Piolets d'Or
The prestigious international award dedicated to mountaineering
From December 8 to 11, in San Martino di Castrozza, the 2024 edition of the "Piolets d'Or," a prestigious international award dedicated to mountaineering, will take place.
This will be the first time that the Piolets d'Or will be organized in the Dolomites, one of the main mountain ranges of the Alps and the world, particularly for its endless possibilities for rock climbing, but also for the special role the Dolomites have played in the development of classical mountaineering over the last 150 years. To name just a few, world-class climbers such as Angelo Dibona, Reinhold Messner, or famous rock climbers like Manolo were/are from the Dolomites. This vast massif with thousands of peaks - besides the Pale di San Martino, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Marmolada, Sassolungo, Catinaccio, and Monte Civetta are probably the most famous - has attracted climbers and mountaineers from all over the world. In the evolution of the art of mountaineering, notable ascents in the Dolomites by figures such as Paul Preuss, Tita Piaz, Michele Bettega, Luigi Micheluzzi, Emilio Comici, Riccardo Cassin, Cesare Maestri, Armando Aste, Georges Livanos, Pierre Mazeaud, and Lino Lacedelli have marked the history of mountaineering.
ApT San Martino di Castrozza Primiero e Vanoi, in collaboration with Trentino Marketing and under the patronage of the Dolomiti Unesco Foundation, is proud to host this year's edition of the Piolets d'Or and to welcome mountaineers from all over the world. The event is also made possible thanks to the support of the Municipality of Primiero San Martino di Castrozza, the Primiero Community, FPB Cassa di Fassa Primiero e Belluno, the Alpine Guides Group "Aquile di San Martino e Primiero," and the tourist operators of San Martino di Castrozza, Primiero, and Vanoi.
Program:
- Sunday, December 8
5:00 PM - La Crodaroi Square: Opening ceremony and welcome from local authorities to the guests of the Piolets d'Or, with the unveiling of a monument dedicated to the “Aquile” Alpine Guides of San Martino and Primiero.
9:00 PM - Congress Hall: “A Brief History of Alpine Exploration in the Pale di San Martino” presented by Mountain Guide Narci Simion, past president of the “Aquile” Guides of San Martino and Primiero. Followed by the screening of the film "Pioneers", the achievement of the Alpine Guide Peter Moser, who in 2021 reached six of the main peaks of the Pale di San Martino in a single day, following the routes established by the early climbers of the 1800s. Film created by Aku in collaboration with the "Aquile" Alpine Guides.
- Monday, December 9
2:30 - 3:30 PM: Opportunity for guests to meet the Piolets d'Or nominated climbers at the Rosetta Hut.
Afternoon - Event Base Camp at the Sports Hall
Rock climbing demonstration with local alpine guides.
3:30 PM: Presentation of the "Ice Memory", project by AKU.
5:00 PM: Presentation of “The Dolomites as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Alpinism as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” by the Dolomites UNESCO Foundation. Moderated by Luca Calvi (translator and alpinism expert) and Christian Trommsdorff (President of the Groupe de Haute Montagne and Piolets d'Or organizer).
9:00 PM: “The Spirit of Alpinism in the Dolomites”, an evening dedicated to the Dolomites with alpine guides Nicola Tondini and Alessandro Baù, moderated by Luca Calvi (translator and alpinism expert).
- Tuesday, December 10
Afternoon - Event Base Camp at the Sports Hall
Rock climbing demonstration with local alpine guides.
2:00 - 4:30 PM: Presentations by the Piolets d'Or nominated climbers on their respective ascents.
6:00 - 8:00 PM: Buffet-style aperitif. Advance reservation required here.
8:45 PM: Live streaming on a big screen of the Piolets d'Or Gala Awards Night moderated by Luca Calvi (translator and alpinism expert) and Christian Trommsdorff (President of the Groupe de Haute Montagne and Piolets d'Or organizer). Free admission with advance registration here.
11:00 PM: Piolets d'Or After Party with drinks and DJ set. Free admission.
Want to experience the Piolets d'Or up close? Reserve your spot to make sure you don’t miss the event’s key moments! (Booking link with details on package services will be available soon).
The Piolet d'Or (in Italian "Golden Ice Axe") is a sports award given by the Groupe de haute montagne for the best mountaineering achievement of the previous year. It is considered the highest recognition in mountaineering worldwide.
In modern mountaineering, style of ascent takes precedence over attaining the objective at all costs. It is no longer a matter of employing huge financial and technical resources, such as bottled oxygen, fixed ropes, high-altitude porters, wide-spread drilling, helicopter support, so-called 'performance-enhancing' substances, and large numbers of people, in order to reach the top. The Piolets d'Or throw the spotlight on progressive alpinism: imaginative and innovative new routes, doing more with less, and building on experience.
The award was established in 1991 by the Frenchmen Guy Chaumereuil and Jean-Claude Marmier. The prize is awarded by a jury of world-renowned climbers and journalists. Since 2009, a lifetime achievement award has also been included, which since 2012 has been renamed the Walter Bonatti Lifetime Achievement Piolet d'Or, in honor of the Italian climber Walter Bonatti.
The Piolets d'Or draw their inspiration from mountaineering's rich history and its evolution. Their purpose is in essence to use these ascents to promote clear ethical messages regarding our practices as alpinists around the world, in line with the UNESCO classification of Alpinism as an intangible cultural heritage. The awards aim to celebrate commitment, the taste for adventure, and the sense of exploration that lie behind the art of climbing in the world's great mountain ranges. They award individual or collective achievement.
It was thanks to travelers who arrived in the Dolomites in the second half of the 19th century to discover new peaks that San Martino di Castrozza was born as a tourist destination, with shepherds and hunters working as mountain guides. At that time, they were the only ones who could accompany visitors in the mountains, knowing them better than anyone else. The first mountain guide in the area was Michele Bettega, followed by Giuseppe Zecchini, Antonio Tavernaro, and Bortolo Zagonel. They were the first to be recognized as the "Eagles of San Martino," a sort of legend for travelers of the time. Michele Bettega, for example, climbed the Cimon della Pala more than 250 times. At that time, San Martino di Castrozza was also appreciated by illustrious visitors, such as Sigmund Freud and Arthur Schnitzler, who wrote "Fraulein Else," setting it right in San Martino, King Albert I of Belgium, and Dino Buzzati.
"Whoever does not know San Martino di Castrozza does not know the Dolomites", so said the famous writer and mountaineer Gunther Langes. He was probably the best climber in the Pale di San Martino in the years between the two world wars. Among the many important climbs he accomplished, the most famous are certainly "the Velo Ridge (the famous Schleierkante in German), which is the northwest ridge of Cima della Madonna, and the Gran Pilastro on the Pala di San Martino.
