Two Italian Climbers Killed Simul-Climbing in the Dolomites
Francesco Favilli and Filippo Zanin died on September 3 on Marmolada (10,968ft).
Francesco Favilli climbs ‘Invisibilis’ (5.13a) on Marmolada, in summer 2023. He was killed in a simul-climbing accident on the same mountain last month.
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Italian climbers Francesco Favilli and Filippo Zanin were killed in a 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 friend and sometime 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. It’s unclear exactly what happened, but they fell 300-400 feet. 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.
Two Italian Climbers Killed Simul-Climbing in the Dolomites
Francesco Favilli and Filippo Zanin died on September 3 on Marmolada (10,968ft).
Francesco Favilli climbs ‘Invisibilis’ (5.13a) on Marmolada, in summer 2023. He was killed in a simul-climbing accident on the same mountain last month.
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
Italian climbers Francesco Favilli and Filippo Zanin were killed in a 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 friend and sometime 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. It’s unclear exactly what happened, but they fell 300-400 feet. 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.
Francesco Favilli in Argentine Patagonia, with Cerro Torre in the background.
Francesco Favilli in Argentine Patagonia, with Cerro Torre in the background. (Photo: Mirco Grasso)
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.”
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