Piolet d’Or 2015 Big List

The annual Piolet d’Or award honors various alpinists for their successful ascents and exploratory alpinism on mountain all over the world. Around this time each year, a list is compiled of the previous year’s ascents that demonstrate the ethics of the sport, respect for the natural environment, and support of local cultures. Eventually, this list will be narrowed down to one ascent that will be awarded the Piolet d’Or award.

The Big List of 2014 ascents for the 2015 Piolet d’Or has been published online and we are excited to see the names of some of our fellow athletes who are supported by Grivel, Edelweiss, and Beal:

Scott Adamson Listed Four Times On The Piolets d'Or Super Big List

Scott Adamson, an Edelweiss and Grivel athlete, has four of his 2013 ascents on the “Super Big List” to be considered for a Piolets d’Or award.

The South Face of The Ogre - An Award Winning Ascent

"One of the 6 winners of the Piolets d'Or 2013. The Ogre is one of the most celebrated of the world's mountains yet until last year had been summited only twice, and never from the south, despite many attempts. The Americans Kyle Dempster, Hayden Kennedy, and Josh Wharton chose a cunning line up the southeast ridge to southeast face to south face. Gaining the upper south face involved a steep traverse across complete rubble and, higher, they overcame hard sections of mixed ground. From a bivouac at 6,900m, Dempster and Kennedy reached the summit but then had to make a difficult descent with an unwell Wharton.

Video by Vinicio Stefanello (Planetmountain.com) & Francesco Mansutti for the Piolets d'Or 2013. Courmayeur, Chamonix - Mont Blanc." -PlanetMountain.com

Kyle Dempster and Hayden Kennedy are both Edelweiss U.S.A. athletes.
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Piolets d’Or Awarded To All Six Nominated Ascents

Photo by Pascal Tournaire.
Courtesy of Piolets d'Or.

A huge “Congratulations!” goes out to all the alpinists that received a Piolet d’Or for their phenomenal ascents during 2012. Among the six ascents that were awarded, Kyle Dempster and Hayden Kennedy’s ascent up the south face of The Ogre (Baintha Brakk) in Pakistan was one of them. Kyle and Hayden are both Edelweiss athletes and live in Salt Lake City, UT and Carbondale, CO.

As reported in the official press release and on various climbing media websites, this year’s prestigious award didn’t go to just one or three ascents but to six:

• Baintha Brakk, a.k.a. The Ogre (7,285m), Pakistan
• Nanga Parbat (8,125m), Pakistan
• Kyashar (6,770m), Nepal
• Muztagh Tower (7,284m), Pakistan
• Kamet (7,756m), India
• Shiva (6,142m), India

In addition to those ascents, a Special Mention was given to two ascents on Cerro Torre—one of them made by Hayden Kennedy—for their honorary ethics of style and respect.

A Great Year for Edelweiss

2012 was a very good year for team Edelweiss U.S.A. Over the internet and in the pages of our favorite climbing magazines, we read the names of Hayden Kennedy, Kyle Dempster, Cheyne Lempe, and Pamela Pack for their over the edge style of climbing. Photos and videos generated quick applause from us, the weekend warriors, as we were able to visualize their phenomenal feats. Thanks to technology and the dedicated members of the climbing media, their amazing accomplishments did not go unseen.

Pamela Pack’s first ascent of the hardest off-width crack in Vedawoo left everyone amazed by her tenacious efforts to tackle a beast of a climb. Pack defeated The Forever War after she allowed the 5.13c/d R monster to swallow her legs and torso while dangling her upside down.