Steve Swenson (born February 14, 1954) is an American rock climber, mountaineer, and author. Swenson served as the president of the board of directors for the American Alpine Club from 2009 to 2012. [1]
Swenson is known for his big-mountain climbing expeditions to the Karakoram range, [2] about which he wrote the book Karakoram: Climbing Through the Kashmir Conflict, published by Mountaineers Books. Swenson has taken part in over 15 expeditions to the area. [3]
In 2012, Swenson along with Mark Richey and Freddie Wilkinson, [4] made the first ascent of Sasser Kangri II. At the time, the peak was the second highest unclimbed mountain in the world. For their climbing, the team was awarded the Piolet d’Or . [5]
In 2019, Swenson, along with Graham Zimmerman, Mark Richey, and Chris Wright, climbed Link Sar, for its first ascent. The team was awarded the Piolet d'Or in 2020, for their achievement. [6] Swenson had attempted to climb it twice before, in 2000 and 2017. [7] Steve is one of only a few people to receive more than one Piolet d'Or, considered mountaineering's highest honor. [8]
Along with his climbing career, Swenson had a 35-year career as a water resources consulting engineer. [9]
K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest at 8,849 metres (29,032 ft). It lies in the Karakoram range, partially in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and partially in the China-administered Trans-Karakoram Tract in the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang.
Broad Peak is an Eight-thousander peak located in the Karakoram range of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China, the twelfth-highest mountain in the world at 8,051 metres (26,414 ft) above sea level. It was first ascended in June 1957 by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl of an Austrian expedition.
Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, CVO, CBE, DL is a British mountaineer.
Saser Kangri is a mountain in India. It is the highest peak in the Saser Muztagh, the easternmost subrange of the Karakoram range. Sasir Kangri is located within Ladakh, the northernmost union territory in India.
Douglas Keith Scott was an English mountaineer, noted for being on the team that made the first ascent of the south-west face of Mount Everest on 24 September 1975. In receiving one of mountaineering's highest honours, the Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award, his personal style and climbs were described as "visionary".
The Piolets d'Or is an annual mountaineering and alpine climbing award organized by the Groupe de Haute Montagne (GHM), and previously with co-founder Montagnes Magazine, since its founding in 1992. Golden ice axes are presented to the annual winners at a weekend awards festival based on their achievements in the previous year. It is considered mountaineering's highest honor and is referred to as the "Oscars of mountaineering".
Wojciech Kurtyka is a Polish mountaineer and rock climber, one of the pioneers of the alpine style of climbing the biggest walls in the Greater Ranges. He lived in Wrocław up to 1974 when he moved to Kraków. He graduated as engineer in electronics. In 1985 he climbed the "Shining Wall," the west face of Gasherbrum IV, which Climbing magazine declared to be the greatest achievement of mountaineering in the twentieth century. In 2016, he received the Piolet d'Or for lifetime achievement in mountaineering.
Greg Child is an Australian-born rock climber, mountaineer, author and filmmaker.
Mark Wilford is an American rock climber and alpinist known for his bold, traditional style.
Catherine Destivelle is a French rock climber and mountaineer who is considered one of the greatest and most important female climbers in the history of the sport. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s for sport climbing by winning the first major female climbing competitions, and by being the first-ever female to redpoint a 7c+/8a sport climbing route with Fleur de Rocaille in 1985, and an 8a+ (5.13c) route with Choucas in 1988. During this period, she was considered the strongest female sport climber in the world along with the US climber Lynn Hill, however, in 1990 she retired to focus on alpine climbing.
Marko Prezelj is a Slovenian mountaineer and photographer.
Kazuya Hiraide from Fujimi, Nagano Prefecture, is a Japanese ski mountaineer, Alpine climber, and professional mountain cameraman. Hiraide has won the Piolet d'Or mountaineering award on three occasions.
Alpine climbing is a type of mountaineering that involves using any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes in an alpine environment. While alpine climbing began in the European Alps, it is used to refer to climbing in any remote mountainous area, including in the Himalayas and in Patagonia. The derived term "alpine style" refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly-equipped teams who carry all of their own equipment, and do all of the climbing.
Hayden Kennedy was an American rock climber and mountaineer who made difficult ascents in North America, Patagonia and in the Himalaya. He died by suicide in 2017 after the sudden death of his partner. He was the son of renowned writer and mountaineer Michael Kennedy and he won the Piolet d'Or for his ascent of The Ogre in 2013.
Aleš Česen is a Slovenian climber, mountaineer, mountain guide and entrepreneur.
The Mazeno Ridge is an arête, a long narrow ridge, and part of the Nanga Parbat massif in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, in the Himalayan range. The ridge is the longest of any ridge on the eight-thousand-metre peaks in the Himalayas. A series of eight subsidiary peaks form the ridge, the highest being Mazeno Peak at 7,120 metres (23,360 ft). All eight subsidiary peaks have been climbed, but a complete traverse of the ridge and ascent of Nanga Parbat was only successfully achieved in 2012, and as of 2019, no other expedition has reached the summit of Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno Ridge.
George Henry Lowe III is an American rock climber and alpinist, noted for his history of alpine-style mountaineering on difficult and infrequently repeated routes and his development of traditional climbing routes in the Western United States. He pioneered winter ascents in the North American Rockies along with cousins Jeff Lowe (climber), Mike Lowe, and Greg Lowe. He is also known for his technically difficult ascents of mixed climbing faces in the Himalayas including the unclimbed North Ridge of Latok I and the first ascent of the East Face of Mount Everest, where the Lowe Buttress bears his name. Lowe is currently a resident of Colorado.
Hansjörg Auer was an Austrian mountaineer, noted for his free solo climbs, and particularly of Fish Route in the Italian Dolomites, the first-ever big wall solo at 5.12c (7b+). National Geographic described him as "one of the boldest and best climbers in the world", and he won the 2019 Piolet d'Or for this free solo ascent of the Lupghar Sar West. He died in an avalanche while climbing on Howse Peak in the Canadian Rockies.