After a relatively short consultation, the six-member international jury for the 2010 Piolets d’Or was unanimous in its choice of five ascents that, for varied reasons, exemplified the best completed during 2009.
Earlier in the year the organizers and their steering committee produced a list of important ascents that took place during 2009.
They then presented this list to the jury, which is presided over by famous Slovenian mountaineer Andrej Stremfelj. It was the jury's job to agree on a short list of climbs that best represents the new spirit of the Piolets d'Or.
In the charter lie statements such as, 'the Piolets d'Or throw the spotlight on imaginative and innovative new routes, using a minimum amount of equipment and building on experience.............questions of style and means of ascent take precedence over reaching the objective itself'.
The 'long list' of 55 climbs included eight ascents made by British climbers: the agreed short list of five contains two ascents on which British climbers were involved.
Boris Deshenko and Denis Urubko's splendid new route on the South East Face of Cho Oyu (8,188m), climbed alpine-style in demanding conditions, has been reported here previously [Urubko climbs new route on Cho Oyu]
So too has the climb of the superb rock pillar on Pt 6,134m, now referred to as Gongga North, by Mikhail Mikhailov and Alexander Ruchkin [Hard new Russian route in China]
In Bullock and Houseman climb coveted Nepalese summit we told the story of Nick Bullock and Andy Houseman's bold first ascent of the North Face of Chang Himal (6,802m)
Americans Jed Brown and Kyle Dempster, with Scotland's Bruce Normand, have been nominated for their innovative first ascent of the huge North Buttress of Xuelian Feng’s West Satellite Peak (c6,422m), as reported in The Great British Jade Heist
Completing the five nominated ascents is the difficult and objectively threatened route on the North Face of Pik Pobeda by the Russian alpinists Vitaly Gorelik and Gleb Sokolov. The two climbed a difficult, 2,400m mixed buttress well right of the main summit in seven and a half days, alpine-style.
They were slowed by extensive sections of black ice and delicate mixed terrain, reached a point on the long summit ridge, and then descended the Normal Route in a further one and a half days.
Sokolov, who is one of the most experienced and notable Russian mountaineers, was 56 at the time of the ascent.
All five teams will be on hand to make presentations of their ascents in both Chamonix and Courmayeur during the 18th Piolet's d'Or, which takes place from the 7th - 11th April.
There will also be a 'lifetime achievement award'. Last year it was presented to the legendary Walter Bonatti. This year the honour goes to the equally legendary Reinhold Messner.
The event is far more than just these climbs: alpinists from around the world are expected to attend the conferences, debates, films, meetings and other cultural activities that combine to make this special celebration of modern mountaineering. And hopefully there should be some climbing too.
In the photograph of the c6,422m West Satellite of Xuelian Feng, The Great White Jade Heist climbs the steep icy rock rib towards the left.
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