by Charles Pelkey
My heart is broken. My dear friend, Rob Coppolillo, was a great mountaineering guide and lived his life to the fullest. He was the owner and operator of Vetta Mountain Guides. I learned this morning that Rob was killed leading a trip in British Columbia yesterday, his last of the winter season.
We're still short on details, but the one thing I 𝘥𝘰 know is that Rob was a kind and wonderful friend. We'd known each other for nearly 30 years, since we met during our times at 𝘝𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘴. We travelled in the same circles, be they here in the U.S. or in Europe. He had a remarkable wit and always there when a friend needed him. He came and sat with me at the Medical Center of the Rockies on days when I was stuck in a chair getting filled with noxious chemo' chemicals for cancer 14 years ago. Believe it or not, he even made 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 seem fun. Apparently, the chemo was affecting my heard and my oncologist panicked and sent me to the ER for a cardio work-up. We sat in a little room waiting for the nurse to come in and joked around. When she arrived, she stared going through my history and asked a host of questions. Finally she turned to Rob and asked "And you are...?" In a moment of homophobic panic, Rob shouted out BUDDY!...we're buddies!"
We hadn't talked in years, but I called him just a couple of weeks ago. We didn't miss a beat. Within minutes we were regaling each other with stories about cycling, mountaineering, old friends and, above all, our kids. Indeed, we were already making plans to meet up in Portland next month when Diana and I were planning to visit our kids there. He was thinking of dropping down from his home in Seattle.
Rob leaves a wife and twin sons. I cannot imagine what they're going through right now.
I will miss you, Rob. You were the best.