The annual Piolets d'Or, which celebrates the greatest ascents and mountaineering achievements in the last 12 months, is to be relocated to La Grave, at the foot of Meije massif, for the 2016 edition.
After seven consecutive editions in Chamonix Mont-Blanc, the organizers announced last week their decision to move the Piolets d'Or to La Grave. The main reason for taking this decision is in support of La Grave catastrophic landslide and rockfall from last year. Since then, the tourism industry and local businesses in La Grave have suffered a huge decline.
The Piolets d'Or celebrates mountaineers and mountain values. Also, aims to highlight the importance of the precious alpine environment, which is badly affected by natural and global warming hazards.
The first pre-event meeting took place in La Grave on 9th January.
The meeting was held in the presence of Christian Trommsdorff, the president of GHM, Jean-Pierre Sevrez, the mayor of La Grave and Joël Giraud, MP for the Hautes-Alpes and president of Mountain National Council.
The 24th edition of Piolets d'Or will take place between 14-17 April 2016 in La Grave.
This news might upset mountaineers who planned to come to Chamonix this spring, especially for this event.The decision to move the event to La Grave is only for 2016. It is expected the 25th edition of Piolets d'Or might return to Chamonix for 2017.
