to allow Favilli to reach a crack system higher. The men were simul-climbing with no protection between them when they fell 300-400 feet off the South Face.
Rescue services mobilized just before midnight on September 3, alerted by Zanin’s wife after he failed to respond to her check-in messages. At 5:30 a.m. the following morning, a search and rescue helicopter spotted Favilli and Zanin’s bodies in a scree field at the base of the wall.
Favilli, 44, and Zanin, 36, both worked for Italian outdoor footwear brand Scarpa, as a brand manager and a marketing specialist, respectively. Favilli was a particularly experienced climber, who established Mixte Feeling (M6+ WI 5; 1,840ft) on the Northeast Face of Monte Civetta (10,564ft) with Christian Casanova and Mathieu Maynadier in January. A year prior, he and Maynadier traveled to Quebec, Canada, and linked up the WI 5+ ice classics La Loutre and La Pomme d’Or for 2,000 feet of steep climbing. Favilli had also previously climbed one of Marmolada’s hardest rock routes, the 1,300-foot Invisibilis (5.13a) with Grasso.
Grasso first crossed paths with Favilli in 2016, when the latter returned to Italy after 10 years of living in China. He said Favilli’s confidence and skill on the wall was a major catalyst in his own improvement as a climber. “As soon as we met, we started climbing,” Grasso said. “He was my first strong climbing partner, and pushed me to climb harder and harder routes. At the beginning of that first year my goal had been to climb an alpine route graded UIAA VI+/VII [5.10b]. Then I met Francesco, and that same year we climbed an IX [5.12d] route together!”
Favilli began sending CVs to find a new job when he returned to Italy, soon landing a sales position at Scarpa and quickly rising to the Mountain category’s brand manager. “Back then Scarpa wasn’t that popular in our area [of Italy],” remarked Grasso, “but in the last 10 years the brand has exploded. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this has happened since Francesco was there.”
Grasso and Favilli climbed together almost every week for many years, both in Italy and destinations further afield, particularly spending a lot of time in Patagonia. But Favilli’s family always took first priority, Grasso said. Favilli passed up many opportunities to pursue far-flung mountain objectives and dive into extended climbing trips abroad because of his desire to remain based in Treviso and be involved in the lives of his two children, who lived with his ex-wife in Venice.
Giulia Parise met her late husband Filippo Zanin eight years ago at a house party. They fell in love quickly, and less than a year later had quit their jobs and began traveling the world. They first landed in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca, where Zanin climbed a number of high peaks including Urus (17,792ft), Nevado Pisco (18,871ft), and Tocllaraju (19,797ft). Parise told Climbing that Zanin was particularly proud of his ascent of the 3,000-foot North Face of Ranrapalca (20,217ft). Parise and Zanin temporarily settled in Melbourne, Australia, where they worked in an ice cream shop together for nearly a year. “I was selling the ice cream, he was making it,” she recalled, smiling. “Besides the birth of our daughter, these are some of the greatest memories I have with him.”
She spoke of her late husband as a lover of photography and history, an avid reader, and a skilled student of Mandarin Chinese, but above all, a climber. “For him it was a lifestyle,” she said. “Everything that the mountains teach you, [Zanin] put these lessons into his life.” Though Zanin was only able to spend a short time with his young daughter, Parise said he instantly proved himself a devoted father. “He was the best man you could imagine to raise a daughter.”
Scarpa president Sandro Parisotto said his team was “devastated by the pain,” adding that “Filippo and Francesco were two truly special people, professionals particularly appreciated and known for their deep love for the mountains, [which] they brought to the company and transferred to all their colleagues. The news of their passing has left us speechless. We are in shock. It is a loss that creates an enormous void.” The ice climbing festival Cogne Ice Opening said that the men were “central pillars” in the event, and wrote that their “radiant energy, captivating passion, and smiles are irreplaceable and will be deeply missed.”
Favilli leaves behind a daughter Irene, aged 11, and son Michele, aged 8, as well as a father, brother, and sister. Zanin is survived by Giulia and his daughter Emma, in addition to a mother, father, two sisters, and a brother.
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