The 12th Piolets d’Or Asia Awards & 10th Golden Climbing Shoe Awards were held in Seoul, Korea on 3 November, 2017. The founding vision of the Piolets d’Or Asia Awards is to encourage and stimulate Asian alpinists who achieved pure and visionary climbing.
The 12th Piolets dor Asia Award
The 12th Piolets dor Asia Award was awarded to Kazuya Hiraide & Kenro Nakajima.
On 22 August, 2017 Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima completed a new route up the NE Face of Shispare (7611m), Karakorum, Pakistan. Climbing alpine style for seven days, the Japanese mountaineers encountered difficulties up to M6 / W15.
Hiraide received his second Piolets d’Or Award, after being recognised in 2009 for ascending the southwest face of Kamet (7,756m) in alpine style (together with Kei Taniguchi).
10th Golden Climbing Shoe Awards
The 10th Golden Climbing Shoe Awards was presented to Jongwon Chon.
Chon (born February 7, 1996) is a South Korean sports climber, who won the IFSC Climbing World Cup in 2015 in the bouldering discipline, the first Asian athlete. He is currently ranked #1 in the IFSC Boulder ranking.
2017 Piolet dor Asia Lifetime Achievement Award
This year’s Piolets d’Or Lifetime Achievement was given to Indian alpinist Harish Kapadia.
Selected biography:
Born in Mumbai, India on July 11, 1945
Climbing Career: 50 years
Notable ascents: Devtoli(6,788m), Bandarpunch West(6,102m), Gyadung(6,160m), Lungser Kangri(6,666m)
Committee Member of Indian Himalayan Club (1974~2012)
Vice President of IMF (1997~1999)
Honorary Member of The Alpine Club (1995)
Honorary Member of The American Alpine Club (2006)
Honorary Member of Japanese Club (2007)
Honorary Member of Korea Alpin Book Club (2017)
Awarded the Patron’s Medal of the Royal Geographic Society (2003)
Tenzing Norgay Award (Indian Government, 2005)
King Albert Mountain Award (2006)
A long-time (37 years) Editor of Himalayan Journal and author of over 15 published books.
Main Image: Sukha Hong (President of ‘Man and Mountain’ journal), Kazuya Hiraide, Injung Lee (President of the Union of Asian Alpine Associations (UAAA)
