Paul Ramsden and Mick Fowler were awarded the prestigious Piolet d'Or award in Paris on 5 February 2003 for their ascent of the north face of Siguniang. They are the first Britons to win what is arguably the most coveted prize in mountaineering. Their 1500m new route (ED+. VII/AI6/M6)was climbed over 7 days in April 2002 in pure alpine style.
They had stiff competition for the award from among others, French favorite Jean Christophe Lafaille (Annapurna) and Jules Cartright and Rich Cross (Ama Dablam).
Fowler's been nominated so often its about time he got it, wonder if Tut Braithwaite chairing the jury helped :-) There's a short piece (in French) over on www.ice-fall.com under 'news montagne'
Don't know of a list on the web, but by serendipity I've' been looking in 'Montagnes' for a non related article & found an article in Jan 2001 listing all the winners to date. First awarded 1991 Marko Prezelj & Andrej Stremfelj (1st ascent South pillar, Kangchenjunga) 1992 Michel Piola & Vincent Sprungli (new route on Tour du Paine) 1993 'équipe jeunes haut niveau du CAF' (several new routes in the Pamir) 1994 Francois Marsigny & Andy Parkin (Col de l'esperance, Cerro Torre) 1995 Andreas Orgler, Heli Neswaba & Arthur Wutscher (1st ascent, the Pearl, Mt Bradley, Alaska) 1996 Thomas Huber & Vania Furlan (East face direct, Ama Dablam) 1997 Russian expedition (West face, Makulu) 1998 Andrew Lindblade & Athol Whimp ( 1st ascent, North face of Thalay Sagar) 1999 Lionel Daudet & Sébastien Foissac (South face of Burkett Needle, Alaska) Don't know who won in 2000 or 2001, seems a Brit has won before, but as part of an anglo-french pair (& he lives in France)
Funny that Humar didn't win it for his Dhaulagiri route in '99 which sounds one of the most awesome achievements of the decade, do you think the judges were worried that he was another Cesen? Well done to Fowler and Ramsden - for the route more than the award.
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