2012 Golden Piton Awards

On frozen Karakoram peaks, fierce alpine faces, and crags around the world, climbers killed it last year. Here, Climbing presents the 10th annual Golden Piton Awards for top performances in six disciplines. Thank you, athletes, for your inspiration!

MOUNTAINEERING

• First winter ascent of Gasherbrum II
• Pakistan
• Simone Moro, Cory Richards, Denis Urubko

“What the @%&! am I doing here?” wonders Cory Richards in the opening moments of Cold, the prize-laden short film about last February’s ascent of Gasherbrum II (26,362’). When you watch Richards, an American, Simone Moro from Italy, and Denis Urubko of Kazakhstan struggle up and down the desolate peak, in polar temperatures and hurricane winds, you have zero doubt why he’d feel this way.

Gasherbrum II is the 13th-highest mountain in the world, and it’s considered to be the easiest of the 8,000-meter peaks. But it’s not technical difficulty that had prevented any prior winter climb of an 8,000’er in Pakistan, despite more than two decades of attempts. The Karakoram giants are more isolated than Nepal’s 8,000’ers, all of which have been climbed in winter, and they’re about 500 miles farther north. Temperatures during last February’s climb dropped to –50°F, inside a tent, and even at base camp they never rose above 18°F. To succeed in such conditions requires extraordinary talent in what Voytek Kurtyka called the “art of suffering.”

Urubko, 38, had already climbed all 14 8,000-meter peaks, including the first winter ascent of Makalu, in 2009, with Moro. The 44-year-old Moro had climbed Shishapangma in 2005, becoming the first non-Polish climber to do the first winter ascent of an 8,000’er; he also had attempted Broad Peak, near Gasherbrum II, twice in winter. By comparison, Richards, 30, was a rookie, with only one 8,000-meter peak, Lhotse, under his belt.

Their final push took four days. After climbing nearly 4,000 vertical feet from high camp, they summited before noon on February 2. The crux came during the descent, as a storm moved in just as they were topping out. By the morning after summit day, the wind was up to 80 mph.

The climbers knew they were rolling the dice as they postholed down through waist-deep fresh snow under neighboring Gasherbrum V. When a serac broke loose, it set off an avalanche that swept them across the glacier and partially or fully buried all three men. Moro was able to free himself and dig out his partners. Minutes later, Richards fell into a deep crevasse, but Urubko held the rope. When images of these on-the-edge moments were replayed around the world, many other climbers wondered just what the @%&! these guys were doing there.

All three men are planning more winter attempts on 8,000ers. Moro and Urubko left the day after Christmas to attempt the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat in Pakistan. Richards, newly married, said he needed a winter off “from being that isolated,” but he’s hoping to attempt another Karakoram giant next winter.