Robert Paragot awarded Piolets d'Or lifetime achievement

The annual celebration of alpinism that is the Piolets d’Or has announced the award for the lifetime achievement will go to Parisian Robert Paragot.

The Piolet d'Or (golden axe) awards were founded in 1991 and Chamonix has long been a part of the celebration

The event is a celebration of the spirit and ethics of mountaineering, possibly more so than a simple recognition of performance.

Robert Paragot has been chosen to present his lifetime of exploits in this year’s awards (21^st – 24^th March) where he will be presented with the Piolets d’Or, now named the ‘Walter Bonatti’ award.

The event has suffered a few tragedies of late with the deaths of previous nominees Bjorn-Eivind Aartun and Vitaly Gorelik.

The Russian alpinist Vitaly Gorelik was nominated in 2010 for a notably technical climb on the North face of a Tien Shan peak which he presented to a fascinated audience in the Piolets d’Or ceremony in 2010.
He died last week on a K2 summit attempt.

The 2011 nominee Bjorn-Eivind Aartun died this week whilst attempting a new ice route in Norway in a tragic accident.
The Norwegian climber was nominated in the 2011 Piolets d’Or for a climb in Alaska.