Emilio Comici

Born in Trieste (then not Italian) on 21 February 1901, Emilio Comici represents a milestone in the history of mountaineering and climbing. He began his sports career in the ranks of a multi-sports association, the "XXX Ottobre", ...

Born in Trieste (then not Italian) on 21 February 1901, Emilio Comici represents a milestone in the history of mountaineering and climbing. He began his sporting career in the ranks of a multi-sports association, the 'XXX Ottobre', which commemorated the date on which the city of Trieste was reunited with Italy. It was just after the First World War, in a climate of patriotic euphoria, and young Emilio had even justifiably avoided a call to arms under the Hapsburg army!

The Comici's chosen activity at the time was speleology, which he practised in the Karst with friends, in a totally self-taught manner. Yet the results were not long in coming, so much so that the group gained some modest material support from the institutions, crowning its epic in 1926, with the achievement of the world record for 'depth': - 500 m, achieved by Comici himself. In the years 1927-28, Comici gradually abandoned caving in favour of mountaineering. Although he was naturally predisposed to this kind of activity, he was not lacking in disappointment due to his not yet well-honed technique. That is why, when he saw the walls of the Val Rosandra, a few kilometres from the city, he immediately realised their potential as a 'rock gym' and the possibility of exploiting them by creating a climbing school. His first major route dates back to 1929: the first new Italian route classified as grade VI. This was the North West at Sorella di Mezzo in the Sorapis group. It is not possible here to recall all the firsts or all the routes opened by Comici in his albeit brief career. Suffice it to recall that he traced over two hundred new routes in the Dolomites, many of extreme difficulty for the time. He pursued not only the peak, but the beauty of the gesture and the route: this is why he did not consider mountaineering as a sport but as an artistic expression. This does not detract from the fact that he was not exempt from the phenomenon of the race to solve certain major mountaineering problems of his time. Throughout his life he had the problem of finding a suitable climbing partner: he found some, others dragged him into controversy and backbiting, so much so that some of his great exploits were carried out solo, just to put an end to any misunderstanding. In 1932, Comici left Trieste and his job at the Magazzini Generali and moved to Misurina, practising as a mountain guide. It was not a lucky experience: the local environment was closed towards him, so much so that the choice of Misurina was already a fallback, since he had not been accepted in Cortina. His best clients always came from the Trieste area, as did his climbing partners in the opening of new routes, which however became increasingly rare. Economic security, which also seemed to coincide with the rightful crowning of his main love affair, came to him in 1938 thanks to the good offices of an admirer of his, who obtained for him the post of prefectural commissioner in Selva di Val Gardena, in practice the functions of podestà. While the relationship with the population, at first distrustful of the 'foreigner', quickly improved thanks to Comici's sincere willingness to try to solve their problems, the same cannot be said of the relationship with the local guides, with the exception of Giambattista Vinatzer, the only one who Comici did not 'shadow'. The work of a bureaucrat and the chronic lack of climbing companions resulted in only one great undertaking (the last) in the two-year period 1938-40: the North Salami, in the Sassolungo massif, in August 1940. On 19 October 1940, destiny turned against Emilio Comici who, having no desire to climb and also having work to do in the office, nevertheless allowed himself to be persuaded to follow some friends to a training wall in the afternoon. He did not climb the overhanging route, but in the company of a young lady he circumvented every difficulty and climbed up to the exit. But his friends had some problems and asked him for advice, so he, in order to be able to see them, took a lanyard from a random rucksack and, cutting a loop out of it, hung onto it to lean down. But was that lanyard just there to act as a nail holder, was it old and rotten?

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