Emilio Comici

The climbing artistry of Emilio Comici, known as the Angel of the Dolomites, is about elegance, style, strength and agility.

From my point of view there are only two climbers who at different times have been capable of making a real change in classic mountain climbing in the Dolomites, with the same style, the same ethics, the same humility and above all without the media recognition they doubtlessly rightly deserved. Their names are Angelo Dibona, at the beginning of the XX century, and Leonardo Emilio Comici, in between the two Great Wars in 1930-1940.

Even today remembering and writing about Comici seems a due homage to a man who left an indelible mark on classic mountain climbing; especially after I personally tried several of his challenging and overhanging routes like the Spigolo Giallo at the Tre Cime di Lavaredo as well as the amazing north face at the Lavaredo. His routes follow a logical plan, esthetically pleasant and direct. He used to say:” I would like to plan a route like the one a drop of water would trace if it was dropped from the top of the mountain”.

The agility, the easiness and the beauty of Emilio’s movements are imitated still today by the great climbers, never looking for pure strength, but the perfect balance between the body and the vertical line: climbing as if dancing.

In 1929 he traced the new route on the Sorella di Mezzo in the Sorapiss, the first climb at the VI level of difficulty in Italy.

in 1933 he opened an extremely difficult route on the north face of the Lavaredo with the Dimai brothers from Cortina. Four years later in just 3 hours and 45 minutes he repeated it solo and with no rope, free climbing on this overhanging yellow face over 500-meter-long, one of the greatest feats in all of mountain climbing history.

In one of his books he writes:
“It is beautiful, truly beautiful to free climb on an overhanging face, looking at the void between your legs, and feel that you can master it just with your strength. When I climb solo, I always look down, inebriated by the emptiness as I sing from joy. A transformation comes over me every time I start to climb. When my hands lay on the rock, all tiredness and all reluctance disappear. An unknown force enters my blood, the more I climb the stronger I feel, and the moves appear easier and easier”.
(Emilio Comici)

He died on October 19, 1940, in a fluke accident when a cord he was checking for endurance broke as he was leaning out of a ledge in the rock gym in Vallunga at Selva di Val Gardena.

He loved music, played well the piano and the guitar, was brilliant, frank, intelligent and discreet: a man to remember!

Mario Dibona

The following are Emilio Comici’s most significant climbs in the Alps.

Innominata Route - Innominata Tower - 1927 - 550 m, Comici-Fabjan, level of difficulty V
Riofreddo Peak – August 8, 1928 – First climb with Giordano Bruno Fabjan, north face, 700 m, level of difficulty V+ with G.B. Fabjan.
Comici-Fabjan Route - Tre Sorelle at the Sorapiss- August 26-27, 1929 – First climb with Giordano Bruno Fabjan -- opened just before the Micheluzzi Route at the Marmolada and the Busazza Spur, it’s the first Route at 6° in Italy, 800 m, level of difficulty VI-
Comici-Fabjan Route- Finger of God - 1929 – first climb on the west face with G.B. Fabjan, 600 m, level of difficulty V.
Comici-Salvadori Route – The Devil’s Tower - 1930 – straight climb from the west face with Mario Salvadori, 120 m, level of difficulty VI
Comici-Benedetti Route - Monte Civetta – August 4-5, 1931 - 1050 m, level of difficulty VI, A2
Comici-Dimai Route - Cima Grande di Lavaredo – August 13-14, 1933 – First climb on the north face with Giovanni and Angelo Dimai, 550 m, level of difficulty VI- and A1
Comici-Cassin Route - Zuccone Campelli - June 1933 – First climb with Riccardo Cassin, Mario Dell'Oro, Mary Varale e Mario Spreafico, 140 m, level of difficulty IV-
Spigolo Giallo - Cima Piccola di Lavaredo – September 8-9, 1933 – First climb of on the southeast spur with Mary Varale and Renato Zanutti, 350 m, level of difficulty VI+
Comici Route- Punta di Frida – August 2, 1934 – Climb with Giordano Bruno Fabjan, Vittorio Cottafavi and Gianfranco Pompei, 250 m, level of difficulty V, VI
Torre Piccola di Falzarego - August10, 1934 – First climb with Mary Varale and Sandro Del Torso, 230 m, level of difficulty V
South Spur Comici-Mazzorana Route - Cima Piccola di Lavaredo - 1936 – first climb on the northwest spur with Piero Mazzorana, 350 m, level of difficulty VI
Comici-Del Torso-Zanutti Route - Comici Tower- July 13, 1936 – First climb with Sandro Del Torso and Renato Zanutti, 300 m, level of difficulty V, VI
Comici Route- Finger of God – September 8-9, 1936 – First climb on the north face with Piero Mazzorana and Sandro Del Torso, 600 m, level of difficulty VI
Campanile Basso – first solo repetition of the Preuss Route on the east face in one hour and ¼, 1937
Cima Grande di Lavaredo - first solo repetition of his route on the north face in 3 and ¾ hours, 1937
Comici Route - Salame del Sassolungo - August 28-29, 1940 - First climb on the north face with Severino Casara, route dedicated to Italo Balbo 450 m, level of difficulty VI+

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Emilio Comici

The following are Emilio Comici’s most significant climbs in the Alps.

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