Heroic mountaineering: Emilio Comici and Bruno Fabjan.

Giordano Bruno Fabjan and Emilio Comici

Giordano Bruno Fabjan

Born in Trieste in 1907, Fabjan was Emilio Comici’s climbing partner. The Comici–Fabjan partnership remains a symbol of friendship and courage from the heroic age of mountaineering. Together they made the first ascent of the north-west face of Sorella di Mezzo (Sorapìs, 1929), the first grade VI route opened by Italian climbers.

He later became a prominent sports administrator and eventually served as Secretary General of the Organising Committee for the 1956 Cortina Winter Olympics. He died in 1990, leaving behind the memory of a man of great style and a lifelong passion for the mountains.

Emilio Comici

Born in Trieste in 1901, Comici became one of the great masters of rock climbing, renowned for his elegant style and his search for beauty in the line of a route. Together with Fabjan, he opened routes that helped define an era of Italian mountaineering.

Their partnership reached its high point on the north-west face of Sorella di Mezzo in 1929. Comici went on to become a mountain guide and an inspiration to generations of climbers; his death in Vallunga in 1940 made him a legendary figure in the history of mountaineering.

Some stories go beyond rock and time. They remain etched in the memory of the mountains, stories of friendship, courage and ropes worn by years of climbing. Among them is the story of two great figures of Trieste mountaineering: Emilio Comici and Giordano Bruno Fabjan, known as Gi.Bi.

When I climb with friends today, I sometimes find myself thinking about them and about an age when mountaineering really was “heroic”: hemp ropes, felt-soled climbing shoes and a handful of pitons hammered into the rock with heavy hammers. No bolts, no helmets or harnesses, none of the protection and equipment we now almost take for granted. Yet on those walls, with rudimentary equipment and enormous risks, those climbers wrote pages of mountaineering history that can still move us today.

The birth of a legendary partnership

Giordano Bruno Fabjan was born in Trieste in 1907 into a modest family, and from an early age he was drawn to sport and the mountains. He began climbing in Val Rosandra, which for young climbers from Trieste was more than simply a place to practise on rock: it was a real school of climbing, adventure and self-discovery.

It was there that he met Emilio Comici, and there that a remarkable partnership began, a bond that went far beyond climbing technique. They started climbing together in the summer of 1928 and the following year made the first ascent of the north face of Cima di Riofreddo. The climb attracted considerable attention in mountaineering circles and marked the beginning of a partnership that would leave its mark on the history of Italian climbing.

Comici, Fabjan and the challenge of grade VI

In the summer of 1929, Emilio Comici and Giordano Bruno Fabjan decided to take on a wall that inspired both respect and apprehension: the formidable north-west face of Sorella di Mezzo. With little equipment but immense courage and trust in one another, they succeeded in climbing a wall that until then had seemed almost insurmountable. The route they opened is generally regarded as the first grade VI route established by Italian climbers, a vertical line that became a symbol not only of technical achievement, but also of courage, friendship and vision. For Comici, it was a decisive step towards becoming a legendary figure; for Fabjan, the crowning achievement of a passion for the mountains that would remain with him throughout his life.

That ascent marked a turning point in Italian mountaineering. But it did not happen in isolation: during those same years, other pioneers, both Italian and foreign, were pushing climbing beyond what had previously seemed possible.

In 1925, for example, the famous Solleder–Lettenbauer partnership had opened a grade VI route on the Civetta that became a milestone in Alpine climbing.

And even earlier, in 1924, the Swiss climbers Simon and Rossi had tackled the north face of Pelmo, on a route also considered grade VI, further evidence of the extraordinary development taking place in Dolomite climbing at the time.

Nor should we forget the audacity of Angelo Dibona, who as early as 1910 tackled the great south-west wall of Croz dell’Altissimo, overcoming the notorious “masso squarciato”, a passage that some highly experienced climbers have considered to be grade VI. If that assessment is correct, the history of Dolomite climbing might perhaps deserve to be reconsidered.

What is certain, however, is that these ascents ushered in a new era, one in which free climbing began to move beyond the limits previously thought possible and laid the foundations for modern climbing.

The Comici–Fabjan route on Sorella di Mezzo, Sorapìs

Almost a century has passed since 27 August 1929, when the Comici–Fabjan partnership wrote an unforgettable page in the history of Italian mountaineering.
On the north-west face of Sorella di Mezzo in the Sorapìs group, Emilio Comici and Giordano Bruno Fabjan overcame difficulties that at the time seemed almost insurmountable. Theirs was the first grade VI route opened by Italian climbers, an achievement that marked Italian mountaineering’s arrival in a new era.

The ascent was more than a technical achievement. Above all, it reflected the strength of the friendship between Comici and Fabjan, a bond that enabled them to face such a formidable challenge together. The name of the route itself, the “Comici–Fabjan”, has become a symbol of a friendship and climbing partnership that endured far beyond that single ascent.

I personally regret never having climbed this route when I was younger. Today, it is not so much the sixth-grade climbing that would hold me back, but rather the combination of length, remoteness and rock that is not always sound, all characteristics of these great mountain walls. Climbs like this demand a certain enthusiasm and willingness to take risks that perhaps belong more naturally to youth—a season of life that does not return.

For that reason, I remember with particular affection a different but equally meaningful experience: climbing the Müller route on Sorapìs with my friend Francesco del Franco. It is considerably easier than the Comici–Fabjan route, but still long and committing, in a serious mountain environment. It was a wonderful adventure, and Francesco later wrote about it in an article that you can read on this website: The Müller route on Sorapìs.

A friendship that went beyond climbing

What makes the story of Comici and Fabjan so remarkable is not simply the number of new routes they opened together—fourteen in all—but above all the bond between them. Even after Giordano Bruno moved to Rome for work, their letters and summer meetings in the Dolomites kept that deep friendship alive.

After Emilio Comici’s tragic death in 1940, Giordano Bruno Fabjan was among those who worked to preserve his memory, contributing to the publication of the commemorative volume Alpinismo eroico. Its title—“Heroic Mountaineering”—seems, even today, an extraordinarily fitting description of that generation of climbers.

A memory that lives on

I have been fortunate enough to share many climbs in the Dolomites with Livio Fabjan, Giordano Bruno’s son and the author of a carefully researched and deeply personal account of his father’s mountaineering achievements. Livio and I have sometimes talked about his father and Emilio Comici, and each time I have been struck by how vividly that period still lives in his memory.
His account is a genuine journey into the past, back to the heroic age of mountaineering, when the mountains became witnesses to friendship, daring and life itself.

For those who would like to know more

This short article is intended simply as a tribute.
For those who would like to explore the story of Giordano Bruno Fabjan and Emilio Comici in greater depth, a detailed account by Livio Fabjan was published in Alpinismo Triestino (year 37, no. 194, April–May–June 2025), the journal of the Associazione XXX Ottobre – Trieste, a section of the Italian Alpine Club founded in 1918. The article is in Italian:

👉 Compagni di cordata legati per la vita: Emilio Comici e Giordano Bruno Fabjan

Modern mountaineering benefits from equipment that is lighter, stronger and safer, but the roots of our passion and our spirit can be found in those heroic years, among hemp ropes, hand-forged pitons, felt-soled climbing shoes and friendships that lasted a lifetime.