by Zack Wentz
Rob Coppolillo was one of my best friends, colleagues, & mentors. He was one of my first mentors to believe in me as a ski guide, & throughout the last 3 years, we really grew as partners & friends. Rob was always generous in sharing his tricks of the trade, & helping to empower younger guides beginning into their careers. We geeked out on snow together & nerded out on mountain risk management themes for all the same reasons: to deliver high quality mountain experiences & education with high degrees of safety. Rob was highly generous in this for me, but also everyone that he ever met, & if you ever met Rob or worked with him, that quality was evident immediately.
Rob’s passing still doesn’t even seem real. He was a larger than life figure that I, as well as many others idolized. He was a genuinely caring, selfless & charismatic person coupled with being one of the most knowledgeable & dialed mountain guides I ever knew.