Piolets d’Or 2014 Nominations

Canadians Ian Welsted and Raphael Slawinski have been nominated for their ascent of K6 West.

The jury of the 22nd Piolets d’Or selected the following five ascents from a list of 76, no easy task. The president, George Lowe, together with Catherine Destivelle, Erri de Luca, Karin Steinbach, Sung-Muk Lim, and Denis Urubko, announced their selection today.

Pakistan, K6 West, 7,040 m 

Slawinski and Welsted made the first ascent of K6 West’s Northwest Face over five days. Watch Welsted’s video of their ascent here, read about it here.

Pakistan, Kunyang Chhish East, 7,400 m

Over six days, Simon Anthamatten and Hansjorg et Matthias Auer climbed the 2,700-metre Southwest Face.

Nepal, Talung, 7,43 9m 

Marek Holecek and Zdenek Hruby made the first ascent of Talung’s North Face over five days.

Nepal, Annapurna, 8,091 m 

Ueli Steck’s now-famous solo of Annapurna’s South Face in a mere 28 hours.

Alaska, Mount Laurens, 3,052 m 

Mark Allen and Graham Zimmerman spent 67 hours completing the first ascent of the Northeast buttress and North ridge, and the second ascent of the mountain.