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52-577: All of the Trango Towers lie on a ridge, running northwest to southeast, with Trango Glacier to the west and the Dunge Glacier to the east. Great Trango itself is a large massif , with three distinct summits: Main (6,286 m (20,623 ft)), East (6,231 m (20,443 ft)), and West (6,223 m (20,417 ft)). It is a complex combination of steep snow/ice gullies, steeper rock faces, and vertical to overhanging headwalls, topped by

104-416: A tectonic plate and is considered the fourth-largest driving force in geomorphology . The word "massif" originates from French (in which the word also means "massive"), where it is used to refer to a large mountain mass or compact group of connected mountains forming an independent portion of a range. The Face on Mars is an example of an extraterrestrial massif. Massifs may also form underwater, as with

156-542: A 1999 Czechoslovak team (Ivo Wondracek, Tomas Rinn, Pavel Weisser, Jaro Dutka, and Michal Drasar). On 26 August 1992, Australians Nic Feteris and Glenn Singleman climbed Great Trango and then BASE jumped from an elevation of 5,955 metres (19,537 feet) from the Northeast Face (on the other side of the Norwegian Pillar from the 1,340-metre (4,400 ft) East Face wall), landing on the northern side of

208-549: A 6-person technical jury consisting of Ines Papert , Kelly Cordes, Victor Saunders , Valery Babanov, and Helias Millerioux: The 2020 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in August 2020 by an 8-person technical jury consisting of Kazuaki Amano, Nikita Balabanov, Aleš Česen , Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner , Helias Millerioux, Enrico Rosso, Victor Saunders and Raphael Slawinski. The 2019 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in July 2019 by

260-519: A 7-person technical jury consisting of Lise Billon, Ines Papert , Nikita Balabanov, Ales Cesen , Martin Elias, Genki Narumi and Jack Tackle. The 2022 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in October 2022 by a 6-person technical jury consisting of Conrad Anker , Alex Bluemel, Genki Narumi, Paul Ramsden , Patrick Wagnon, and Mikel Zabalza: The 2021 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in October 2021 by

312-483: A 7-person technical jury consisting of Sandy Allan, Kazu Amano, Valeri Babanov, Jordi Corominas, Fred Degoulet, Ines Papert , Andrej Štremfelj ; for a second time the awards were held at the Ladek Mountain Festival, but were overshadowed by the recent deaths of two of the winners, David Lama and Hansjörg Auer . The 2018 Piolet d'Or winners were announced at the new later time of August 2018 by

364-770: A 7-person technical jury consisting of Valeri Babanov, Kelly Cordes, Jordi Corominas, Mick Fowler , Yannick Graziani, Silvo Karo , and Raphael Slawinsky; it was also announced that the ceremony would be held at the Ladek Film Festival in Poland, the first time there was no French ceremony. The 2017 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in April 2017 by an 8-person technical jury consisting of Kazu Amano, Valery Babanov, Hervé Barmasse , Kelly Cordes, Andy Houseman, Thomas Huber , Sebastien Ratel, and Raphael Slawinski. The 2016 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in April 2016 by

416-612: A 9-person technical jury consisting of Valeri Babanov, Hervé Barmasse , Seb Bohin, Simon Elias, Yasuhiro Hanatani, Silvo Karo , Michael Kennedy , Victor Saunders , and Raphael Slawinski. After several years of lobbying, Wojciech Kurtyka agreed to accept a "Lifetime Achievement Award". The 2015 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in March 2015 by a 9-person technical jury consisting of Kazuki Amano, Valeri Babanov, Hervé Barmasse , Stephane Benoist, Andy Houseman, Michael Kennedy , Ines Papert , Raphael Slawinski, and Andrej Štremfelj ; in

468-720: A break with tradition, Christian Trommsdorff, chairman of Piolets d'Or organizer Groupe de Haute Montagne, said at the ceremony that the winners exemplified the new post-2008 Charter, while the other nominees did not make the cut. Also at the ceremony, Reinhold Messner was supportive of the new Charter, saying: "Alpinism starts where tourism stops. Today's trade routes on the 8000-meter peaks—climbed by commercial expeditions using fixed ropes, camps and Sherpas—are pure tourism that has nothing to do with alpinism. The Piolet d'Or celebrates alpinism." The Piolet d'or 2009 took place in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (France) and Courmayeur in

520-439: A compromise, the jury decided to award two Piolet awards out of the six shortlisted ascents. The 2013 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in April 2013 by a 4-person technical jury consisting of Stephen Venables , Silvo Karo , Katsutaka Yokoyama, and Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner ; in an unprecedented move, the jury announced that the entire short-list of six nominated ascents would receive a Piolet d'Or. Montagnes magazine issued

572-556: A departure from previous years, the winners were announced before the ceremony so the event was "not a competition, but a celebration". National Geographic noted that Alex Honnold 's Piolet was the first to a climber who had never previously led an ice climb. The 2014 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in March 2014 by a 6-person technical jury consisting of George Lowe , Denis Urubko , Catherine Destivelle , Erri De Luca (the Italian writer), Karen Steinbach, and Lim Sung-muk; in

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624-424: A massif is frequently used to denote the main mass of an individual mountain. As a purely scientific term in geology , however, a "massif" is separately and more specifically defined as a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures . In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. A massif is a smaller structural unit than

676-645: A new route, which they termed Assalam Alaikum , to the right of the Wharton/Cordes line on the south face of Great Trango. The climb comprised around 90 pitches, up to 5.11d A2 . They used a lightweight style similar to that of Wharton and Cordes. In the same month, Samuel Johnson, Jonathon Clearwater, and Jeremy Frimer made the first ascent of the southwest ridge of Trango II, which they termed Severance Ridge . The route involved 1,600 m of climbing over five days, with rock climbing up to 5.11 A2 and ice and mixed climbing up to AI3 M5 . During May/June 2008,

728-563: A part of its southeast ridge) is the Trango Pulpit (6,050 m (19,850 ft)), whose walls present similar climbing challenges to those of Great Trango itself. Further, to the south is Trango Castle (5,753 m (18,875 ft)), the last large peak along the ridge before the Baltoro Glacier. Overall, the Trango Towers group has seen some of the most difficult and significant big wall climbs ever accomplished, due to

780-524: A passion." Jury member Peter Habeler added: "It is not a question of reaching success at all costs, by using financial or technical means (such as oxygen, fixed ropes, Sherpas, doping products etc.…). What counts is the style. Today even if the summit hasn't been reached, the expedition can be honoured if it is innovative." In a new departure, three winners were announced under the headings of "Spirit of Exploration", "Commitment", and "Technical Difficulty" (this explicit sub-categorization would not be repeated in

832-461: A snowy ridge system. Just northwest of Great Trango is the Trango Tower (6,239 m (20,469 ft)), often called " Nameless Tower ". This is a very large, pointed, rather symmetrical spire which juts 1,000 m (3,300 ft) out of the ridgeline. North of Trango Tower is a smaller rock spire known as " Trango Monk ." To the north of this feature, the ridge becomes less rocky and loses

884-468: A statement condemning the decision saying that it: "weakens the event and its status, blurs the image of mountaineering in the eyes of the public and does not reflect the true personality of mountaineers who make history". The 2012 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in March 2012 by a 6-person technical jury consisting of Michael Kennedy , Valeri Babanov, Alberto Iñurrategi , Ines Papert , Liu Yong, and Alessandro Filippini (Italian journalist). The event

936-545: Is about sharing our experiences as alpinists with a wider audience, trying to learn about the human experience through adventure. The era of the heroic warrior climber who climbs themselves literally to death in the high mountains is over." The Piolet d'Or is the highest honor in mountaineering and alpine climbing. In 2021, the New York Times described it as "Alpinism's biggest prize", and that even though it had some vocal critics, it had widespread support amongst

988-467: The 2008 K2 disaster . In mid-August 2009, Alexander and Thomas Huber managed to make an all free ascent of "Eternal Flame" on Nameless Tower, with climbing up to French grade 7c+. Recent ascents Massif A massif ( / m æ ˈ s iː f , ˈ m æ s ɪ f / ) is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range , containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central ). In mountaineering literature,

1040-558: The Atlantis Massif . Piolet d%27Or The Piolets d'Or ( [pjɔ.lɛ dɔʁ] , "Golden Ice Axe ") is an annual mountaineering and alpine climbing award organized by the Groupe de Haute Montagne  [ fr ] (GHM), and previously with co-founder Montagnes Magazine , since its founding in 1992. Golden ice axes are presented to the annual winners at a weekend awards festival based on their achievements in

1092-656: The French Annapurna expeditions ). Alpinist Jean-Claude Marmier, then president of the Groupe de Haute Montagne  [ fr ] (or GHM), suggested an annual prize for "outstanding achievement in the world of alpinism" might increase the public profile (and thus sponsorship) of French mountaineering. He won the support of Guy Chaumereuil  [ fr ] , then editor of the Grenoble-based French monthly climbing and mountaineering magazine, Montagnes , and in 1992 GHM and Montagnes announced

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1144-425: The "Oscars of mountaineering". Over the years, a number of climbers have openly criticized and even rejected awards/or asked not to be considered: The 2024 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in October 2024 by a 7-person technical jury consisting of Lise Billon, Jack Tackle, Mikel Zabalza, Genki Narumi, Toni Gutch, Aleš Česen , and Enrico Rosso. The 2023 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in October 2023 by

1196-521: The "new post-2008 Charter" for assessing ascents, the winners were very diverse expeditions underlining the "spirit of Alpinism". The winners of the 2010 Piolet d'Or were announced in Chamonix (France) and Courmayeur (Italy) from 8–10 April 2010 by a 6-person technical jury consisting of Andrej Štremfelj (Jury President), Jordi Corominas, Lindsay Griffin (British journalist), Anna Piunova (Russian journalist), Robert Schauer, and Kei Taniguchi . In

1248-438: The 2008 awards to be canceled. A new Charter was drawn up and the 2009 Piolet d'Or, the 17th awards, followed a very different format; multiple winners were announced (initially under different headings, but the headings were later dropped), a new "Lifetime Achievement Award" was announced (some awards were accused as being such an award in disguise), and the first female winner was announced. Jury President Doug Scott heralded

1300-532: The Aosta Valley (Italy) on the 24th and 25 April 2009 by a 6-person technical jury consisting of Doug Scott (Jury President), Dario Rodriguez, Dodo Kopold, Jim Donini , Peter Habeler , and Yong ImDuck. Jury President Doug Scott heralded the new post-2008 Charter, saying: "This edition signals the rebirth of the Piolets d'Or. For us there are no winners, no losers. The honored are the ambassadors of an art,

1352-482: The Charter laid out the specific criteria under which all future nominees would be assessed: The new Charter also underlined that awards, and the ceremony, should be a "celebration of mountaineering", and not a "climbing competition". The term "winners", and even the term "award", was downplayed in favor of terms such as "nominees". In 2014, National Geographic said of the revised Piolet charter: "The Piolet d’Or

1404-418: The Dunge Glacier at an altitude of 4,200 metres (13,800 feet). This was the highest starting elevation for a BASE jump on record. On 10 August 2013, Andrey Lebedev and Vladimir Murzaev performed a base jump from the same location as Feteris and Singleman on a low budget and with little fanfare. In 2023 Eric Jamet and Antoine Pecher repeated Australians Feteris & Singleman's jump. Then the pair went on to climb

1456-598: The Eternal Flame route Nameless Tower in Pakistan (6,200 metres or 20,300 feet), which they also BASE jumped. They submitted a 26 minute film to the Banff film festival that has been part of the 2023 & 2024 roadshow. On 9 May 2024, Chantel Astorga, Christina Lustenberger and Jim Morrison made the first ski descent of Great Trango Tower via the west face. Some more recent ascents on Great Trango have focused on

1508-493: The Norwegian route on the east face of Great Trango (1984) was repeated by the four Norwegian climbers Rolf Bae , Bjarte Bø, Sigurd Felde, and Stein-Ivar Gravdal, spending 27 days in the wall to reach the summit and three more days for the descent. This is reportedly the first repetition of the route, and thus also the first successful ascent and return. Rolf Bae died later that summer. He was one of 11 climbers who were killed in

1560-612: The awards were founded), produced a new "Charter", and decided to hold the 2008 ceremony not exclusively in France, as in the past, but south of the border in the Val d'Aosta, in Italy. Concern still lingered over the need for stronger independent jury panels in deciding a winner, and whether there should be just a single winner. These issues could not be resolved easily, and in January 2008, it

1612-422: The awards. Further controversy occurred when Marko Prezelj , the co-winner of the 2007 Piolet d'Or, rejected his award and wrote a scathing article criticizing the whole premise of the awards, and whether it was possible, or ethical, to have a single winner, saying: "I don't believe in awards for alpinism, much less trophies or titles presented by the public or the media," and "At the ceremony, I could see and feel

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1664-672: The ceremony was "a not a competition, but a celebration". In 2016, two of the award's biggest critics, Voytek Kurtyka and Marko Prezelj accepted their awards at the 2016 Piolets d'Or ceremony at La Grave ; where only GHM remained from the original founders. In 2018, for the first time in its history, none of the award ceremony was held in France, when the Piolet d'Or ceremony was held at the Mountain Festival in Lądek-Zdrój , Poland . The awards in 2019 and 2020 were also presented at

1716-480: The climbing community. On receiving a Piolet in 2015, Alex Honnold told National Geographic , "I've always joked that if I won a Piolet d’Or I'd retire from climbing ... and I do think it’s appropriate to honor some climbs for pushing the sport in positive directions. Whether our ascent is deserving or not is open to debate, that’s fine. But people definitely climb inspiring things every year and I think it’s worth celebrating that in some way." They are often called

1768-548: The combination of altitude, total height of the routes, and the steepness of the rock. All of the routes are highly technical climbs. Trango (Nameless) Tower was first climbed in 1976 by the British climber Joe Brown , along with Mo Anthoine , Martin Boysen , and Malcolm Howells . There are at least eight separate routes to the summit. After several unsuccessful attempts, the second and third ascents were achieved in 1987, with

1820-483: The festival in Lądek-Zdrój. The 2019 awards were overshadowed by the recent deaths of two of the three winners, David Lama and Hansjörg Auer . The following climbers have won more than one Piolet d'Or since its inception in 1992: Post 2008, a new Charter was drafted to clarify the basis and values for deciding awards: In modern mountaineering, questions of style and means of ascent take precedence over reaching

1872-575: The first Piolet d'Or award for the best alpine ascent of 1991 at the Autrans Mountain Film Festival. From the outset, there was some concern over the ethics of rewarding and promoting the dangerous undertaking of modern extreme alpine climbing. After a controversial 1998 Piolet was awarded to a Russian team of which two had died on the route, the rules were changed the following year so that nominees had to have completed their climbs safely. The New York Times remarked on

1924-737: The first free ascent of Eternal Flame. In 1999, the West Summit of Great Trango and the Trango Pulpit saw their first ascent. Two teams, one American and one Russian, nearly simultaneously, by parallel routes. The American team of Alex Lowe , Jared Ogden, and Mark Synnott climbed a long, bold, highly technical line that they called "Parallel Worlds." They reported difficulties up to 5.11 and A4. The Russian team of Igor Potan'kin, Alexandr Odintsov, Ivan Samoilenko, and Yuri Koshelenko climbed an equally proud route (Eclissi) and encountered similar technical challenges. Both climbs were nominated for

1976-470: The future), a new "Lifetime Achievement Award" was created with Bonatti as the first recipient, and the first female Piolet winner, Kei Taniguchi, was announced. After the controversy of the 2007 awards, Philippe Descamps, the editor of Montagnes , looked for a wider opinion on how to improve the awards. The three co-founders of the awards, the GHM, Montagnes and Guy Chaumereuil (the editor of Montagnes when

2028-578: The large granite walls that distinguish the Trango Towers group and make them so attractive to climbers; however, the summits do get higher. These summits are not usually considered part of the Trango Towers group, though they share the Trango name. Trango II (6,237 m (20,463 ft)) lies northwest of the Monk, and the highest summit on the ridge, Trango Ri (6,363 m (20,876 ft)), lies northwest of Trango II. Just southeast of Great Trango (really

2080-671: The longer routes found on the west and south sides. In particular, in 2004 Josh Wharton and Kelly Cordes completed a new, very long (2,256 metres or 7,402 feet) route on the Southwest Ridge, or Azeem Ridge , to the Southwest Summit. Though not as extremely technical as the East Face routes, the climb was notable for the extremely lightweight and fast (5 days) style in which it was done. Over 7 days in August 2005, two Slovak climbers, Gabo Cmarik and Jozef Kopold, climbed

2132-429: The nominations, respect for the mountain, environment, and future climbing generations, and to increase the independence and transparency of the award process; the official name was also changed to the plural. At the start of the 1990s, it was difficult to raise funds for major mountaineering expeditions in France. The French Federation of Mountaineering and Climbing could no longer fund expeditions (as it had done since

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2184-415: The objective itself. It is no longer a matter of employing huge financial and technical resources (bottled oxygen, fixed ropes, high-altitude porters, so-called 'performance-enhancing' substances…) and large numbers of people to reach the top at all costs. The Piolets d’Or throw the spotlight on imaginative and innovative new routes, using a minimum amount of equipment, and building on experience. In addition,

2236-597: The opening of two new routes: The Slovenian Route, better known as the Yugoslav Route, a pure, clean, logical crack route on the south-southeast face, by Slavko Cankar, Franc Knez  [ sl ] and Bojan Šrot , and the Great Overhanging Dihedral Route, a spectacular and technical ascent on the western pillar, by Swiss/French team Michel "Tchouky" Fauquet, Patrick Delale, Michel Piola and Stephane Schaffter. The first route that

2288-413: The post-2008 Charter, saying: "This edition signals the rebirth of the Piolets d'Or. For us there are no winners, no losers. The honored are the ambassadors of an art, a passion." In 2013, the jury embraced the new Charter awarding Piolets to all six shortlisted nominees, an act that drew criticism from Montagnes . Since 2015, the winners have been announced in advance of the ceremony to emphasize that

2340-454: The prestigious Piolet d'Or award in 1999. The northeast face on the Pulpit was climbed by a Norwegian team ("Norwegian Direct", Robert Caspersen , Gunnar Karlsen, Per L. Skjerven, and Einar Wold) over a total of 38 days on the wall. The team reported of difficulties up to A4/5.11. Another route over Trango Pulpit is More Czech Less Slovak route VII 7-UIAA A2 (Southeast Ridge). It was climbed by

2392-426: The previous year. It is considered mountaineering's highest honor and is referred to as the "Oscars of mountaineering". The Piolets have progressed from being a competition-like single-award event (Le Piolet d'Or) into a broader celebration of mountaineering and alpinism, with several awards made (Les Piolets d'Or). After a crisis in 2008, the Charter for the awards was rewritten to focus on the style and innovation of

2444-502: The proportion of Piolet d'Or winners who have subsequently died while mountaineering, but that the awards criteria had been further amended over time to emphasize "style" over pure "risk-taking". There was also a concern, particularly within the alpine climbing community, on the decision to select a single winner from a list of alpine ascents. The situation came to a head during the 2007 Piolet d'Or awards over accusations by then GHM president, Leslie Fuscko, that Chaumereuil had imposed

2496-404: The shortlist, which led to the resignation of Jury President Andrej Štremfelj . Further controversy occurred when Marko Prezelj , a 2007 Piolet d'Or winner, wrote a public article criticizing the premise of the awards, and whether it was possible, or ethical, to have a single winner. The 2007 controversy led to a fundamental re-think of the structure of the awards, a long process that required

2548-513: Was announced that the 2008 Piolet d'Or would be canceled while these debates were still in process. The 2007 Piolet d'Or was awarded on 26 January 2007 in Grenoble , France. The awards were marked by controversy from the outset, with accusations by GHM president Leslie Fuscko that the shortlist was imposed by Montagnes magazine, making it a "journalist award". GHM and the president of the jury, Slovenian climber Andrej Štremfelj , resigned from

2600-431: Was climbed almost entirely free. These climbs inaugurated an era of pure rock-climbing techniques and aesthetics on high-altitude peaks. The first female ascent, on 6 September 1990, was achieved in free climbing style, again on the Yugoslav Route, by Catherine Destivelle (with Jeff Lowe , and David Breashears filming). In the summer of 2009, Franz Hinterbrandner, Mario Walder and Alexander , and Thomas Huber did

2652-580: Was freed (using fixed lines to return to a base each night), in 1988, was the Yugoslav Route by the German team Kurt Albert , Wolfgang Güllich , and Hartmut Münchenbach. Another notable route is Eternal Flame (named after a Bangles song), first climbed on 20 September 1989 by Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Güllich, Milan Sykora, and Christoph Stiegler. This route ascends the South-East Face of the Tower and

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2704-400: Was held in France and Italy and two Piolets were awarded from the short-list of 6 ascents, as well as a "Special mention". The 2011 Piolet d'Or winners were announced in April 2011 by a 6-person technical jury consisting of Greg Child (Jury President), Enrico Rosso, Yannick Graziani, Simon Anthamatten, Michael Pause (German journalist), and Hiroshi Hagiwara (Japanese journalist); underlying

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