Andrej Štremfelj receives Golden Ice Axe in Poland...

Andrej Štremfelj received the Golden Ice Axe for lifetime achievement last weekend at the mountain festival in Ladek, Poland, as the first Slovenian, and thus became the only person on Earth with this prestigious award both for lifetime achievements and for an outstanding ascent. The Slovenian mountaineering legend received the magnificent sculpture from the hands of younger generation alpinist Luka Lindič, and thanked his wife Marija, without whom he would not have achieved such successes.



Andrej Štremfelj is the tenth recipient of the Golden Ice Axe for lifetime achievement, which was first awarded in 2009 with the idea of honoring alpinists who have inspired subsequent generations of vertical explorers. The first was received by the great Italian alpinist Walter Bonatti, followed by mountaineering legends Reinhold Messner, Doug Scott, Robert Paragot, Kurt Diemberger, John Roskelley, Chris Bonington, Wojciech Kurtyka, Jeff Lowe, into whose company the greatest Slovenian Himalayan climber officially joined on September 22, 2018, who had already received the mountaineering Oscar in 1992 for the outstanding ascent that he and Marko Prezelj earned for the first ascent of the south pillar of Kangchenjunga.



The solemn award ceremony at the Ladek mountain festival was something special for Štremfelj: "The Poles really made a big event, we felt great. Mountaineering has a strong tradition in Poland, people came from all over Poland and beyond, the hall was packed. The atmosphere at the lecture was already crazy, I have never lectured in front of so many people. Since Jeff Lowe died, they had to break the tradition that the Golden Ice Axe is awarded by the last recipient of this award, and they came up with the idea that it be awarded by a representative of the younger generation for whom the recipient is a role model. They chose Luka Lindič and I am really glad to have received it from his hands, as he is a worthy successor. In the lecture about the path that led me to the Golden Ice Axe, I also spoke about Marija, because without such a wife it would be hard to achieve such successes, and at the award ceremony I invited her on stage and thanked her that way."



>>> You can watch the video of the magnificent award ceremony at this link (FB Ladek Mountain Festival), Andrej's presentation starts at 1:08:00, and the award is at 1:13.



Štremfelj, a member of the mountaineering section of the Planinska društvo Kranj from the very beginning, entered Slovenian mountaineering history on May 13, 1979, when he and Nejc Zaplotnik became the first Slovenians and at the same time the first Yugoslavs to summit Everest (8848 m), and in 1990 they climbed the highest mountain with his wife Marija Štremfelj and became the first married couple on the roof of the world. He also climbed seven other eight-thousanders: Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II, Shishapangma, south summit of Kangchenjunga, Cho Oyu, and Dhaulagiri. In his 46-year mountaineering career, he was on more than twenty expeditions in the Nepalese Himalaya, made first ascents on several seven-thousanders, and worked as an instructor in the Slovenian school for Nepalese mountain guides in Manang. He also climbed in Patagonia, Pamir, USA, and was on Denali and Aconcagua.



The Golden Ice Axe, the highest recognition for mountaineering achievements in the world, has an even longer tradition, as it has been awarded since 1992, and Slovenian alpinists have been awarded the so-called mountaineering Oscar eight times in 26 years of awarding. Štremfelj together with Prezelj is actually the first recipient of the Golden Ice Axe for mountaineering achievements and the youngest recipient of the Golden Ice Axe for lifetime achievement. "Already on Sunday evening, after the announcement of the best films, Ladek was again a ghost town, that's when you see how short this glory is. On the other hand, it means a lot if the professional public recognizes that what you did all your life, you did well. Among this year's Golden Ice Axe recipients for achievements are also the Japanese, one showed me a photo of us with Marija in 2001 in Japan. At that time, he was devouring pictures from our expeditions and wished to go to the Himalaya, where he had not been before. Perhaps I inspired someone for this activity even more than otherwise, and this event told me that it is good to inspire with your example for something you think is worth doing," said the Slovenian alpinist about the added value of the mountaineering award.



This year's Golden Ice Axes for mountaineering achievements were received by Czechs Zdeněk Hák and Marek Holeček for the ascent in the southwest face of Gasherbrum I, Japanese Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima for the ascent of Shispare, a seven-thousander in the Karakoram, and the French team Frédéric Degoulet, Benjamin Guigonnet, and Hélias Millerioux for the ascent in the northwest face of Nuptse. Special mentions were earned by Americans Chantel Astorga, Anne Gilbert Chase, and Jason Thompson for the ascent of Nilkanth, the highest peak in the Indian Himalaya, and Alex Honnold for his exceptional contribution to rock climbing with the solo ascent of the Freerider route on El Capitan.



"By nature, I am stubborn and persistent, and from mountaineering you learn that for the goal you set or for the path you decide to take, it is not self-evident that it will be paved with roses, but that you have to strive for every thing. Even if it's hard every time, if you think it won't work, you have to persevere, just as you have to persevere in life. Likewise, there is nothing fake in the mountains, people are fake at most. Mountains are creation that teaches you that in life honesty and openness to yourself and others matter most. I always emphasize this to my students in my job - that the truth is what liberates, the sooner you tell it or face it, the easier you live," emphasizes the Slovenian mountaineering legend.



Slovenian mountaineering is thus richer by another international professional mountaineering distinction. The first Golden Ice Axes were awarded in 1992 to Marko Prezelj and Andrej Štremfelj for the first ascent of the south pillar of Kangchenjunga (8476 m), who in 2018 is also the first Slovenian recipient of the Golden Ice Axe for lifetime achievement in mountaineering. In 1997, they were received by Tomaž Humar and Vanja Furlan for a new route in the northwest face of Ama Dablam (6812 m) in Nepal. In 2007, Marko Prezelj received the Golden Ice Axe award for the second time, together with Boris Lorenčič for the new route climbed in the pillar of Chomolhari (7326 m); in the same year, Pavle Kozjek received the Golden Ice Axe by audience vote for the first solo ascent of Cho Oyu (8201 m) and the publication of a photo of the massacre of Tibetan refugees at Nangpa La pass. In 2012, Luka Stražar and Nejc Marčič received the Golden Ice Axe for the Dreamers of Golden Caves route on K7 West (6858 m) in Pakistan, in 2015 Aleš Česen, Luka Lindič, and Marko Prezelj for the first ascent in the north face of Hagshu (6657 m) in the Indian Himalaya, and in 2016 Urban Novak and Marko Prezelj for the first route on Cerro Kishtwar (6173 m) in India, together with American Haydn Kennedy and Frenchman Manu Pellissier.