And the Piolets d’Or Awards Go To…
The Piolets d’Or jury has selected four main award-winning climbs from 2025, along with a special mention recognising women’s alpinism, ahead of a ceremony scheduled for October 23 in France. The winning ascents were drawn from a “big list” of 50 outstanding climbs compiled for consideration, according to ExplorersWeb ExplorersWeb. The four recognised routes span Pakistan, Nepal and Peru, while the special mention went to a ski-and-climbing project on Nanga Parbat (8,125m / 26,657ft) Gripped Desnivel.
What happened
Ethan Berman, Maarten van Haeren and Sebastian Pelletti made the first ascent of the southeast pillar of Ultar Sar (7,388m / 24,239ft) in Pakistan’s Batura Muztagh, climbing a 3,100-metre route they named “Shooting the Moon” over June 6–11, 2025, in pure alpine style with five bivouacs ExplorersWeb Gripped. James Price and George Ponsonby, both of the British Young Alpinist Group, completed the first ascent of the northwest face of a peak that ExplorersWeb calls Aikache Chokk and Gripped calls Aikache Chhok (6,673m / 21,893ft), via a line named “Secrets, Shepherds, Sex and Serendipity”. Bru Busom, Ruben Sanmartin and Marc Toralles achieved the first complete ascent of the east spur and east ridge of Yerupajá Grande (6,634m / 21,765ft) in Peru, naming their route “Essence of Commitment”. Benjamin Vedrines and Nicolas Jean opened a new line on Jannu East in Nepal’s Kangchenjunga region, called “Le Sommet des Pieux,” following the mountain’s roughly two-kilometre eastern ridge. Separately, the women’s special mention went to Tiphaine Duperier for the first complete alpine-style ascent of the Schell route on Nanga Parbat’s Rupal Face and the first ski descent from its summit, climbed with Boris Langenstein between June 21 and 24, 2025 Desnivel.
The people involved
The Ultar Sar team of Berman, van Haeren and Pelletti had attempted the same pillar in 2024, reaching roughly its halfway point before returning in 2025 after acclimatising near the Batokshi Col, according to Gripped Gripped. Price and Ponsonby’s climb formed part of a three-year Young Alpinist programme culminating in a 2025 expedition to the greater ranges, per Gripped; the pair had spent ten days searching for an objective in the Baltar Valley before settling on the northwest face. The Spanish trio of Busom, Sanmartin and Toralles acclimatised in the Cordillera Blanca and used a drone to scout their descent through crevassed terrain beneath Yerupajá, per Gripped; ExplorersWeb noted this marked the first Piolet d’Or-winning climb by Spanish climbers ExplorersWeb. Vedrines and Jean had attempted Jannu East’s north face in 2024, retreating from 6,700m (21,982ft), and returned in 2025 after acclimatising on a subsummit of Merra and making a one-day first ascent of Anidesh Chuli (6,808m / 22,336ft), both of which featured on the big list of 50 climbs. Duperier, a mountain guide and ski patroller from the Bauges massif now based in Haute Tarentaise, was formerly part of the French Federation of Alpine Clubs’ Groupe Excellence Alpinisme National, according to Desnivel Desnivel; she and Langenstein had pursued the Nanga Parbat objective since a first attempt in 2019, with David Goettler joining the project in 2024 and again in 2025.
The response
The jury, composed of Lise Billon, Jordi Corominas, Luka Lindic, Young Hoon Oh, Paul Ramsden and Enrico Rosso, described the Ultar Sar route as “beautiful and much attempted,” citing the team’s commitment, self-sufficiency and spirit of exploration, per Gripped Gripped. The Aikache climb was called a “long and highly committing outing” in a little-known corner of the Karakoram, while the Yerupajá ascent earned praise for “pioneering audacious lines in the Southern Hemisphere”. Jannu East was commended for being climbed in “perfect lightweight style” on a steep north face offering few secure protection options. Organisers said winners were announced before the ceremony to give climbers time to attend and to shift the event’s framing away from rivalry, stating that it represents “a celebration of exploratory alpinism, not a contest,” according to ExplorersWeb ExplorersWeb. The ceremony will be held outdoors in France with the Ecrins Massif as a backdrop, and Peter Habeler of Austria is to receive a separate award recognising his career achievements.
Background and context
ExplorersWeb reported that most of this year’s awarded climbers are in their twenties and thirties, and that all the winning ascents except Duperier’s were new routes opened in alpine style ExplorersWeb. Two Everest skiers were shortlisted for a special mention but did not win, as their descents were judged to have been heavily supported; nominated but unrewarded 8,000-metre climbs included a route on the southwest face of Manaslu and a line on Nanga Parbat climbed by Urubko and Cardell. Duperier’s special mention continues a sequence of recipients that began with Spain’s Sílvia Vidal in 2021 and has included Nives Meroi and, the previous year, Slovenian climbers Anja Petek and Patricija Verdev, according to Desnivel Desnivel. Vedrines himself received a special mention the year before for broader excellence across the Alps and Himalaya. For wider context, ExplorersWeb noted that a continuous descent of Nanga Parbat was completed in 2026 by Andrzej Bargiel via the standard Kinshofer route without supplemental oxygen, though using fixed ropes rather than alpine style—a different achievement from Duperier and Langenstein’s alpine-style ascent and descent of the Schell route.
What is not yet confirmed
The sources diverge on several points that remain unresolved. ExplorersWeb and Gripped use different names for the same Baltar Valley peak, Aikache Chokk and Aikache Chhok respectively, without clarifying which is standard ExplorersWeb Gripped. The two outlets also differ on the length of Price and Ponsonby’s push to the summit, with ExplorersWeb citing nine days and Gripped giving dates of October 12–20 with the summit reached on the eighth day. Jannu East’s precise elevation is unclear, as ExplorersWeb states 7,710m (25,295ft) while Gripped describes it only as linked by a two-kilometre ridge to Jannu’s 7,710m main summit, implying a separate, unstated height for the east peak. Descent figures for Yerupajá also diverge, with ExplorersWeb describing a 1,000-metre face at roughly 65 degrees and Gripped giving a combined ascent-and-descent length of 1,400 metres with terrain up to 95 degrees. Finally, accounts of David Goettler’s paragliding exit from Nanga Parbat differ: ExplorersWeb describes a flight of under an hour, while Gripped and Desnivel state he accompanied Duperier and Langenstein to roughly 7,700m before wind delayed his takeoff and he eventually flew down in about thirty minutes Desnivel.
Sources referenced
- And the Piolets d'Or Awards Go To… — ExplorersWeb
- Canadian Alpinists Among Climbers Honoured with 2026 Piolets d’Or Awards — Gripped
- Mención especial femenina de los Piolets d’Or 2026 para Tiphaine Dupérier — Desnivel
Written by Andoram by combining 3 independently published reports, each linked above. We synthesise facts and reproduce no source text.
Coverage timeline
- Mención especial femenina de los Piolets d’Or 2026 para Tiphaine Dupérier — Desnivel, 8 Sep 2026, 09:21 UTC
- Alpinists Attempt Ambitious Three-Climb Link-Up in Alps — Gripped, 5 Sep 2026, 12:30 UTC
- Canadian Alpinists Among Climbers Honoured with 2026 Piolets d’Or Awards — Gripped, 4 Sep 2026, 15:23 UTC
- And the Piolets d'Or Awards Go To… — ExplorersWeb, 4 Sep 2026, 13:43 UTC
This page is an automatically compiled index of third-party reporting. Headlines and links belong to their publishers; Andoram reproduces no article text. Last compiled 9 Sep 2026 09:15 UTC.
