Remarkable Alpinist Wins Lifetime Achievement Award

1/27/12 - French climber Robert Paragot will be the fourth recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award presented at the annual Piolets d'Or festivities in Chamonix, France, and Courmayeur, Italy, in March.

Paragot rose to prominence in the early 1950s in the Alps and then began a remarkable series of ascents in the greater ranges. In 1954, his team climbed the enormous south face of Aconcagua (22,949 feet), climbing alpine-style for the final 6,500 feet of the route, with four bivouacs. He joined a small team in 1956 that made the second ascent of Mustagh Tower in Pakistan, five days after the first ascent, and by a new route. Six years later, he summited Jannu (25,295 feet) in Nepal for the first ascent, and in 1966 he did the first ascent of the north face of Huascarán (22,204 feet) in Peru. In 1971 he led an expedition that successfully climbed the west pillar of Makalu (27,825 feet) in Nepal, one of the most technical routes on an 8,000-meter peak to that point.

Paragot, a past president of the French GHM (High Mountain Group) and the FFME (French Mountaineering Federation), still climbs with his old partners.

This year's Piolets d'Or awards, for climbs that took place in 2011, will be selected by a jury chaired by Michael Kennedy, and will be presented during the festival that takes place March 21-24, 2012. See pioletsdor.org for more information.