The two climbers are among four Britons to receive the award this year, regarded by many to be the ‘Oscars’ of the mountaineering world. Unusually, the jury decided to award Piolets d’Or to all six of the shortlisted projects this year in what has been a great year for pushing the frontiers of Alpinism.

Organisers said: “In light of the very high level of the six ascents, the 2013 jury chaired by Stephen Venables has decided to award each of the six nominated ascents a Piolet d’Or, indicating a possible way forward towards more emphasis on diversity.”

Mick and Paul both received the award once before, in 2003, for opening up the North Face of Siguniang (6250m) in China. Mick had this to say about receiving this year’s honour:

“Yeyy! Paul and I are gold covered again. The Piolet d’Or event in Chamonix and Courmayeur ended last week with all six nominees being awarded Piolets d’Or. British teams were particularly well represented with Sandy Allan and Rick Allen receiving one for their Mazeno ridge ascent and Paul Ramsden and me getting one for our efforts on Shiva. It was generally accepted that 2012 was a brilliant year for alpinism and this presumably contributed to the jury feeling it would be wrong to try and differentiate between the six nominated climbs.

Being as we all tend to seek out remote Himalayan objectives the nominated climbers would probably never get together if it wasn’t for events like this. Co-ordinating arrangements to get mountaineers from Russia, America, France, Austria, Japan and the UK to be in Chamonix and Courmayeur at the same time must have been a nightmare but the end result was an excellent gathering of likeminded mountain enthusiasts. Much as many of us have reservations over awards being dished out for mountaineering it seems to me that the pros very much outweigh the cons.

High profile affairs like this tend to have an impact on the style of climbing and one thing that particularly pleases me is how the pendulum of opinion has swung sharply in favour of small teams climbing alpine style and leaving no trace of their passing. In this respect it was great to see the jury deciding to make a special mention of efforts to remove Maestri’s ladder of bolts and restore Cerro Torre to something approaching its natural state.

On another front, it was great for me to be able to juggle my limited time off work so that family holiday action could coincide with Piolet d’Or week. Skiing down the Vallee Blanche with my children, a bunch of great Piolet d’Or people and enjoying my first ever meal in an alpine hut made for a pretty good day. Apologies though to the folks at this year’s Berghaus athlete camp.  Even with the most careful time juggling being in two places at the same time seems to be impossible.

So, gold covering over and now it’s back to focusing on the bureaucratic challenges of mountaineering. East Tibet is the goal and I am hoping it will be a case of fifth time lucky on the applications. My fingers are firmly crossed.”

The jury of the Piolets d’Or – French for Golden Ice-Axes – said of Mick and Paul’s ascent: “Elegance summarises the traverse of this mountain east of Kishtwar, effected via the arrow-like northeast ridge, dubbed the Prow of Shiva, followed by a descent of the south ridge.

“It was the fifth known ascent of the mountain. Mick Fowler and Paul Ramsden, 2003 recipients of a Piolet d’Or, completed a traverse in a nine-day round trip from base camp, finding sustained climbing on the Prow, which ranged from numerous pitches up icy cracks in Chamonix-style granite to long, protectionless leads on thinly-iced slabs reminiscent of winter climbing on Ben Nevis.”

Here’s an interview with Mick and Paul about their award on Epic TV.

Now in their 21st year, Les Piolets d’Or are widely recognised as the most prestigious accolades in the world of mountaineering.  The awards celebrate passion, spirit and values, with style taking precedence over the conquest of an objective.  The annual Piolet d’Or has been presented to a fully British team only once before, in 2003, when Fowler and Ramsden won for their expedition in 2002 which opened up the north face of Siguniang (6250m) in China.

The Piolets d’Or jury described the latest Fowler and Ramsden expedition in the following words:

“Elegance summarizes the traverse of this mountain east of Kishtwar, effected via the arrow-like northeast ridge, dubbed the Prow of Shiva, followed by a descent of the south ridge.  It was the fifth known ascent of the mountain.  Mick Fowler and Paul Ramsden (UK), 2003 recipients of a Piolet d’Or, completed a traverse in a nine-day round trip from base camp, finding sustained climbing on the Prow, which ranged from numerous pitches up icy cracks in Chamonix-style granite to long, protectionless leads on thinly-iced slabs reminiscent of winter climbing on Ben Nevis.”

Mick Fowler comments:
“It’s very flattering to be nominated. I still lie in bed curling my toes with pleasure at the memories of the positions and the climbing. It was just one of those stand out objectives.”

In total, there are six nominees for the 2013 Piolet d’Or, which will be awarded during an international gathering from 3 to 6 April 2013 in Courmayeur and Chamonix, at the foot of Mont Blanc.

Shiva lies in the area of Lahaul in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and is remote and not easy to get to.  The mountain was first climbed in 1988 by Junko Tabei (the first woman to climb Everest), but the side that Mick and Paul climbed is even more distant and its viability was unclear as little photography of it was available ahead of the trip.

In the event, the route presented Mick and Paul with one of the most enjoyable climbs they can recall – Paul described it as “the best climb I have ever done.”   Graded ED (sup) the route featured spectacular climbing on high quality granite leading directly to the summit.

Mick says:

“Contrary to expectations, the rock on this amazing feature turned out to be top quality granite with the cracks liberally choked with ice.  And the situations ranked alongside the best either of us have experienced in the Himalaya.  In near perfect weather, we enjoyed a bivouac on a hanging rock balcony with 2,000ft of space beneath our feet, memorably hard mixed climbing and thin, icy slabs reminiscent of the best wintry challenges on Ben Nevis.  With the technical challenges stretching our ability, success was in the balance until the final moment.  It really couldn’t have been any better.”

For more details from the expedition, see Mick Fowler’s latest blog.

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

First presented in 1994, the awards were set up in memory of King Albert I of Belgium, a keen mountaineer who was killed in a climbing accident in 1934.  The accolades honour people or institutions who have distinguished themselves through exceptional and lasting achievements on or around mountains.  Mick is only the third British mountaineer, after Lord John Hunt and Stephen Venables, to win a King Albert Mountain Award.

The King Albert I Memorial Foundation presented the award to Mick for:

“Being one of the most successful and innovative mountaineers of our time, constantly searching out and mastering difficult and beautiful lines on largely unknown peaks of up to 7,000m.  His unique style stands out against the spirit of the time which overvalues so-called records.”

The award comes as Mick announced details of his latest expedition.  To celebrate 30 years of leading trips to the major ranges, he has set his sights on an unclimbed buttress line on the 6,142m peak of Shiva in the Indian Himalaya.  He will leave the UK this week and return around the middle of October.

Mick comments:

“To receive an award of this stature for doing something I love is very special to me. it is a great honour to be recognised alongside colleagues of such standing and i am very grateful to the King Albert I Mountain Foundation.”

We’ll post all of the latest news from his expedition on our official Facebook and Twitter pages.

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

Mick Fowler will be tackling the technical challenge during annual holiday allowance from his full time job at HM Revenue and Customs.  He will be climbing with Paul Ramsden, with Steve Burns and Ian Cartwright completing the team.

Shiva lies in the area of Lahaul in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.  Remote and not easy to get to, the mountain was first climbed in 1988 by Junko Tabei (the first women to climb Everest) but the side of the mountain that Mick and his team are to attempt is even more distant and appears not to have been photographed by mountaineers until teams from Russia and Italy visited in 2010.  Mick will head to the area in September/October for an expedition that is scheduled to last four weeks.

Mick says:

“The buttress line that is our objective is eye catching, unclimbed, challenging, visible from afar, goes direct to the summit and is in a culturally interesting area that I have not visited before.  In short, it satisfies all of my perfect climbing criteria and the trip promises to be another memorable adventure.”

During the expedition Mick will be wearing the latest technical outdoor clothing and equipment from Berghaus. During recent expeditions, he has tested prototypes developed by MtnHaus® Design and Development team, and he will be putting new kit through its paces again in India.

You can check out the latest innovative gear from the MtnHaus® team here.

Shiva image courtesy of Andrey Muryshev.

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

Some of the biggest names in British exploration gathered at Buckingham Palace for the opening of a new exhibition, including more than our fair share of Berghaus athletes. The impressive line-up of intrepid adventurers included Berghaus athletes; world famous climber and adventurer Leo Houlding, hand biker Karen Darke and iconic mountaineers Sir Chris Bonington and Mick Fowler. They were also joined at the event by Berghaus Brand President Richard Cotter who is no stranger to adventure himself having summited both Mont Blanc and Kilimanjaro.

You can watch the video here.

Mick comments:

“This was a brilliant outing – one of the best I have done. It had all of the right ingredients to make a great trip – remote area, challenging to get to, interesting culture, lots of eye opening sights. And that was before reaching the mountain.

“The climb itself also had exactly the criteria that attract me. There was wonderful, technically challenging climbing, it was objectively safe, with an unclimbed, eye catching line leading directly to a similarly unclimbed summit, and there was a different route of descent. We were even able to add a subsidiary first ascent on the way down.

“Add in incidents such as crashed aircraft (the airline that we flew in with had no active planes at all by the time we flew out!), and amazing landslides from the heavy monsoon that at one point looked as if they would stop us even getting to the mountain, and we had a full selection of memorable moments. To overcome them all and achieve exactly what we set out to do – and find the climb even better than we had expected – has to make it all add up to one of the best and most enjoyable trips I have been on.”

Gojung stands in the Kapthang range on the Nepal/Tibet border and was first noticed in 2008 by a Spanish team who referred to it as ‘outstanding’ and made an unsuccessful attempt on it in 2009.

Mick Fowler is a key member of the Berghaus athlete team and plays an active role in the development of our latest technical products. Both Mick and Dave used clothing and equipment from Berghaus’ latest Extrem range, and tested prototypes of products that are being developed for future seasons.

This most recent appointment has put Mick at the very heart of one of the oldest and most adventurous organisations in the world.

Dating back to 1857 the Alpine Club was set up by a group of well off English gentlemen with the lofty aim to (get ready for it):

‘facilitate association among those who possess a similarity of taste, and to enable its members to make arrangements for meeting at some suitable locality whence they may in company undertake any of the more difficult mountain excursions.’

Ok, it’s not exactly easy language to understand but at its heart was the belief that mountains were there to be climbed and during this golden age of discovery Britain was leading the way.

In fact Britain still punches well above its weight on the world stage of climbing with three of the six 2011 nominations for the Piolet d’Or including British members.

Mick has been associated with the Alpine Club for over thirty years, although his first visit didn’t go to plan; he was so overwhelmed by the legendary members lined up in front of him he turned round and left without seeing the lecture he had arrived for! Mick overcame his initial nerves and realises that there was nothing to be afraid of and that the club has a welcoming calendar of social events.

As President Mick is keen to revitalise the image of the club and introduce new, younger members to the Club by highlighting the benefits of membership including; free accommodation in London, a calendar of lecture and events, a dedicated research librarian and the Alpine Climbing Fund to help people fund their expeditions.

Mick has some impressive plans and has kicked things off by championing the use of Twitter (@thealpineclub) and setting in motion plans to revamp their website.

The Alpine Club are always looking for new members and if you’re interested in joining over 150 years of climbing history you can find out more at: www.alpine-club.org.uk

If you require great quality outdoor kit then shop the full Berghaus range.

Find out more about Mick Fowler.

Here Sir Chris Bonington and Mick Fowler make short work of the Cascade de Lillaz, one of Europe’s finest ice climbs.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Newcastle – Friday 11th February
Gateshead College
7:30 Doors Open, Lecture starts at 8:00pm
Tickets £10 each

Edinburgh – Saturday 12th February
University of Edinburgh (revised venue)
7:30 Doors Open, Lecture starts at 8:00pm
Tickets £10 each

For more information and to purchase tickets please visit the Adventure Tour Site

Any tickets you previously purchased for either of these events will still be valid.

If you want to know what’s in store at Mick’s lectures you can read a great review of his show in Bristol here.