Georgian mountaineers in top 2019 ascents

Georgian mountain climbers Archil Badriashvili, Baqar Gelashvili and Giorgi Tepnadze have been selected in the list of significant annual ascents by the international Piolets d'Or award, recognising their 2019 effort on two Pangpoche peaks in western Nepal.

The group earned their spot on the list by conquering the 6,620 metre-high Pangpoche I peak in the Manaslu Himal chain on October 3, with Badriashvili narrating their experience as an article for the American Alpine Club this year. The story of the Georgian group's expedition is also available as an article penned by Badriashvili and translated for the French-language Alpine Mag.

Organisers of the annual list picked the Pangpoche I ascent in addition to the Georgian group's climb of the 6,504-metre Pangpoche II a month earlier, and included them in their list of 52 climbs in Asia, Europe, North and South America to comprise the list.

See a map of the significant ascents of 2019 as selected by organisers of Piolets d'Or:

The weather was cold and clear, and after five hours we had reached the start of the 'blade.' [...] Three hours of difficult work led to a point where we could—due to the narrow, limited space—go up to the summit only one by one," Archil Badriashvili wrote about the 2019 ascent of Pangpoche I.

The significant ascents list is separate from shortlists of climbs nominated for the Piolets d'Or award, however the selection still recognises the effort by Badriashvili, Gelashvili and Tepnadze among notable achievement of 2019. It was compiled by American Alpine Journal Senior Editor Lindsay Griffin with help from the journal's editor-in-chief Dougald MacDonald and the French Alpine Club's Rodolphe Popier.

Through both the annual selection and the official awards, Piolets d'Or works to " raise awareness about the year's greatest ascents across the world", organisers say. Their picks puts the spotlight on "imaginative and innovative new routes, using a minimum amount of equipment, and building on experience".

The Georgian climbers photographed at the beginning of their scaling of the final "blade traverse" part of the peak. Photo: Archil Badriashvili/via Alpine Mag.

In 2018, the three mountaineers from Georgia were selected for the similar list of the year 2017 for their conquering of the Larkya Main peak, located in the Manaslu region of the Nepalese Himalayas. The nine-day effort included six days of climbing the Category Six (highest difficulty) rock wall of Larkya, and required the three mountaineers to clear natural obstacles on their way.

The achievement was reflected in the group's naming of their trekking and climbing course a "Georgian path" in the region that offers varied climbing opportunities but is also considered to be off the beaten track.