Piolets d'Or - Tribute to Sergey Nilov and Dmitry Golovchenko

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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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 Nakajima on the flanks of K2, followed by that of Georgian Archil Badriashvili. This black series has just continued with the announcement of the disappearance of Russian Sergey Nilov, who was caught in the seracs of Gasherbrum IV while trying to recover the body of his friend Dmitry Golovchenko. Sergey's name will remain indelibly associated with that of Dmitry, such is their unfailing association with each other that they have left their mark on the history of alpine style and personified the noblest values of the roped party spirit.

As a young man, Sergey first discovered the great outdoors by canoeing. During one of these trips, he met an alpinist and joined the CSKA Demchenko club in the early 2000s. It was there that he met Dmitry Golovchenko in 2002 during a trip to the Adyl-Su, a Caucasian valley close to Elbrus. Dmitry, who is seven years his junior, was born into a family of mountaineers, so has always been in the mountains. One of the favorite things, as a child, was to watch slides from various mountain trips when the whole family gathered in the living room, a white bedsheet was hung on the wall, the light was switched off and the show started.

In 2007, Sergey took part in the Haina Brakk (Shipton Spire) expedition organised in Pakistan by Denis Saveliev. He then became a regular visitor to Pakistan, India, Nepal and Baffin Island. He reunited with Dmitry in 2012 for an adventure to the Muztagh Tower (7,276 m), again in the Karakoram. Accompanied by Alexander Lange, in 17 days they traced a direct line on the spur in the centre of the northeast face (ED, 6a A2 M6, 3,400 m). ‘It's the hardest thing we've done in the mountains,’ Lange concluded soberly. They were awarded a Piolet d'Or for it the following year.

In 2016, the duo, joined this time by Dmitry Grigoriev, tackled the direct north face of Thalay Sagar (6,904 m), the emblematic summit of the Garhwal in India. Moveable Feast (ED2, 5c A3 WI5 M7, 1,400 m) took them nine days of effort, not least to climb directly over the final, overhanging zone of dark shales, without a portaledge to lighten the load. Their efforts were rewarded with another Piolet d'Or.

But their most famous odyssey will probably be the one they embark on in 2019 on Jannu (or Kumbhakarna, 7,710 m). Its virgin east face has long been one of the ‘last Himalayan problems’. Having set out to open a direct route with very large packs, they have to contend with inconsistent snow that is slowing their progress considerably. And as Golovchenko points out: ‘the higher you go, the steeper it gets...’. After twelve exhausting days, they finally reached the southeast ridge at 7,410m. They soon ran out of food and found it impossible to descend by their original route, so they chose to climb down the opposite side of the mountain and switched to survival mode. It would take another six days before they were out of the woods. Nevertheless, they named their line Unfinished Sympathy because ‘we had a great time on that mountain’.

Gasherbrum IV (7,925m), although a few tens of metres short of the 8,000m mark, has been an iconic Karakoram summit since its first ascent in 1958 by Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri. Its west face, the Shining Wall, first climbed in 1985 by Voytek Kurtyka and Robert Schauer, represents a milestone in the history of alpine style. But its opposite side also offers a long, untouched southeast ridge. It was this one that the two Russians were aiming for in August 2023. They soon found themselves trapped by bad weather in their tent 250 metres below the summit. In the dead of night, just as Nilov had climbed out to improve the flat spot they were on, he suddenly heard his companion shout: ‘Sergey, I'm falling!‘ The tent had just toppled over, taking Golovchenko with it. As he makes his way down the slope, Sergey finds the tent with the body of his companion, who has not survived the terrible fall, and left him in a crevasse...

It would take him another five days to descend despite the frostbite, so he returned this summer with some companions to bring back his friend's body. But fate had other plans. Sergey, aged 47 and the father of five, has now joined Dmitry, who disappeared at the age of 40 and the father of two. They lie almost side by side in the high mountains of the Karakoram that they loved so much.

 

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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