©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."
