Francois Cazzanelli joins the Salewa Athlete Team

We are pleased to announce another new addition to our Athlete Team: Italian climber, Francois Cazzanelli, is a young progressive alpinist. Born in Cervinia, the 28-year-old professional climber lives and breathes the mountains, as they were his playground growing up.  The mountains are literally in his genes – the name Cazzanelli has been synonymous with alpine expertise and mountain guides for five generations. 

Francois “Franz” Cazzanelli lives in Valtournenche in the Aosta Valley region, which is located in Northwest Italy. The fully-qualified mountain guide has demonstrated exceptional versatility in recent years. In addition to first ascents of numerous new mixed routes up to W15 M8, Francois has also set a number of records. In 2018, he traversed the Grandes Murailles ridge, which is 14.3 miles, with 10,800 vertical feet, in under eleven hours with his climbing partner Kilian Jornet Burgada. His speed ascents represent exceptional performances.

The young alpinist has surprised a lot of people with his ability to climb as fast as he does. To date, Francois has participated in over ten expeditions outside Europe, which include remote and unknown mountains from the wild spires of Patagonia to 26,000 ft. peaks in the Himalayas.