Climbing Instructor Sentenced in Tito Traversa’s Death

In 2013, 12-year-old Tito Traversa was one of 10 youth climbers at Orpierre, France, cragging for the day when he fell and died.

He died because his quickdraws were assembled wrong, so when he fell, the carabiners that were only held onto the sling with a rubber band broke away and did not catch the fall.

The quickdraws were accidentally assembled wrong by a parent of one of the other youth climbers on the climbing trip.

He fell about 15 metres, was airlifted to a Grenoble hospital and died three days later.

This week, a judge Turin convicted Nicola Galizia, 36, of manslaughter in the death of Traversa.

Galizia was the unofficial climbing instructor at the crag on the day of Traversa’s fall. He’s been sentenced to two years in prison and will pay judicial expenses amounting to over 21,000 euros ($31,730 CAD).

Two other defendants named in this case were Luca Gianmarco, 50, who was the the owner of the gym Traversa visited, and Carlo Paglioli, 72, owner of Aludesign, the company that manufactures parts of the draws that Traversa was using.

Traversa was only 10 when he first climbe 5.14a and went on to send a number of 5.14s before dying two years later.