To trace the foundation of PROROCK we have to go back to the last century and more precisely to 1992. Back then it was called Professional Rock and the first statute was made as a sports association. I, Roberto, was not yet an Alpine Guide, I managed the Forte dei Marmi Refuge while I was attending the Guide courses and I was already collaborating professionally with RVB, the current MonturastoreSarzana, with my current colleague Pasquale Equizi and Marco Turchi, one of the first Tuscan Alpine Guides. Even then I was already clear that uniting the knowledge and enthusiasm of several people was the winning weapon to make mountaineering known in all its forms. In 1996, I entered the professional world of the mountains, becoming an Alpine Guide, and in just a few years my passion became my job.
Our profession is very individualistic, and for several years I continued to organise activities in the mountains, relying on my wife Grazia's travel agency, focusing all my efforts on providing as many experiences as possible for the people I accompanied. It was only in the early 2000s that I realised that, as an individual, I was unable to satisfy the many requests that were coming in, and so I decided that the way forward would be to look for new forces. Together with Davide Benacci, a student of mine from a basic course and in a few years an Alpine Guide, and Cristian Balducci, a Tuscan Alpine Guide, we thus resumed the old project of the sports association Professional Rock (hence the big red S in our logo). In the years that followed, the vicissitudes of life took us in different directions, but in me it always remained this goal to create a group of guides who would work and collaborate together.
In 2014, finally, with my move to Tuscany, the opportunity came up again and a large group of Tuscan Alpine Guide Friends: Carlo, Cristiano, Franco and then Pasquale were immediately enthusiastic about my project. This is how the company and the Mountaineering, Ski Mountaineering and Climbing School were finally born. ProRock Outdoor.
Right from the start our objectives:
- Teaching people a conscious, safe and sustainable culture of the various mountain disciplines: from sport climbing to ski mountaineering, from rock and ice mountaineering to free riding, from trekking to via ferrata and snowshoeing.
- Make the students learn the correct techniques in the various activities in order to enjoy them to the fullest and with satisfaction: climbing, skiing in fresh snow, climbing with crampons, with mountaineering skis or even simply a walk in the mountains.
- Accompanying people on a path that leads them to realise their mountaineering dreams, whatever they may be.
In addition to the professionalism of Mountain Guide and Mountaineering Instructor, our competencies are manifold. We have Alpine Guide instructors, rope work instructors and trainers, canyoning specialists, professionals with corporate training experience (outdoor training and team building) and mountain rescue technicians.
We are all moved by the great passion for climbing and the mountains in their entirety and completeness.
Our CV also includes many non-European expeditions, openings and repeats of high-level itineraries on ice and rock, both in the Alps and on the most important walls of the Dolomites. Two hiking guides, Cinzia and Mariela, have also been working with us since 2014.
It is clear how the raw material, i.e. the Professional Mountain Guides were fundamental to the success of the initiative, but no less indispensable were those who worked 'on the hips' and helped us get here and, not surprisingly, they are still here, full of enthusiasm, more or less committed to this new initiative: a back-office team made up of the Guides themselves, in their downtime and trusted collaborators.

Roberto Vigiani