American Climbers Win Coveted Golden Ice Axe Award

This past weekend in Chamonix, France, at the foot of Mont Blanc, the Piolets d'Or awarded the coveted golden ice axe award to not one, but two climbing teams for the best ascents of 2009. "Today we have decided to showcase two ascents that represent creativity and exploration in different ways," said Andrej Stremfelj, the Slovenian president of the six-member international jury. "Each suggests many possibilities for today's climbers and future generations."

 The Piolets d'Or are an annual award given for "imaginative and innovative new routes, using a minimum amount of equipment and building on experience...questions of style and means of ascent take precedence over reaching the objective itself." The awards foster imaginative and adventurous forms of climbing, rewarding and recognizing climbers that see new possibilities in the mountain world.

 To celebrate this pure alpinism, the jury was given a list of 55 spectacular ascents from 2009, which they whittled down to the top five. After each team presented their ascent to the jury, the group deliberated and reached a consensus on the Piolets d'Or awards.

 And the winners are:

 Americans Jed Brown and Kyle Dempster and Scottish climber Bruce Normand for their spectacular and dangerous five-day ascent of the 8,700-foot (2,650-meter) North Face of remote 21,069-foot (6,422-meter) Xuelian West in China.

 Kazakh climbers Denis Urubko and Boris Dedeshko's difficult and direct new route up the 8,530-foot (6,422-meter) Southeast Face of 26,906-foot (8,201-meter) Cho Oyu. The jury liked that the pair, climbing alpine-style, "discovered a bold and difficult new way to the summit of a popular Himalayan summit." It was also Urubko's final ascent in his quest for the fourteen 8,000-meter peaks.

 Steve House and Vince Anderson are the only other Americans awarded the Piolet d'Or in 2006, for their first ascent on Nanga Parbat's central pillar.

 Besides the Golden Ice Axe awards, this year's Piolet d'Or also honored the great Italian alpinist Reinhold Messner and celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Annapurna, the first 8,000-meter peak climbed, and Maurice Herzog, the leader of the French expedition that stood on its summit on June 3, 1950. Messner, in his award speech said, "The Piolet d'Or defends a classical type of alpinism which is currently disappearing." He also said, "The finest and greatest adventure is to still be alive."

 Swedish alpinist David Falt, who attended the awards, wrote on his E9 Climbing blog that Messner was "quite vocal in his criticism of modern high altitude climbing and the the focus on 8000-meter tourism. Messner made an interesting observation when he pointed out that todays Basque and Korean (both female) expeditions working on Annapurna are much heavier in style and tactics compared to the expedition lead by Maurice Herzog in 1950." For more of Falt's observations of the Piolet d'Or, including a short Q&A with Messner and his thoughts why having a double winner dilutes the importance of the event, read his E9 Climbing blog.

 Congratulations to Jed Brown, Kyle Dempster, and Bruce Normand for bringing back the gold. Those three deserve recognition for their great route, named The Great White Jade Heist, and for coming home alive.

Photographs above: Top: Jed Brown, Kyle Dempster, and Bruce Normand after winning the 2009 Piolets d'Or golden ice axe award. Bottom: Kazakh climbers Boris Dedeshko and Denis Urubko win the award for their Cho Oyu ascent. Photographs courtesy Piolets d'Or