UKC

Piolets d'Or 2014 - Nominations Announced

© Scarpa / Ueli Steck Collection

The Piolets d'Or nominations for 2014 have been announced.

The Jury of Catherine Destivelle, Erri de Luca, Karin Steinbach, Sung-Muk Lim, Denis Urubko, together with this year's president George Lowe - have selected six ascents from 2013 that represent state of the art mountaineering.

This year there is a 'Special Mention' for a climb on Annapurna, due to the team spirit which made the achievement possible.

From the 76 climbs reviewed by the Piolets d’Or Technical Committee, six will be presented from 26 to 29 March, 2014, in Chamonix and Courmayeur, to celebrate high level mountaineering.

Nominated ascents

Talung, 7,439m (Nepal)

Marek Holecek and Zdenek Hruby completed the first ascent of the North face of Talung, a summit situated immediately south of Kangchenjunga. This side of the mountain, previously the target of several attempts, gives a challenging 2,000m of vertical ascent. Despite considerable difficulties, the Czech pair summited in five days, ending the climb in unfavourable weather. The descent of the west face took an additional day. Sadly, Zdenek Hruby died in August on Gasherbrum I.

Kunyang Chhish East, 7,400m (Pakistan)

The Kunyang Chhish still has virgin summits and the east peak had been the object of several previous parties. After two attempts defeated by storm, Simon Anthamatten (Switzerland), Hansjörg et Matthias Auer (Austria) climbed the 2,700m mixed Southwest face in six days, two of which were spent trapped at 6,700m by foul weather. The corniced summit ridge, with its baroque architecture, proved spectacular.

K6 West, 7,040m (Pakistan)

K6 West has also been the target of several previous attempts. Canadians Raphael Slawinski and Ian Welsted (Canada), first had to climb through a complex and dangerous icefall to reach an elegant ice/mixed line on the Northwest face, which led in turn to the crest of the upper west ridge. The pair took five days to reach the summit, gaining 2,700m of vertical height above base camp. A further day was needed to descend the route.

Annapurna 8,091m (Nepal)

The South face of Annapurna has been a high altitude forcing ground for progressive Himalayan climbing. An alpine style ascent of this face was completed as early as 1984. In 1992 Pierre Béghin and Jean-Christophe Lafaille tried a route to the right of the 1970 British south pillar, reaching above 7,300m. Retreating from this point in poor weather, Béghin fell to his death. Ueli Steck (Switzerland) completed this route in a 28-hour round trip (8-9 October) from an advanced base beneath the ca 2,700m wall, climbing up and down the top section at night to escape strong daytime winds.

Mount Laurens, 3,052m (Alaska)

This isolated icy giant is situated on the Lacuna Glacier, south of Foraker. Mark Allen (USA) and Graham Zimmerman (USA/New Zealand) took two days to get to the base of the peak from their drop- off point, and then succeeded in making the first ascent of the northeast buttress and north ridge. They reached the summit after two bivouacs, for only its second ascent, negotiating unprotected climbing around large gargoyle cornices. Their ascent, and subsequent descent via the east face, was completed in a total of 67 hours from 20-22 May.

SPECIAL MENTION

Annapurna 8,091m (Nepal)

From 16 - 24 October Stéphane Benoist and Yannick Graziani (France) also climbed the South face, following, with variants, the route climbed by Ueli Steck. The descent proved taxing with Stéphane suffering from a lung infection. The 2014 Piolets d’Or Jury has singled out this adventurous climb for a Special Mention, especially for the team spirit that forced a successful conclusion. 


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4 Mar, 2014
Surely it's Steck's.
4 Mar, 2014
What about Caldwell and Honnold's Fitzroy traverse? Was that too recent for inclusion?
4 Mar, 2014
Kenton Cool for the Everest horseshoe in a week?
4 Mar, 2014
But with o2 and jugging fixed lines. More than I could ever conceive of and I'm not criticising Kenton but strikes me not Poilet D'Or material.
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