The jury was composed of four world renowned mountaineers, Doug Scott, Peter Habeler, Jim Donini et Dodo Kopold, who created the theme for the event: action, sharing and inspiration. More than recognition of a job well done, the Piolet d’Or (Golden Ice Axe) celebrates a passion for mountaineering and a respect for climbing and nature. Six route accomplishments were presented to the jury on Saturday night out of 57 exceptional routes completed around the world in 2008. The jury members favoured the styles that were light and simple (as opposed to as many gadgets as possible) with respect to man and nature. The judges took into consideration the spirit of the climbers, solidarity, elegance and originality of the route as well as the beauty of the route itself. Three mountaineering teams received the award for the following themes: Spirit of exploration, Commitment and Technical difficulty. The Spirit of Mountaineering association also gave an award to a team that showed great humanity by diverting their goals in attempt to save the life on Inaki Ochoa in the Annapurna region. The Recipients of the 2009 Piolet d’Or: Spirit of exploration: First ascent of the South-West face of Kamet (7756m, India). Kazuya Hiraide and Kei Taniguchi completed the first ascent of the Southeast face of Kamet in alpine style, between 26th September and 7th October 2008. They were the first climbers to set foot on this face and they completed the climb on their first attempt. Kei Taniguchi is the first woman to win a Piolet d’Or. Name of Route : Samurai Direct. Height of Climb: 1800m. Difficulties declared: mixed M5+, ice 5+. Commitment: New route on the North face of Kalanka (6931m, India). In September 2008, the Japanese Fumitaka Ichimura, Yusuke Sato and Kazuki Amano achieved a new route on the North face of Kalanka in alpine style, which had never been ascended in one go. Two-thirds of the way up the face, they were trapped for three days by a snowstorm. Instead of descending after the storm, they continued to the summit. Height of Route: 1800m. Difficulty declared: mixed M5. Technical difficulty: First Ascent of the North face of Tengkampoche (6500m, Nepal). The Swiss Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten, climbing alpine style, made the first ascent of the North face of Tengkampoche, between 21st and 24th April 2008. They found the most difficult and extreme passages climbed anywhere at high altitude in 2008. Name of Route : Checkmate. Height of Climb : 2000m. Difficulties declared : mixed M7, ice 5, rock 6/A0.
