Canadians Receive 2014 Mugs Stump Award

Ian Welsted and Jason Kruk will be attempting Nuptse’s South Face, awarded 2014 Mugs Stump Award.

The Mugs Stump Award is given annually to climbers attempting alpine climbing objectives that exemplify fast, light and clean tactics. The awards are a tribute to the late Mugs Stump, one of North America’s most prolific and visionary climbers, who died in a crevasse fall in Alaska in May 1992.

Here are the 2014 Mugs Stump Award winners.

Nuptse, Nepal. Ian Welsted and Jason Kruk will attempt the Zorro Route on the South Face of Nupste, 7,700 metres, “A touchstone of world mountaineering, having been involved in all of the stages of the development of high altitude climbing, from the expedition style first ascent by the British to the recent alpine style ascent by the French to the summit ridge,” said Welsted. Nuptse’s south face was first climbed in 1961 by a British expedition that made the first ascent of the peak.

Ian Welsted won the Mugs Stump award in 2013 with Raphael Slawinski, the pair succeeded with their ascent of K6 West. “Nuptse is a radical objective and we really would not be going if we didn’t get some grant money so Kruk and I are super appreciative. I am excited to strike while the iron is hot after out success at 7,000 metres this summer with Slawinski. Nuptse is another level of difficulty and so I am happy to go there with Kruk who is young, very fit, and thinks outside the box. We are in negotiations (haha) to attract a couple of other strong climbers to the team. The South Face of Nuptse is truly one of the great challenges of mountaineering in the world. It is most generous of the sponsors to support this award,” said Welsted in response to receiving the Mugs Stump Award.

South Avellano Tower, Patagonia, Chile. David Anderson, Szu-ting Yi and Jared Spaulding will travel to the Avellano region in southern Chile, to attempt the 1,000-metre northeast face of South Avellano Tower, one of the biggest unclimbed walls in Chile. 

Mount Johnson, Alaska. Ryan Jennings and Kevin Cooper will seek an ephemeral ice and mixed line on the north face of Mount Johnson.

Barnaj II and Hagshu Peak, Kishtwar, India. Jared Vilhauer, Tim Dittmann and Seth Timpano will visit the recently reopened Kishtwar region of India, with two difficult objectives, the 1,500-metre north buttress of Barnaj II and the 1,100-metre north Face of Hagshu Peak.

Labuche Kang III and Lunag Ri I, Tibet and Nepal. Chad Kellogg, David Gottlieb and Jens Holsten will attempt two unclimbed peaks, Lunag Ri 6,916 metres and Labuche Kang III, 7,100 metres.

Trango valley and Gasherbrum IV, Pakistan. Kyle Dempster, Hayden Kennedy and Urban Novak will be attempting a new route on the Shining Wall of Gasherbrum IV, 7,925 metres.

Teng Kangpoche, Nepal. Chris Wright and Scott Adamson will attempt the North Pillar of Teng Kangpoche, 6,487 metres.

Source: Alpinist, Climbing, Freddie Wilkinson