Tomas Franchini perishes in Peru

Tomas Franchini, the 35-year-old mountain guide from Madonna di Campiglio in Italy's Brenta Dolomites, died last Sunday while climbing in Peru. Among the most talented of his generation, Franchini was with Cristobal Señoret of Chile, climbing Nevado Cashan in the Cordillera Blanca of the Peruvian Andes when he fell to his death. After spending Saturday night on the face, on Sunday morning Franchini got out of his tent but the rock and snow cornice on which he stood collapsed. Señoret raised the alarm immediately and after a complex rescue effort Franchini's lifeless body was located yesterday.

Franchini was born to climb mountains. And he was destined to climb them fast, clean, with a pure, no-compromise approach thanks to his unique mindset and startling physique. In his early years he climbed primarily with his brother Silvestro and together they formed an almost invincible partnership, so much so that their surname became a trademark for cutting-edge mountaineering worldwide.

After honing their skills in their backyard Brenta Dolomites, Nevado Churup in Peru in 2015 and Cerro Penitentes in Patagonia in 2017 sowed the seed for the Andes where the mountains were even bigger, more complicated, even more remote. Where adventure was still authentic and wild, precisely as they wanted it to be. In 2018 they made a mind-blowingly fast tour of the 16 highest mountains in the South American Andes, 13 of which with their friend Franco Nicolini. The draw of these mountains proved irresistible and after the coronavirus lockdown, Tomas returned to Peru in 2021 and climbed Nevado Ulta and Nevado Huandoy Norte. Once again he confirmed the magnetism of these mountains: "This is the perfect place to return into the wild and climb at altitude."

When he didn't team up with his brother, Tomas climbed alone, following his instinct, often on the spur of the moment. His solo ascent of the unclimbed west face of Mount Edgar in China in 2017 is a case in point, carried out while still acclimatising and acting on an impulse at the start of a superb expedition with the likes of François Cazzanelli, Francesco Ratti, Emrik Favre, Matteo Faletti and Fabrizio Dellai. Tomas completed an absolutely sensational ascent and he was well aware of the importance of the feat he had just accomplished: "This mountain has been attempted several times from different faces; it has always forced great and expert mountaineers from all over the world to abandon their attempts... I've come to the conclusion: I climbed Mt. Edgar, a difficult, complex, high, remote and wild mountain, I climbed it alone, at night, accompanied by the moon; yes, perhaps I really did do something great."

Two years later Tomas was back at it: the east face of Lamo She (6070m) in China. Once again at breakneck speed, once again alone, once again up a virgin face. The name of the climb, Wild Blood, couldn't have been more appropriate. This route quite rightly earned him a mention in the big list of the Piolets d'or 2020, while three years later the ascent of Shaue Sar with Philipp Brugger and Lukas Waldner resulted in a second mention. Other accolades came from the Italian Academic Alpine Club: in 2014 he received the Paolo Consiglio award for his ascent of Cerro Rincon, while in 2017 he doubled his takings after his Kishtwar Shivling 2016 expedition in India. Confirmation, if ever any was needed, of Tomas' undisputed skill.

He was driven by "the search for adventure, discovery, exploration" he told planetmountain a few years ago, while on his return to civilisation after the splendid solo ascent of Lamo She he made us laugh when he confessed "... I had real trouble getting my bearings in the chaos of the city. I just wanted to go back to the mountains! You have no idea how much my back hurts from answering all the emails!" Tomas, with his broad smile, was like that. Born to climb mountains. High and beautiful. At speed. Without compromises.