Česen and Stražar recipients of the golden ice axe

Česen and Stražar recipients of the golden ice axe for the ascent of Latok.



Among this year's recipients of the golden ice axe, the world's highest award for mountaineering achievements, are also the Slovenian alpinists Aleš Česen and Luka Stražar, who together with the Briton Tom Livingston made the first ascent of the Karakoram seven-thousander Latok I from the north side last August. This is already the eighth golden ice axe for Slovenia in the 27-year history of the award for the most outstanding mountaineering ascent, while last year Andrej Štremfelj also received the golden ice axe for lifetime achievement. The international jury will award two more ascents in the Himalayas and Karakoram in September in Poland.







The Karakoram seven-thousander has remained an unfulfilled goal for around 30 expeditions from around the world over the past four decades, but Slovenian alpinists Aleš Česen (Alpski gorniški klub) and Luka Stražar (Akademski AO) and Briton Tom Livingston succeeded last August in climbing the first-ascent 2400-meter route in the north face of Latok I and reaching the 7145-meter summit on 9 August 2018, thus entering history with the second ascent of this Pakistani seven-thousander and the first successful ascent from the north side.







"This year, three ascents will be awarded, in addition to ours, two more, unfortunately posthumously. These are the solo ascents of David Lama and Hansjörg Auer, who tragically ended this spring in Canada. It is difficult and thankless to compare and evaluate different ascents. Ours certainly gained additional nobility from the truly colorful history of unsuccessful attempts in the Latok face, of course along with all the other qualities of a top ascent in the highest mountains, which this ascent undoubtedly has," emphasizes Česen, who with Stražar and Livingston will receive the golden ice axe for mountaineering achievements in 2018 for the ascent of Latok I (7145 m), the solution to the "last technical problem of the Karakoram"; in addition, the Austrian alpinists David Lama for the solo ascent of Lunag Ri (6907 m) in the Himalayas and Hansjörg Auer for the solo ascent of Lupghar Sar West (7200 m) in the Karakoram will be posthumously awarded the golden ice axe. This year's recipient of the golden ice axe for lifetime achievement is the Polish alpinist Krzysztof Wielicki, known for his winter, first and solo ascents of eight-thousanders.







For the second year in a row, the golden ice axes will be awarded at the mountaineering festival in Ladek in Poland, specifically between 19 and 22 September 2019. The international jury, which selected three out of 58 outstanding ascents in 2018 and awarded them the golden ice axe for mountaineering achievements, consists of prominent names from the world of alpinism: Sandy Allan, Kazu Amano, Valeri Babanov, Jordi Corominas, Fred Degoulet, Ines Papert and Andrej Štremfelj, who last year as the first Slovene received the golden ice axe for lifetime achievement and thus became the only person on Earth with this prestigious award both for lifetime achievement and for an outstanding ascent.







Both alpinists will receive the golden ice axe for mountaineering achievements for the second time. Luka Stražar received it with Nejc Marčič in 2012 for the Dreamers of Golden Caves route on K7 West (6858 m) in Pakistan, while Aleš Česen with Marko Prezelj and Luka Lindič (this year he was with Ines Papert among the outstanding ascents for the first winter traverse of Watzmann in the Alps in one day) in 2015 for the first ascent in the north face of Hagshu (6657 m) in the Indian Himalayas.







"You can somehow compare two top ascents if they are both yours, but that comparison will be very hard to be objective. You only compare feelings, which of course are not dependent solely on the objective qualities and difficulties of an ascent. Comparing two ascents of different climbers can be science fiction. Of course you can do it, even rank them, but often it won't have much meaning," reflects Česen and adds: "If I compare my two awarded ascents, the ascent in the Hagshu wall and last year's ascent on Latok, I can calmly say that the Latok ascent was worth a class more. It involved similar technical difficulties, but in a much larger wall at a much higher altitude. On the other hand, the Hagshu ascent was even more adventurous because no one had ever climbed there before, while in Latok around 30 expeditions had tried before us."







Stražar is currently on the Zanskar 2019 mountaineering expedition in the Indian Himalayas, so we were unable to obtain his first impressions upon the news of the golden ice axe, but Česen, a year after the successful Latok expedition, says: "I have to admit that I don't relive the expedition with nostalgia or great emotional charge, more by force of circumstances, as I had quite a few lectures on this topic in the winter. When things finally calmed down, this award came. Somehow this expedition won't leave me alone, and by that I don't mean anything bad or that I'm complaining excessively. Of course, when you come home, the flow of life eventually carries you forward. In the mountaineering sense, the fire is igniting again now, which is motivation to continue. But in this, the Latok ascent has no greater weight than my entire mountaineering and life path."







Slovenian alpinists have prominently marked the history of the golden ice axe, having been awarded the highest mountaineering recognition nine times in 27 years of awarding. The first golden ice axes were awarded in 1992 to Marko Prezelj and Andrej Štremfelj for the first ascent up the south pillar of Kangchenjunga (8476 m), who in 2018 also became the first Slovenian recipient of the golden ice axe for lifetime achievement in alpinism. In 1997, Tomaž Humar and Vanja Furlan received it 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 climbing a new route in the pillar of Chomolhari (7326 m); the same year, Pavle Kozjek received the golden ice axe by public opinion 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 Himalayas, and in 2016 Urban Novak and Marko Prezelj, together with American Hayden Kennedy and Frenchman Manu Pellissier, for the first route on Cerro Kishtwar (6173 m) in India. In September 2019, Aleš Česen and Luka Stražar will also receive the golden ice axe for the first ascent of Latok I (7145 m) from the north side, who climbed the Karakoram seven-thousander with Briton Tom Livingston.