And the winner is....

Canadians Ian Welsted and Raphael Slawinski, along with Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck, have won the 2014 Piolets d’Or.
The Piolets d’Or jury has come to a decision based on the Piolets d’Or charter. The technical committee of the Piolets d’Or provided a list of over 70 significant ascents completed around the world in 2013 that more or less met the Piolets d’Or criteria for ethical climbing. The jury and the technical committee spent many days trying to choose the most representative of those 70, and finally narrowed the list down to five nominees plus one special mention. Because there are many facets of exploratory mountaineering, it was very difficult to choose the final nominees. There were a least 10 more ascents that might well have made the final list. A different jury might have made different choices for the final nominees, and indeed different choices for the final awards.



K6 West Northwest Face
Altitude 7,040 m, 1,800 metres of climbing, WI 4+, M6+, six days of climbing.
K6 West was a previous unclimbed summit and the target of several earlier attempts. Raphael Slawinski and Ian Welsted were confronted with difficult technical climbing including an overhanging ice crux. On the fourth day they realized they couldn’t continue on the ridge as it turned out to be a knife edge of smooth granite. After careful consideration they found another possibility, rappelling to a glacial bench on the south side and climbing back up the ridge above the unclimbable section to continue to the summit.

The 2014 Piolets d’Or winners, Ueli Steck, Ian Welsted and Raphael Slawinski

Annapurna South Face Solo
Altitude 8,091 m, 2,500 metres of climbing, M4/M5, up to 85 degrees, 28 hours of climbing.
After reaching the bergschrund, Ueli Steck had to accept that his climbing partner thought the risk too high. In climbing the face alone, Steck subjected himself to maximum exposure. Despite not knowing what was awaiting him above 6,500 metres, he managed to complete the unfinished route of Pierre Béghin and Jean-Christophe Lafaille (of 1992). Achieving a first ascent on this wall, climbing alone, in very rapid alpine style seems to be a new dimension in high altitude climbing.