Piolet d’Or – truly a need for awards?
Much ink has been shed on this issue and many wise -and sometimes less so- opinions have been thrown into the arena. Many of the leading alpinists of our day have voiced an opinion about the place and meaning of this award. And here is something one might see as the root of all evil: ‘leading alpinists’. Most of us embrace the adage launched by Alex Lowe: “the best alpinist is the one who is having the most fun†but for too many the pressures of sponsorship and other outward benefits allow competition to sneak in, hence – the rankings. It would seem natural that those who are likely to get the award to decide what this one is given for and who deserves it, but what if the whole ‘award thing’ as understood here goes against the very idea of what alpinism is really for? Is it about…