The Coppolillo Way

I’d get my Rob Coppolillo fix a few different ways. The first, although a degree separated from Rob, made me chuckle every time. I FaceTime my friend Kelly on the regular. 80 percent of the time, Kelly pops on screen wearing a ratty bold-red Vetta Mountain Guides buff—the name of Rob’s guiding outfit. True to form, the VMG buff is low-tech-modified for light and fast: it’s cut in half and worn as a headband. Certainly, as this buff was a gift from Rob, the headband can tell stories.

Storytelling, you see, was in Rob’s bones. He could weave a tale. 

Before we go any further, as this is so sad to write, Rob’s wife and children and extended family lost Rob last week in a crevasse fall while he was guiding the Icefall Traverse in the Canadian Rockies.

Rob was an IFMGA guide, pinned proudly back in 2014. Though, first and foremost, he was a wordsmith, a tale-weaver. Over the decades, he penned witty and informed pieces about cycling, climbing, skiing, and life and entertained many dinner gatherings with a vast catalog of stories. The key to listening to a Rob yarn is this: be mindful when you sip that wine, as you might be spraying it forth in a fit of laughter. But also, be prepared for a hard-hitting, life-affirming nugget to wrap the story up. In other words, like skiing a serious line or climbing a sketchy pitch, listening to Rob was a time to be 100% committed to being present in the moment.

Rob and I connected over writing and skiing. His widely recognized Ski Guide Manual sat by my bedside for years and, for the past few ski seasons, rested proudly in our living room. My email’s Sent folder and phone’s call history is littered with digital artifacts of pitches I’d sent Rob to contemplate. (Not that it would matter to Rob, but I always followed the 3-2-3 rule in our correspondence: 3Os, 2Ps, and 3Ls = Coppolillo).

When Rob sent a story draft, you knew you were in for a good day. A Rob draft was usually set to publish. Selfishly, this meant less work and more time to head out and ski. Case in point—our recent back and forth on Rob’s review of an avalanche transceiver was spent with me debating his use of the word “sophistry” in a single sentence.