Matteo De Zaiacomo

Matteo De Zaiacomo is one of the Italian alpinists featured in Coconut Connection, a documentary record of a ski-in trip on Baffin Island where the team pursued free-climbing objectives. The film’s catalog entry lists the climbing party — Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll, Nicolas Favresse, Matteo Della Bordella, De Zaiacomo and Luca Schiera — and stresses the expedition’s timeline: a ski across broken sea ice and an intentional, nearly two-month stay in a rock-filled valley. Director Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll frames much of the footage as living and working in place rather than a single summit-oriented push.

De Zaiacomo’s climbing, as presented here, is part of a broader expedition narrative. The emphasis is on trad and big-wall techniques in remote Arctic conditions: establishing routes, moving efficiently as a rope team, and coping with weather and logistics that shape when and how climbs can be attempted. The film favors texture over concentrated sending footage, so viewers see De Zaiacomo’s contributions in the context of partnership, camp routine, and the patience required to pursue climbing in one of the planet’s more uncompromising settings.