2008 Golden Piton Awards

Alpine

Fumitaka Ichimura, Yusuke Sato, and Katsutaka Yokoyama

“The ‘Giri Giri Boys’ are badass,” says The American Alpine Journal senior editor Kelly Cordes. “They’re like full-on modern-day samurai.” Translated from Japanese, Giri Giri means roughly “last minute” or “close call,” a philosophy three Giri Giri Boys — Katsutaka Yokoyama, Yusuke Sato, and Fumitaka Ichimura — took to a logical extreme last May 11-18 when they enchained two high-end Denali routes.

Yokoyama, Sato, and Ichimura made their link-up alpine style: beginning May 11, they tackled the Isis Face (Alaska Grade 6: 5.8 M4 A1, 60 degrees; 7,200 feet), to the top of the South Buttress, and then descended to the Kahiltna Glacier. On May 15, they set off via the Slovak Direct (Alaska Grade 6: 5.9, 100 degrees; 9,000 feet), summited on TK DAY, and then descended on May 18. “Among serious Alaska Range climbers, I don’t think anybody had even contemplated an enchainment of that magnitude,” says Cordes. “Such things often take an outsider’s vision.”

Honorable Mentions:

• Rolando Garibotti and Colin Haley, for bagging the long-attempted (since the 1980s) Torre Traverse, Patagonia — linking Cerro Standhardt, Punta Heron, Torre Egger, and Cerro Torre from January 21-24.
• Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten, for Checkmate (VI M7+ or M6 A0, 85 degrees; 6,500 feet), their April 21-24 alpine-style FA on Tengkangpoche’s North Face, in the Khumbu Valley, Nepal.