I sent this email to Rob's sister after I recently learned of his passing:

Cathy

I reached out several years ago when I learned 23andme showed us as DNA cousins with a shared family connection in Italy.  You put me in touch with Rob to learn more about our connection. I was shocked and saddened  to learn of his death just moments ago.  He and I last connected back in August of 2023 after he graciously arranged a meeting between Zio Rinaldo and I during my visit to Italy.  I knew he made annual visits to the Alps followed by a visit with Zio Rinaldo and I Googled Rob's name to see his latest travels.  

Rob and I never spoke, just traded emails.  He shared the family history he knew from what Zio Rinaldo had researched. But in those few emails, Rob's words and actions made me feel like a member…

Dear Rob,

I miss you.

It’s as simple as that most of the time. Some days more than others. I’m sure in time, this will fade somewhat, and the pain and loss will come less frequently.

But today I missed you a lot.

I don’t know where to start this letter because in many ways, I have lost sight of where you ended, and I began. Cheesy as it may be, and you’d no doubt call me out for that, but on a scale of zero to *NSync, you have affected every part of who I am, who I have become, and who I work to be.

I wasn’t a good friend to you these past few years. That’s on me and I have to own that for the rest of my life. In a tragic bit of irony, I had reached out with intention to fix things. We exchanged…

I first met Rob in Italy. He was a journalist and I was just beginning my cycling tour company. He came to write an article about what I was up to, won an award for the article and earned my respect for life.

For the next decades Rob helped guide alongside me, bringing his witty, resilient character to the mix. We rode together on dozens of trips all over Italy and parts of France and California. He became a best friend and a brother to me during those years. 

Rob was a fixture at my dining table. For a time we cooked and ate together several times a week. Cooking mostly Italian food and inviting a few or 20 people to join us. His minestrone, with ample pancetta, was always the star of the show, enjoyed even by the most reluctant vegetarians. He organized The Big Night where we took…

Back in 2003 and 2004, we were blessed to have Rob as a guide on two Hampsten cycling tours. The first in Toscana and the second in the Santa Rosa, Ca area. As all of you who know Rob better than we do, we had the best of times with him on those rides. His intelligence and wit were always a daily source of pleasure and laughs.

We continued to correspond now and again via social media with Rob all the years after the tour. I happened to be in England and posted this to FB with the caption “See if you can guess where I am now”.

Literally, within seconds, Rob posted back “I love Las Vegas!”. That was back in 2015. I am still laughing. Such a quick wit.

Miss you Rob!

A few of us here in Sitka had the privilege in the past few years to spend time in the mountains with Rob Coppolillo of @vettamtnguides, both here on Baranof and on a recent AIARE 2 class he led in Canada, while other Ski Sitka folk have read his book and heard his wisdom coming out of their tour partners (we can imagine Rob's commentary about that statement, ha). We, along with so many others, were shocked and saddened to hear the news that he died last week. He was an incredibly special man who created a wonderful culture of learning and support for the people who looked up to him. He was generous with his time, knowledge, and stoke, and we are forever grateful for all that he shared with us. There really aren’t words to do him justice. We know there are many pockets of folks like us scattered…

I first encountered Rob in the summer of 2021. As I sought to build my skills in the mountains I found The Ski Guide Manual.  Through this thoughtful guide Rob explained frameworks with a style that made the technical accessible.  He drew you in for both the uphill and the down.

Later that year I put a face to the name as I watched him present a keynote for the Northwest Snow and Avalanche Workshop.  He shared how he had gone full send into the work of Nobel prize winning behavioral economists like Kahnemann and Tversky.  He did the heavy lifting of making these complex findings applicable to decisions I would make with my team in avalanche terrain.  

Later that week I emerged from Cripple Creek backcountry into a steady Seattle rain.  Passing me on the sidewalk someone suddenly called out, "Hey Skimo!!".  I looked up to a seemingly familiar face.  "Weren't you the…

When I was in Boulder at the end of this May, beginning of June, it was both a joyful and sad situation, "seeing" Rob everywhere, and recalling all our times there, both awesome and challenging. 

Rob and I are both writers and even back in the 2970 21st Street (the sign actually read "21th Street" at the Edgewood Dr. entrance for a very, very long time!) days, we would occasionally read our stuff to each other, or ask for a critique, Rob often returning something I wrote to me with the advice: "Just stick to Penthouse Forum, Annie L., you'll get rich!" 

We also wrote letters to one another when I was back in Wisco for a few months after Casey and I broke up. He was a good friend.

Back in those same days, I wrote poetry (I have since I was super young and still do), and I would go to Penny…

I'm sure that you heard about the passing of the prolific American Mountain Guide Rob Coppolillo, who died in a crevasse fall last week. He was one of my foundational mentors for ski mountaineering and rock climbing.

He guided me one on one on a handful of paid missions, then we became friends and just started backcountry skiing and rock climbing as friends. He was the first guide who didn't treat me differently because of my cultural background. If anything, he pushed me harder and further than I even knew that I could go. He was always giving me advice about where to ski around the world. Much of my seven continent ski idea came from Rob and reading Backcountry Magazine.

When he lived in Boulder, he would say things like "Hey, I need you to come visit my kids. Boulder doesn't have any diversity, and I want them t…

I’m crushed to learn of the death of my friend and longtime Elevation Outdoors Magazinecontributing editor Rob Coppolillo (Vetta Mountain Guides). I first met Rob when he was working for Andy Hampsten running cycling trips in Italy. We rode and laughed and hit it off immediately. Rob was the consummate mountain guide, dedicated to safety and education and bringing his clients to incredible spots and back home. He loved pizza, Italy, his family, the mountains, skiing, and laughter. We will dedicate the May issue of Elevation Outdoors to his memory. My heart goes out to his wife, sons, whole family, and all the people around the globe to whom he brought his joy of life. We had talked about climbing in Chamonix together—maybe the Cosmiques Arete with me trying lead and him backing me up. Now, I feel I have to go and do it and laugh to the mountains in…