Climbers from all over the world gathered at the foot of the Mont Blanc this past weekend for the 19th annual Piolets d'Or (Golden Ice Axe) festival held April 13-16 in Chamonix, France.
Started in 1991 as a joint inititive by Guy Chaumereuil (editor-in-chief of Montagne magazine) and the Groupe Haute Montagne, the Piolets d'Or was created “to raise awareness about the year’s greatest ascents across the world.” The award is currently designed to celebrate and encourage the new, mordern spirit of mountaineering. Climbers are encouraged to abandon the "just get to the top at all costs" menatlity, but rather choose innovative routes and methods while operating under traditional mountaineering ethics and respecting their environment.
The nominations are submitted by journalists from Vertical and Montagnes magazine over the calendar year. Many other international jouranlists are consulted with significant imput this year by the American Alpine Journal. Sixty expeidtions under considertaion were narrowed down to six nominees.The finalists were judged by a jury of their peers comprised of accomplished alpinists and journalists - some being previous winners of the award.
Two teams took home the golden axes this year, the first awarded to Yasushi Okada and Katsutaka Yokoyama from Japan for their 2500 meter route on the South East Face of Mount Logan.The second went to Sean Villanueva, Nicolas and Oliver Favresse (Belgium) and Ben Ditto (USA) for nine new big wall routes on the West and South coasts of Greenland. Most of their routes were started from their basecamp boat.
American UIGAM guide Zoe Hart who attended the event said it is difficult to compare the differences of the two climbs, alpine style versus. big wall climbing, "I think it's hard to compare climbs one way or another and say which is most noteworthy, but to compare rock climbs to alpine climbs is almost impossible. But on some levels it's cool because it means that the award is celebrating the spirit of how a trip was realized - these guys are amazingly motivated and talented."
A lifetime achievement award went to Doug Scott, a Briton with a list of impressive first alpine-style ascents all over the world. His accomplishments have also earned him a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society and he was made a CBE (Commander of the British Empire.) For photos of all the nominees and their impressive achievements click here.
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