"The jury members this year unanimously identified with the spirit of exploring remote and rugged locations, of pioneering new routes in lightweight style, and in embracing a sense of commitment and teamwork. These are the essential attributes at the heart of the Piolets d'Or, and this is what alpinism is all about. The six climbs that have been nominated by the jury for the award this year are climbs that the jury themselves would be proud to have been a part of." said Greg Child.

THE NOMINATIONS:

• 3 200m route on the South East Face of Mount Foraker (5304m), Alaska by Colin Haley (USA) and Bjorn-Eivind Artun (Norway): 71 hours without a bivouac to test the limits of non-stop alpine climbing.
• 2 500 m route on the South East Face of Mount Logan (5959m), Canada by Yasushi Okada and Katsutaka Yokoyama (Japan): 4 bivouacs.
• first ascent of the West Face (1600m) of Vasuki Parbat (6792m), India by Malcom Bass and Paul Figg (UK): the second only ascent of the peak, 10 days on the route.
• first ascent of Lunag 1 South East (c6830m), Rolwaling Himal, Nepal by Max Belleville, Mathieu Détrie, Mathieu Meynadier and Sébastien Ratel (France): 3 bivouacs.
• first ascent of the East Face (2500m) of Mount Edgar (6618m), Minya Konka Range, Sichuan province by Bruce Normand (UK) and Kyle Dempster (USA): second ascent of this peak with 3 approach days and 5 days on the route.
• 9 new routes on the big walls on the West & South coasts of Greenland by Sean Villanueva, Nicolas and Olivier Favressse (Belgium) and Ben Ditto (USA): the most committing - Devil's Brew, took 10 days. Most of the routes were started from their basecamp boat captained by Briton Bob Shepton (75 yrs).