The Piolets d’Or crew has just released its “Big List” of the outstanding alpine-style expeditions of 2024. The ceremony will again take place in San Martino di Castrozza in the Italian Dolomites from December 9-12.
14 regions around the world
The committee has also released the names of the judges who’ll whittle the Big List down to the handful of winners. They are Ethan Berman (U.S.), Aymeric Clouet (France), Young Hoon Oh (South Korea), Ines Papert (Germany), Enrico Rosso (Italy), Jack Tackle (U.S.), and Mikel Zabalza (Spain).
The 74 shortlisted climbs took place in 14 regions around the world, from the Himalaya to Greenland, South America, and even China, after an absence of several years. All the selected climbs were innovative and done in a lightweight style.
Not surprisingly, Nepal was the site of the most nominations, with 16. The surprising second-most prominent venue was not Pakistan or the Andes, but the European Alps.
The Alps, the birthplace of the Piloets d’Or, features nine outstanding new routes on classic peaks such as The Petit Dru, The Civetta, and the Barre des Ecrins. Plus, there is a category tagged as Performance in the Alps for two long-range endurance activities done without motorized help: The connection of all the 4,000’ers of the Alps in 19 days by Kilian Jornet of Spain, and the Drus-Droites-Grandes Jorasses traverse by Leo Billon and Benjamin Vedrines.
This new category reflects how the Golden Ice Axes have evolved to welcome this new athletic trend in alpine performance.
Kilian Jornet during the Alpine Connections challenge. Photo: @nickmdanielson
Triple nominees
In addition to physical machines like Jornet and Vedrines, Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll has been nominated for three expeditions: the first free climb of Riders on the Storm on the Torre Central del Paine, a new route on Mirror Wall in Greenland, and his solo traverse of the four peaks of Torres del Paine.
Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll has been nominated for three expeditions. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko
Baptiste Obino, a member of France’s Military High Mountain Group, is also a triple nominee for his highly difficult routes on the Barre des Ecrins and two on the Petit Dru.
Not all are candidates
The Piolets d’Or notes that, while all the climbs on the Big list are noteworthy adventures, not every one is eligible for a Piolet d’Or.
This includes 2024’s high-risk new route on Langtang Lirung by Marek Holecek of Czechia and Ondrej Husherka of Slovakia. They summited successfully, and the difficulty and boldness of the climb merit a spot on the Big List. However, Husherka fell into a crevasse during the descent and perished. Last year, Piolets d’Or director Christian Trommsdorff told ExplorersWeb that a death during an expedition eliminates it from consideration.
You can check the entire Big List on the Piolets d’Or website.
Ondrej Huserka. Photo: Marek Holecek
Women’s prize unveiled
The Special Mention for Female Mountaineering goes to the first ascent of Lalung I. Photo: ©Anja Petek/Patricija Verdev
Recently, the Piolets d’Or committee established a Special Mention category to promote female alpinism. Some women’s teams are included on the Big List, but the jury has already revealed its choice of the top female expedition of last year. It goes to Anja Petek and Patricija Verdev of Slovenia for their first ascent of 6,243m Lalung I, located in a remote valley between Zanskar and Kirstwar, in the Indian Himalaya.
Here is how the judges summarized their route, Here Comes the Sun (2,000m, M6+ AI5+):
Petek and Verdev, part of a four-member female expedition, climbed the sharp and difficult east ridge of Lalung I over a period of five days, one and a half of these pinned inside their tent due to bad weather. On their final evening, a little below the summit, they lost tent poles to the wind and spent the night in bivouac sacks.
The following morning’s mist made it hard to navigate the remaining terrain, but they reached the summit at 9 am…The pair then made a long descent on the crest of the west ridge before making five rappels on the north face to reach the Lalung Glacier at 6:30 pm. Here, they opted to continue down to advanced base, which took a further eight hours.
Winners to be announced soon
In recent editions, the winners of the Piolet d’Or, as well as the climber honored with the Walter Bonatti lifetime award, are revealed before the ceremony takes place. Organizers prefer to make the event itself a celebration of alpinism and its values rather than a suspense-filled competition.
Awarded climbers and guests at the end of the final ceremony last year. Photo: P. Drozdz/Piolets d’Or
