Roberto Bonelli, the iconic Italian climber born on April 17, 1954, in Cuneo, made his mark on climbing history in the 1970s by breaking with the traditions of classic mountaineering.
From his early days in the 1970s, he associated with the young talents who embodied the "Nuovo Mattino" (New Mattino), pushing the boundaries of difficulty in free climbing alongside figures like Andrea Gobetti, Massimo Demichela, Danilo Galante, and Gabriele Beuchod, although he distinguished himself through his own dissenting views. Considered one of the most representative Italian climbers of that decade, he excelled on audacious crack routes such as "Niente più coccole per Bonellino" in Valle dell’Orco, the Fessura Kosterlitz, and the Via del Risveglio in Catteissard, often soloing or free climbing extreme routes, with an iconoclastic and provocative style that shocked the conservative mountaineering community.
After a meteoric and adrenaline-fueled career, Bonelli took a long break from climbing in the 1980s, coinciding with the rise of sport climbing and bolted routes, of which he was the absolute antithesis. His former climbing partners, such as Giulio Beuchod and Oliaro, describe him as extremely cautious, almost obsessive in his placement of quickdraws and rope maintenance, while also highlighting his penchant for adventures in Africa, such as the Hoggar Mountains in Algeria and Cameroon. Cultured and the quintessential anti-star, he avoided interviews and detested the distortions of his past, as seen in the film "Cannabis Rock," preferring a fierce discretion until his last and rare interview in 2012 with Andrea Giorda for UP Climbing magazine.
On September 10, 2016, at the age of 62, Roberto Bonelli died after falling from the Plateau de la Draye in the Ailefroide Valley, in the Écrins massif, France.
