Everyone calls me Teo, or Ruffo. I live in Premosello, a small village in the heart of the Val Grande National Park, the largest wilderness area in Europe. My passion for the mountains was born early, thanks to my parents and our home up in the hills. Ever since childhood I have lived the mountains intensely: at 5 years old I learned to ski on a small ski lift for the village children, while I spent my summers among pastures, streams and shepherds. From these experiences was born the love of nature that guided my growth and, later, my path in mountaineering.
At 16 I took my first ski-mountaineering course and there I discovered a true passion. In summer I began to explore new disciplines: sport climbing, mountaineering and, in winter, ice falls. In those years I was fortunate to meet climbers and guides who passed on to me experience, values and respect for the “high country”. Thanks to them I learned not only the technique, but also the elegance and safety needed to move through the terrain.
Over time this vocation became a profession. I set out on the path to become a Mountain Guide, earning the UIAGM qualification and other specializations, such as canyoning accompaniment, the FISKY course-director licence and that of a level 2 AINEVA observer. I have worked as an Alpine Rescue technician, an instructor and a helicopter rescuer; I have opened new routes on rock and equipped numerous crags. The mountain is my world, and my work lets me share it with those who put their trust in me. I don’t have a favourite season or discipline: what matters is living every day serenely, amid emotions, views and smiles. People’s smiles are the greatest reward of this profession.
Among the most meaningful experiences is the opening of the route “Dolce Enrico”, dedicated to my father, who passed away in October 2021. Today I keep exploring, tracing new itineraries and living the mountain as an inexhaustible source of joy and vitality. The seasons change, and with them my way of feeling changes too: it is the rhythm of extraordinary nature that makes me feel alive.
