Piolets d'Or - Tribute to Archil Badriashvili

We are very delighted to announce that the 2024 edition of the “Piolets d’Or” will be held

in San Martino di Castrozza, in Trentino (Italy), on December 8th to 11th.

2024 International Technical jury

Jack Tackle USA - age 70 A true legend of North American mountaineering, Jack has been climbing mountains all over the world for almost 50 years. In particular, he has left his...

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©Alessandro-Gruzza

San Martino di Castrozza, 8th-11th Decem…

We are very delighted to announce that the 2024 edition of the “Piolets d’Or” will be held in San Martino di Castrozza, in Trentino, on December 8th to 11th.

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2024 - Significant ascents

This is a representative list of significant, innovative ascents from most mountain regions of the World. It is not a list of “nominated” ascents for the Piolets d'Or and should...

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Portraits & Tributes

Tribute to Hiraide and Nakajima

©Piotr Drożdż “For me, climbing is about carving out my own path, not following somebody else’s route.”Kazuya Hiraide The west face of K2 (8,611 m) is one of those legendary walls shrouded...

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Tribute to Sergey Nilov and Dmitry Golov…

This summer of 2024 will go down as one of the cruellest for the alpine community. We learned of the disappearance of the famous Japanese climbers Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro...

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Tribute to Archil Badriashvili

©Piotr Drożdż Georgian Archil Badriashvili died on 10 August 2024 at the age of 34. He was with some companions on Shkhelda (4,388 m), not far from Ushba, in the Caucasus...

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©Piotr Drożdż

Georgian Archil Badriashvili died on 10 August 2024 at the age of 34. He was with some companions on Shkhelda (4,388 m), not far from Ushba, in the Caucasus mountains that he knew and loved so well. Hit by lightning, he toppled into the void, unable to be saved by the other members of the rope party or by the rescue services.

A year and a half earlier, he stood on the stage in Briançon. Along with his compatriots and friends Baqar Gelashvili and Giorgi Tepnadze, he was awarded a Piolet d'Or for their daring first ascent of the North-Western Summit of Saraghrar (7,303 m, Hindu Kush massif, Pakistan) via its northwest face in September 2021.

It was not without pride and joy that the Georgian trio appreciated this recognition, a first for this country finally on the map of great mountaineering. At the time, Christian Trommsdorff, President of the Groupe de Haute-Montagne, hailed the achievement as "fulfilling all the criteria of the Piolets d'Or Charter". He agreed with the Jury's conclusions that "the choice of a virgin high summit in a little-known region, with a fair means approach, a face never attempted before, a small team, a long ascent over nine days in pure alpine style with major technical difficulties above 6,200 m, a key passage between 6,750 m and 7,000 m and a high level of commitment, all illustrated the Piolets d'Or Charter".

A native of Tbilisi, Archil Badriashvili was born into a family of mountaineers and so climbed from an early age: "My father was an experienced mountaineer and a real rebel, as he was one of the few to do activities that were forbidden during the Soviet era, such as solo climbing and ascents without official authorisation". As a part-time guide, he first practised the most difficult routes and made his first ascents in winter or solo in remote areas of the Caucasus. He then concentrated on physics research and realising a dream, exploring the highest mountains on the planet in alpine style: first ascent of Larkya Central, 6,425 m, via its southeast face, in the Manaslu region, in 2017 (already with his friends from the Piolet d'Or), the summit of Nanga Parbat (8,126 m) in 2019 (second ascent of the Sadpara variant of the Kinshoffer route with Giorgi Tepnadze) then Pangpoche I (6,620 m) and II (6,504 m) in Nepal in 2019.   

But he didn't abandon his favourite mountains in the Caucasus. For example, the first winter ascent of Shkhara (5,230m) in 2018.  Then in autumn 2020, accompanied by Giorgi and Levan Lashkarashvili, he opened new routes on the southwest face of Ailama (4,547 m) and the dreaded northwest face of the famous Ushba (4,710 m): "Once you've seen a photo of this double summit, or read the stories and legends surrounding it, you'll remember this mountain for a long time. But those impressions change when you look with your own eyes at the vertical granite that literally gushes from the base to the summit of this impressive mountain."

In the spring of 2024, Archil joined Slovenian legend Marko Prezelj (whom he met during an exchange between mountaineers from their two countries) and Frenchman Manu Pellissier, whom he met in Briançon during the 2022 Piolets d'Or. They flew to India with the main objective of climbing a new line on the south face of Nanda Devi (7,816 m). Adapting to the exceptionally warm conditions, the trio finally returned with the first ascent of Nanda Shori (6,344 m) and the opening of a couloir on Changush (6,322 m).

Archil will be missed by the entire alpine community, both for his qualities as a mountaineer and for having shown that extreme alpine style was not incompatible with a bon vivant side. As he wrote after his ascent of Pangpoche II: "One by one, we climb to the summit, then sit for an hour applauding the mountains, our homeland, our friends and our families with French cognac."

What are the "Piolets d'Or" ?

A celebration of mountaineering

The purpose of the Piolets d'Or awards is to raise awareness about the year's greatest ascents across the world.  They aim to celebrate the taste for adventure, the bravery and sense of exploration that lie behind the art of climbing in the world's great mountain ranges. The Piolets d'Or draw their inspiration from mountaineering's rich history.  They are a celebration of a sense of partnership and solidarity, of shared experiences, and reward individual or collective achievement.

The Spirit of Modern Alpinism

More than just the recognition of a performance, the Piolets d'Or celebrates passion, spirit and values. The spirit of the Piolets d’Or draws its inspiration from the history of alpinism and the authenticity of true team spirit. The style should take precedence over the conquest of an objective.  Success is no longer about getting to the summit at all costs, employing all possible financial and technical means, (oxygen, fixed ropes, doping products, etc) or large-scale human resources (high-altitude porters or sherpas). The Piolets d’Or event encourages imagination in searching for innovative routes using a maximum of economy of means, making use of experience and respecting man and nature. The Piolets d’Or is attached to making climbing a shared and valued richness all over the world, capable of attracting the best of human ambitions whilst encompassing moral values and edifying behaviour. The Piolets d'Or event is therefore a celebration of an ethical alpinism, rich in emotion.

 

 

Les Piolets d'Or

Piolets d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award

In 2009, the first Lifetime Achievement Piolet d’Or was awarded to Walter Bonatti.  His style of mountaineering perfectly reflected the spirit of thePiolets d’Or.  He became a sort of godfather to those who would receive this award after him. In honour of the man and his spirit, it has been renamed the “Piolet d’Or Lifetime Achievement, Walter Bonatti Award”.

The Career Piolets d'Or was created to reward a career where the spirit has inspired the following generations, in the sense of criteria set down by the convention.
Recipients of the Piolet d'Or Career :
2009 : Walter BONATTI
2010 : Reinhold MESSNER
2011 : Doug SCOTT
2012 : Robert PARAGOT
2013 : Kurt DIEMBERGER
2014 : John ROSKELLEY
2015 : Chris BONINGTON
2016 : Wojciech KURTYKA
2017 : Jeff LOWE
2018 : Andrej ŠTREMFELJ
2019 : Krzysztof WIELICKI
2020 : Catherine DESTIVELLE
2021 : Yasushi YAMANOI
2022 : Silvo KARO

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