2020 - 2024
"Nina Caprez, born in 1986 in Küblis, Switzerland, discovered climbing at the age of 13. She then put her heart and soul into her passion, first in competitions, then on long, difficult routes. She has many first female ascents, including Ultime Démence (8a+, Verdon, France, 2009), Silbergeier (8b+, Rätikon, Switzerland, 2012) and Orbayu (8b+/c, Naranjo de Bulnes, Spain, 2014). In 2022, she gave birth to Lia. Less than a year later, she returned to the highest level by becoming the first woman to climb free Yeah Man (8b+, Gastlosen, Switzerland).
For Nina Caprez, passing on her passion is essential. Thanks to the positive and inclusive values of climbing, she wants to reach out to others and support them on their difficult journey through life. In 2017, with the ClimbAid association, which supports communities affected by war and poverty, she does so to Syrian refugees in Lebanon. In 2020, with her partner Jérémy Bernard, she founded Andrea: thanks to a truck that carries a removable climbing wall, they bring, as a family, support, reconnection and entertainment to poorest communities.
Nina Caprez lives her life intensely and freely, in total harmony with her passion for the mountains, which she passes on with enthusiasm. Climbing is a vertical dance towards the sky that allows her to become one with the most demanding cliffs on the planet, but above all it's a way of connecting with others, whatever their origin or background, and of supporting the underprivileged by sharing her passion."
Albert Mountain Award 2024
"Werner Bellwald, born in Basel in 1960, is a versatile cultural scientist and historian from Valais. His career took him to Basel, Vienna, Aix-en-Provence and Freiburg im Breisgau, where he obtained a doctorate in European ethnology and history. Werner Bellwald has published over twenty books and brochures as well as more than eighty articles on topics such as rural architecture, history, trade, industry and customs. As managing director of the Valais Museum Association and as a lecturer at the University of Basel, he was able to put his broad knowledge into practice.
Werner Bellwald's work is characterized by the research and presentation of mountain culture and history. His commitment to cultural diversity and his understanding of the Alpine world have had a lasting impact on the mountains not only as a geographical landscape, but also as a cultural one. His bulky waste museum in the Lötschental reflects his deep interest in the sustainable use of resources and creation.
Werner Bellwald's work is a living example of how education and cultural preservation can make a significant contribution to the protection and appreciation of the mountain world. His museum work, his films and his publications such as „Umnutzung von Ökonomiebauten. Ein Ratgeber zum Erhalten oder Umbauen von Speichern, Stadeln, Ställen und Scheunen“ (A guide to preserving or converting granaries, barns, stables and barns) in 2011 or „Dikki Suppa. Ein Dialektwörterbuch aus dem Lötschental“ (Thick soup. A dialect dictionary from the Lötschental) in 2020."
Albert Mountain Award 2024
"Founded in 1995, the Albertine Rift Conservation Society is a regional non-governmental organization officially registered in the UK as a charity and company and in Rwanda and Uganda as an international NGO. Originally ARCOS focused on the mountainous region of the Albertine Rift and gradually expanded its activities to Africa Great Lakes and African Mountains. In 2012, ARCOS received the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions in recognition of its achievements in promoting joint conservation and development activities; in 2023, One Tree Planted honored ARCOS as the first and longest-standing landscape restoration partner in Africa.
ARCOS, internationally acknowledged as Africa’s primary mountain hub organization, promotes the integrated management of biodiversity and ecosystem services, facilitates the deployment of mechanisms to assess and address climate change, and empowers grassroot organizations to participate more effectively in environmental management and building resilience to climate change.
ARCOS plays a leading role in Africa in landscape restoration with over 40,000 hectares and 56,000 household farmers involved today. The unique integrated community approach (ARCOS’ BEST Approach) puts priority on sustainable grassroots institutions, integration of biodiversity, sustainable business and livelihoods solutions with revolving community fund mechanisms. The sustainability pathways devised and demonstrated by ARCOS will continue to showcase how effective policies, respect for nature and strong stakeholder participation can benefit ecosystems and communities."
Albert Mountain Award 2024
«Der Salzdisdiudowdw
Albert Mountain Award 2010
"Bernd Arnold, born in Hohnstein in eastern Germany in 1947, is a pioneering climber and alpinist. A typographer by training, he began climbing at the age of twelve and has exerted a powerful influence on the sport in his native Elbe Sandstone Mountains (Elbsandsteingebirge) for decades. He has also made first ascents in the Soviet Union, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and North Korea, and, since the late 1980s, in the Karakoram and in Mali, Jordan, Venezuela, Madagascar, and Patagonia.
The Elbe Sandstone Mountains are perhaps the Eldorado of free climbing worldwide, and Bernd Arnold is their uncrowned king. Since 1962, he has climbed more than 900 difficult and extremely difficult routes on the needles, towers, and walls of Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland. Through his climbs, he has contributed decisively to the revival of interest in climbing by fair means.
Bernd Arnold, honorary citizen of his hometown of Hohnstein and honorary member of the Saxon Mountaineering Federation, continues to pass on his knowledge and skills to younger generations in an exemplary manner as a climbing instructor, course leader, and trainer. He is the author of numerous climbing guides for the Elbe Sandstone Mountains and of the book Zwischen Schneckenhaus und Dom (Between Snail Shell and Cathedral); he has also contributed to publications on the history of mountaineering in Saxon Switzerland. Peter Brunnert has written a trilogy, published by the Panico Alpinverlag, about Bernd Arnold’s life and work: Ein Grenzgang (A Border Walk, 2017), Barfuß im Sand (Barefoot in the Sand, 2020), and Riders on the Storm (2023)."
Albert Mountain Award 2022
Picture credit: Kirsten Nijhof
"Sofie Lenaerts, born in Leuven in 1975, is a world-class Belgian alpinist, as well as a traffic police officer, television presenter, and participant in charitable sporting events. In 2020, she became the first woman from the Benelux countries to climb the highest peaks of all seven continents. In 2015, she made a solo ascent of Khan Tengri (7010 m) in the Tian Shan Mountains. Over the course of her explorations of the splendors of high-altitude mountaineering, Sofie Lenaerts has developed ever more respect for the cultures and ways of life of mountain populations.
Realizing that access to remote mountain areas cannot be sustainably successful without the help of local people, Sofie Lenaerts decided to expand her expeditions with humanitarian projects in Nepal, Pakistan, and other mountain regions. She now links her mountain journeys, both financially and in terms of media coverage, to humanitarian projects involving support for schools, orphanages, clinics, and local sports initiatives, and does so in exemplary fashion.
Through lectures, magazine articles, training courses, and crowdfunding, Sofie Lenaerts, often in tandem with her life and climbing partner, Stef Maginelle, promotes the idea that expeditions and treks should improve the living conditions of local populations — which, with the necessary awareness and initiatives, they truly can. In this way, Sofie Lenaerts encourages current and future mountaineers to act responsibly — to see their primary goal not as a summit or a pass, but as the way there and how they traverse it."
Albert Mountain Award 2022
"Nam Nan-hee, born in 1957 in Uljin-gun, Republic of Korea, is one of Asia’s most versatile alpinists and a dedicated advocate for the mountain world of Korea. After graduating from the Korean Alpine School in 1981, she achieved renown as an expedition alpinist, rock climber, and icefall climber with first ascents in Nepal and South Korea. Later on, Nam Nan-hee increasingly turned her attention to long-distance trekking, primarily in South Korea, Japan, China, and the USA.
Nam Nan-hee is passionate about the traversing of mountain ranges across national borders; she sees such regions as cultural spaces that foster connection. She is particularly focused on the Baekdudaegan, a mountain range that runs down the entire Korean peninsula. Nam Nan-hee’s as yet unattained dream is to create a Peace Trail leading from Baektusan in North Korea to Jirisan in southern South Korea.
Her commitment here is uniquely tenacious. Her vision combines alpinistic knowledge with cultural sensitivity and a will to shape her society. Nam Nan-hee has made a name for herself as an author, long-distance hiker, and mountain guide far beyond the borders of South Korea."
Albert Mountain Award 2022
"Since 1977, the Gesellschaft für ökologische Forschung (Society for Ecological Research) in Munich has been committed to analyzing the natural and social-scientific aspects of industrialization and to addressing related environmental issues in a sustainable manner. The Society’s Glacier Archive is devoted to documenting the rapid and increasingly accelerating retreat of glaciers in the Alps by precisely transposing views of the same subjects from series of old pictures and postcards. The resulting collection of images combines technical precision, determined persistence, and emotional perception. It thereby makes a unique contribution to the public discourse on climate change.
The Gesellschaft für ökologische Forschung in Munich documents the retreat of glaciers in the Alps through a systematic comparison of current photographs with earlier pictures and postcards. Its unique Glacier Archive is publicly available on the internet. In book form and as an exhibition, it has received a powerful international response. It is used in schools and has been featured in a wide range of publications. It has made an exemplary contribution to raising public and political awareness of issues related to climate change and its consequences for high mountain regions.
The loss of the greater part of the world’s glacier ice is already all but unavoidable. The continuing work of the Glacier Archive will thus increasingly serve as valuable memorial documentation for the benefit of future generations, while also providing an important basis for public reflection on the sustainable treatment of the newly emerging landscapes in formerly glaciated high mountain terrain."
Albert Mountain Award 2022
«Born in 1961 in Zurich, Christian Zehnder is a Swiss musician who, as a singer, vocal acrobat, director and performer, has long engaged with the Alps as a soundscape. He is interested in nonverbal forms of expression of the human voice such as ‘jutz’ and yodelling, which he refines by combining with contemporary vocal techniques and overtone singing.
As a crossover artist whose work combines jazz, classical music and alpine folk music, Christian Zehnder is a trailblazer in the field of New Music. He coined the terms ‘urban yodelling’ and ‘New Alpine Music’, has explored echoes and other primeval sounds, and has, with the greatest naturalness, combined opera with yodelling, and avant-garde with native sounds. He has played his music around the world in various formats, including with the Duo Stimmhorn. He has thereby become one of the most innovative and creative cultural ambassadors of the Alpine region.
Today, Christian Zehnder is Creative Director of Klangwelt Toggenburg, as well as of the newly emerging Klanghaus, a unique centre for sonority and resonance in the midst of the Alps that will introduce a wide audience to the Alps as a soundscape.»
Albert Mountain Award 2020
«Founded in 1998 by the publisher Jacques Glénat in collaboration with the Musée dauphinois in Grenoble, the quarterly magazine L’Alpe examines and reflects upon a wide variety of issues relevant to the entire Alpine region. Its focus is on the cultures and heritages of Alpine Europe: its past, present and future. Each of the 90 large-format issues that has been published so far, up to 96 pages long, is dedicated to the comprehensive exploration of a single theme.
L’Alpe is the first and only cultural journal to thoroughly, strikingly, profoundly and subtly cover captivating and unexpected topics, both great and small, that bear on the Alps. It features intelligent and readable texts, superb illustrations – often published for the first time – detailed explanatory keys, extensive appendices, and suggestions for further reading. When L’Alpe takes on a topic, its coverage sets a milestone in the field – and simultaneously provokes heated debate.
In addition to profoundly exploring a particular region, each issue tells remarkable stories, curates the photographic heritage of the Alpine world through featured portfolios, and reports extensively on topics of current interest from Nice to Vienna: Events, meetings, exhibitions and literature.»
Albert Mountain Award 2020
«The institutionalisation of snow and avalanche research in Switzerland that began in the 1930s led to the founding of the Institut für Schnee- und Lawinenforschung SLF (Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF) on the Weissfluhjoch/Davos in 1942. The Institute explores the subject of avalanches in great depth, from application-oriented fundamental research to the development of practice-oriented procedures and the training of experts and decision makers on the regional level. Since the 1970s, avalanche danger zones have been mapped out at the local level in accordance with SLF guidelines, which are developed in close cooperation with practitioners.
In an internationally leading role, the SLF has helped compile a superior knowledge base regarding snow and avalanches in the high mountains, and has worked out practical approaches to issues of avalanche protection. Through its long-standing, purposeful engagement in the field of public avalanche warning and protection, the Institute has created internationally influential high safety standards for the densely settled Alpine region with its high concentration of winter sports activities.
Engagement with the phenomenon of avalanches, which has been substantially shaped by the SLF even on the international level, has led to new forms of collective risk management. In 2018, UNESCO recognised avalanche risk management as a part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.»
Albert Mountain Award 2020
2010 - 2018
«Nasim Eshqi, born in 1982 in Teheran, is an Iranian rock climber. Her athlete’s career began as a kick boxer and she has been holding the national title for 10 years in a row. The transition from martial art to climbing happened fortuitously when she was recruited by her university of Teheran for an expedition on Damavand (5604 m). She discovered the mountain world and a new passion.
Harnessing her remarkable willpower, courage and strength, Nasim Eshqi surpasses her own limitations on rock as well as those set by the environment. She gained recognition on the international climbing scene and is a source of inspiration for young athletes worldwide.
To her best performances belong some of the hardest routes in Iran like «Mr Nobody» (8b+), «Pink Panther» (8b), «Iran-Swiss» (8a+) or the multi-pitch route «A girl for all seasons» (7b). She opened the last one and many other difficult lines in numerous countries. Polyvalent, she has a liking for traditional climbing and for sharing her knowledge with next generation climbers.»
Albert Mountain Award 2018
«Fulvio Mariani, born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1958, and Mario Casella, born in Sorengo in 1959, have been journalistically engaged with the mountains for over thirty years. Their work – the one is an author and television journalist, the other a film director and cameraman – takes them far from the beaten track. In it they investigate the backgrounds of alpinism as well as of daily life in the mountains – usually independently of one another, but also often together.
The films that Mario Casella and Fulvio Mariani have created together not only take a different look at mountain climbing; they especially illuminate the circumstances of life of mountain peoples – often in regions that are involved in geopolitical conflicts. With great curiosity, unbiased views and depth of focus they impart a new image of cultures, people and traditions that are otherwise rarely the focus of mountain films.
Among their most impressive documentaries are «Siachen, a war for ice», about the Indian-Pakistani border war, and the trilogy «The Silk Snow», in which they tell stories of the mountains on the Silk Road – in Iran, Afghanistan, China and Kyrgyzstan. Since 2012 they have produced the weekly summer show «Sottosopra» on the themes of adventure, travel, outdoor and mountain sports for the Swiss RSI television channel.»
Albert Mountain Award 2018
«The Val Grande National Park was founded in 1992 as the largest wilderness national park in the Alps. The park is situated between Lago Maggiore and the Ossola valley in Piedmont (Italy). The Val Grande was for centuries an intensively used alpine cultural landscape. After the Second World War the area quickly reverted to wilderness – a secondary wilderness, that is, a cultural landscape that has returned to its original natural state. The area of the National Park was extended in 1998, and a further extension is planned for the future.
The Parco Nazionale Val Grande protects and conserves a mountain wilderness no longer directly subject to human influence. The National Park aims to make possible for its visitors an engagement with this wilderness and to impart a unique experience of nature. It thus creates a matchless opportunity for nature tourism.
The Val Grande National Park is clearly dedicated to the concept of wilderness. In order that its wilderness character is maintained, only a minimal number of overnight accommodations and marked trails are kept up. The park puts great effort into imparting natural and cultural history, highlighting, for example, the war crimes of Nazi-Fascist troops who murdered partisans in great numbers on its territory.»
Albert Mountain Award 2018
«Mark Carey was born in 1969 in Rochester, New York. His lifelong devotion to the mountains started as a park ranger at Mount Rainier and Glacier National Parks. Following studies in History, especially Latin American and Environmental History, he became full Professor at the University of Oregon, where he runs the Glacier Lab for the Study of Ice and Society.
Through systematic innovative, integrative and interdisciplinary scientific work on climate change, society and environments in high-mountain regions, Mark Carey gave, and continues to give, fundamentally important impulses concerning research on complex socio-economic and cultural aspects related to impacts from global warming on icy peaks.
His comprehensive research emphasizes historical aspects of environmental issues, natural resource extraction and indigenous knowledge, including novel approaches such as hydro-social modelling. This provides essential contributions to policy-oriented planning towards sustainable adaptation for people living with glaciers. His award-winning book, «In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers: Climate Change and Andean Society», has become a milestone and classic in this field.»
Albert Mountain Award 2018
«Born 1977 in Erlangen, Michael Krautblatter, completed his studies in Geography and Geology at the Universities of Passau, Durham, Erlangen, Oxford und Bonn in the year 2009 with a PhD dissertation on geophysical monitoring and the stability of permafrost rock slopes in the Alps. Since 2012 he is professor at the Technical University of Munich and holds the Chair of Landslide Research. With his fundamental and innovative scientific work, Michael Krautblatter has become an internationally leading expert concerning slope stability in permafrost under conditions of global climate change – an emerging research field of growing significance for livelihood and alpinism in cold mountain regions.
In his research work, Michael Krautblatter makes use of advanced technologies and combines field measurements with laboratory experiments and theoretical model development. This enables him to improve in a pivotal way our understanding about how temperature changes affect rock and ice components in permafrost and induce long-term modifications concerning the stability of steep icy slopes in high mountains.»
Albert Mountain Award 2016
«Claude Remy, born in Lausanne in 1953, and Yves Remy, born in the same city in 1956, began to open new rock climbing routes in 1970. Since then they have made first ascents totalling around 15000 pitches, establishing these routes for other climbers.
With their legendary sense for climbing lines and their never-flagging passion, the Remy brothers have opened and outfitted thousands of new climbing routes all across Europe, especially in Switzerland and Greece. They have become trailblazers in the emergence of rock climbing as a popular sport.
Alpine areas like the Grimsel, the Salbit, Schlossberg, the Wendenstöcke, Engstlenalp, Fieschertal, Sanetsch, L’Argentine and Verdon carry the Remys’ signature, as do St Loup in the Vaudois Jura and Kalymnos and Leonidio in Greece. Many Remy routes have become classics. As the authors of guidebooks and works on the history of mountaineering (Miroir de l’Argentine, Gastlosen and Jura) they continue to contribute to making climbing a well-known and well-loved sport.»
Albert Mountain Award 2016
«Nives Meroi, born in Bonate Sotto near Bergamo in 1961, and Romano Benet, born in Tarvisio in 1962, met when they were nineteen. Since then they have been climbing together at the highest level in rock, ice, and mixed terrain. They have become known around the world for their micro-expeditions to 8000-meter peaks.
Nives Meroi and Romano Benet have always climbed together on their important ascents. Their unconditional mutual loyalty epitomizes the concept of a roped team, demonstrating the power of solidarity, trust, and intimacy.
They move quickly and noiselessly on the highest mountains of the world, eschewing the use of supplementary oxygen and high-altitude porters, practicing a pure alpine style even in unfamiliar terrain. In their free time, and without relying significantly on sponsors, they have thus far climbed thirteen 8000-meter peaks.»
Albert Mountain Award 2016
«The Slovenian Alpine Museum has existed as an idea since the founding of the Slovenian Alpine Club in 1893. A first permanent collection was only established, however, in 1984. The newly constructed Slovenian Alpine Museum in Mojstrana, at the entrance to the Triglav National Park, builds on this collection.
Ever since its founding the Slovenian Alpine Museum has succeeded in sustainably fostering and conveying the identity-forging significance of mountains and mountaineering in Slovenia. The museum plays a pre-eminent role as the national archive of Slovenian alpinism and is an important regional cultural event organizer and promoter of tourism.
The King Albert I Memorial Foundation recognizes in the continuous engagement of the Slovenski planinski muzej with the Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia, a unique cultural contribution to the entire Alpine region. It sees in the museum an important partner in an emerging, increasingly dense network of European mountain museums.»
Albert Mountain Award 2016
«The Swiss National Park, the first of its kind in the Alps, was founded in 1914 by pioneers from the Swiss Nature Protection Commission and the Swiss League for Nature Protection (known today as Pro Natura). For 100 years human influence has been kept to a minimum, which has allowed numerous scientific studies to observe, measure and document nature’s work and development over time. At the same time, the National Park has given generations of visitors lasting impressions and profound natural experiences.
The founders’ lofty goal of preserving a piece of true wilderness was thereby achieved. The future of the Park is also guaranteed through the 1980 Law on National Parks. In 2000 an expansion of the Park took place to include the Macun plateau of lakes. The new visitor center opened in 2008, thereby making the Park accessible to a broader public.»
Albert Mountain Award 2014
«Born in 1946 in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Peter Bärtsch is a Professor of Medicine and since 1991 Chairman of Sports Medicine at the Medizinische Klinik of the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Peter Bärtsch is a leading scientist in high altitude medicine and sports physiology whose studies provide an essential contribution to our understanding of the effects of high altitude on the human body. The research of Bärtsch, always of the utmost quality, has focused on high altitude pulmonary edema, acute mountain sickness, high altitude training and blood coagulation in exercise as well as hypoxia.
Thanks to his work we now have a better understanding of the mechanisms, presentation, prevention and treatment of acute mountain sickness and high altitude pulmonary and cerebral edema. Peter Bärtsch has published numerous scientific papers. He is past president of the International Society for Mountain Medicine. Bärtsch is furthermore an enthusiastic climber, having summited, among other peaks, Nanga Parbat (8126 m).»
Albert Mountain Award 2012
«Born in 1945 Mario Francesco Broggi grew up in Allschwil, Switzerland. Since his youth he has been inspired by the beauty of nature and decided to study forestry at the ETH Zurich. After his studies he managed a private consulting firm and was a lecturer at the Universities of Vienna and Basel. Mario Broggi has tirelessly, and successfully, stood up and advocated for environmental protection in the Alps and in other mountain regions throughout the world.
In 1983 he became president of the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA) and was a key figure in the realisation of the Alpine Convention. From 1997 to 2004 he was the managing director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). Mario Broggi presented his visions about the future of alpine landscapes in much-noticed publications, among them the anthologies «Mehr Raum für die Natur» (1995) and «Natur und Landschaft im Alpenrheintal» (2009).»
Albert Mountain Award 2012
«Born in 1956 in London, Mick Fowler is the leading British alpinist of the last twenty years. He has done first ascents on rock, sea stacks and ice in the UK and on remote mountains from the Americas to Asia and the Himalaya. Mick Fowler is one of the most successful and innovative mountaineers of our time, constantly searching out and mastering difficult and beautiful lines on largely unknown peaks of up to 7000m. His unique style stands against the spirit of the time which overvalues so-called records.
Fowler is an amateur in the best sense of the word, accomplishing his climbs in his free time whilst working as a tax officer and remaining a committed family man. He has written two books about his adventures. He is the current president of the Alpine Club. Together with Paul Ramsden he was awarded the Piolet d’Or for their ascent of Siguniang in Sichuan, China.»
Albert Mountain Award 2012
«Lois Hechenblaikner, born in 1958 in Alpbachtal in Tyrol, where he grew up, worked for two decades as a travel photographer in Asia. In the mid-1990’s, he returned home to photograph the changing landscape and people, marked by the increasing boom of (winter) tourism, for documentary and artistic purposes – tirelessly, unmistakably, mercilessly.
With his photographic work, Lois Hechenblaikner gets to the heart of the change in alpine society and landscapes. With his photo pairs, in which Hechenblaikner contrasts the old black and white photos of the agricultural engineer Armin Kniely, taken between 1940 and 1970, with his own colour photos from today, he shows with a seemingly simple method how the mountain world has changed. Formal similarities and overlapping motives create a depth of focus that sheds light on Tyrol’s transformation, deep into the farthest corner of the region. And not just there: Hechenblaikner’s books «Hinter den Bergen» and «Winter Wonderland» (2012) are universally applicable.»
Albert Mountain Award 2012
«Sylvain Jouty, born in 1949 in Paris and raised there, began climbing in Fontainebleau at age six and stood at the top of Mont Blanc at 12. Today he is an author, alpine historian and publisher of mountain books. For 40 years, Sylvain Jouty has dealt intensively with all areas of the history of mountaineering and the mountains themselves, writing several fundamental works on the subject.
His oeuvre includes non-fiction, novels and a wide range of articles, such as the «Dictionnaire de la montagne», first published in 1999, «Montagne, les grandes premières» (2000) and «Les mots de la montagne» (2006), a splendid book full of explanations and quotations revealing the surprisingly varied vocabulary of the mountains. For the «Dictionnaire des Alpes» (2005), Jouty was both publisher and co-author. From 1983 to 1998 he headed the mountain magazine «Alpinisme et Randonnée». He is the publisher of the mountain book series «Retour à la montagne» and «Destins de montagne» (Éditions Hoëbeke).»
Albert Mountain Award 2012
«Martin Francis Price, born in 1957 in London, studied at the Universities of Sheffield, Calgary and Colorado and is Professor and Director of the Centre for Mountain Studies, University of the Highlands and Islands at Perth, Scotland. Through his work with international organizations and as organizer of international mountain conferences over the last two decades, Martin Price, with his exceptional knowledge and his editorial competence, has played a vital role for the mountains of the world.
He holds the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Mountain Development and has written and edited many important books contributing to the knowledge and the sustainable development of mountain areas, on topics including forests, tourism, global change and interdisciplinary research. His global interactions and contributions have been a major force in mountain research and development.»
Albert Mountain Award 2012
«Bruno Durrer, born in 1953 in Goldau, Switzerland is a medical doctor working as general practitioner in Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland. He is a mountain guide and a most prominent mountain rescue doctor, having performed over 3000 bold rescue operations of injured climbers and avalanche victims. Bruno Durrer has developed and influenced modern mountain rescue techniques, which have improved rescue standards worldwide and saved the lives of many people stranded in the wilderness.
He is a founding member of the International and Swiss Society for Mountain Medicine and past president of the UIAA Medical Commission. He has given numerous lectures and published scientific papers on survival in avalanches and rescue techniques for places like the Eiger north face. He has climbed extensively in the Alps and the Himalayas.»
Albert Mountain Award 2010
Bruno Durrer died on 5 December 2016 after a dive in Sulawesi, Indonesia.
«Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, born in 1970 in Kirchdorf an der Krems, Austria, was a nurse and started climbing seriously at a young age. Her enthusiasm for cold, thin air began at the age of 23 on the foresummit of Broad Peak. She became a professional mountaineer in 2003 and, as of 2010, she summited thirteen eight-thousanders in the purest style.
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner has practiced a bold and clean style of climbing. She often leads, breaks trail and carries heavy loads. Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner climbs mountains for the joy of it, not for the fame of becoming the first woman on all fourteen giants. Therefore, she has turned back in situations she considered too dangerous and has rescued fellow mountaineers with severe mountain sickness above eight thousand metres. She is an eminent promoter of women’s climbing, especially the highest peaks of the world. Together with Karin Steinbach she has written her autobiography «Ganz bei mir – Leidenschaft Achttausender» (2009).»
Albert Mountain Award 2010
«Christian Körner, born in 1949 in Salzburg, Austria, studied in Innsbruck and in 1989 became a full professor for Botany at the University of Basel. Through his research and teaching, his publications, and his tireless engagements in international organizations and research programmes, Christian Körner has become the leading expert in the understanding of plant life at high elevation with a global perspective. His studies on the functional ecology of high-altitude mountain ecosystems, on the worldwide tree line phenomenon, and on alpine plant life are lasting achievements.
He founded and chaired for ten years the «Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment» of DIVERSITAS and played a key role in the mountain agenda of the «International Convention on Biodiversity». Christian Körner’s contribution to global mountain biology is fundamental, especially for the International Year of Biodiversity 2010 proclaimed by the United Nations.»
Albert Mountain Award 2010
«Albert Precht, born 1947 in Bischofshofen, Austria, was a guard of the Austrian railways and a mountain guide. He is a lifelong mountaineer with over one thousand first ascents of bold climbing routes. Albert Precht is a leading pioneer and representative of free climbing in the cleanest style. His first ascents and solo climbs include rock faces of up to 1200 metres, always established from below with minimal use of pitons and removable protection. He thus left the mountain environment as clean as possible.
His routes in the Alps, Norway, Corsica, Crete, Jordan and Oman have established his place in the history of mountaineering. Precht is the author of guide books and numerous articles in alpine journals, newspapers and books. He has written the autobiography «Tausendundein Weg» (2003).»
Albert Mountain Award 2010
Albert Precht died on 8 May 2015, after a climbing accident on Crete, Greece.
«Andreas Schild, born in 1944 in Bönigen, Switzerland, studied at the University of Bern and became a development specialist with experiences in many mountain countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Ruanda, Burundi, Bolivia and Afghanistan, before joining the «International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development» (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu as Director General. He is an expert on natural resource management and rural development. Andreas Schild promoted a new strategy for a more effective and forwardlooking cooperation between the eight member countries of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya. Integrated water and hazard management, environmental change and ecosystem services, sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction are the three strategic programmes he developed to meet the challenges of climate and human-induced changes.
For 38 years, Andreas Schild has promoted cooperation with partners all over the world, particularly in mountain regions. Under his leadership, the National Solidarity Programme has become highly successful in Afghanistan.»
Albert Mountain Award 2010
«Emil Zopfi, born in 1943 in Wald, Switzerland, grew up in a textile worker’s family in the Zurich Oberland. He studied electrical engineering and information technology. As a young man he began extreme climbing. The mountains became the basis of his widespread work as a writer, which includes novels, short stories, children’s books, radio plays, essays and monographs.
As few other mountain authors have done, Emil Zopfi reaches with his work a wide audience, beyond simply his fellow mountaineers. With his book «Dichter am Berg – Alpine Literatur aus der Schweiz» (2009) he tackled, on both a personal and scientific level, an important and previously barely explored area of Switzerland and its identity. In addition, by organising the biannual event «Bergfahrt – Begegnung für alpine Literatur» since 2004, Emil Zopfi has and continues to actively spread an awareness of alpine literature and history from the past to the present.»
Albert Mountain Award 2010
2000 - 2008
«Kurt Albert, born in Germany in 1954, was a teacher in mathematics and physics when, in 1984, he decided to devote his life to mountaineering. He started climbing in his native Frankenjura at the age of 14. In the early 1970s he developed the Red-Point idea to mark clean climbs, using artificial aid for protection only. Kurt Albert, by reducing climbing to its essence, became a pioneer of modern climbing.
He has practiced this style on numerous bold first ascents world-wide, from the Karakorum to Venezuela, Patagonia, Madagascar, Greenland, in Antarctica and elsewhere. In hostile remote environments, he relies on natural transport on foot, by kayak or sailing boat. The living legend Kurt Albert is also a gifted photographer, speaker and actor in mountain films.»
Albert Mountain Award 2008
Kurt Albert died on 28 September 2010, two days after a fall from the Via ferrata Höhenglück in the Frankenjura.
«Gerhard Baur, born in 1947, grew up in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. He lives in Sulzberg, Allgäu. Having trained as a fitter, he ventured into film as a cameraman, director and producer. Baur is an excellent mountain climber, with various first ascents to his name. Gerhard Baur's over seventy documentaries are fascinating glimpses of the thin divide between triumph and tragedy in mountain climbing. They have caught the imagination of climbers and non-climbers alike.
Baur made his first independent climbing documentary in 1968. «Kanchendzönga» (1975) documented his ascent to the world's third-highest peak, and was awarded the Grand Prix at the Trento Film Festival. Other documentaries, such as «Der Weg ist das Ziel» (1986), on the 1936 Eiger tragedy, and «Nanga Parbat» (2005), also won him prestigious awards.»
Albert Mountain Award 2008
«Catherine Destivelle, born in Oran, Algeria in 1960, grew up in Paris and started climbing as a young girl in Fontainebleau. By the age of 16 she was already leading rock routes of exceptional difficulty. As a teenager she also became a very experienced alpinist, before turning briefly to the new sport of competition climbing, with huge success.
In the late 1980s she returned to alpinism at the very highest level. She is known best for her solo ascents of hard alpine faces. With her winter solos of the Eiger, Grandes Jorasses and Matterhorn (Bonatti Route) north walls, Catherine Destivelle gave proof of a singular talent combined with an adventurous mind, great courage and strength. Several documentaries featuring Catherine Destivelle celebrate her elegant and seemingly effortless climbing style. Her autobiography, «Ascensions» (Paris 2003), is a lively, highly recommendable account of her climbing years.»
Albert Mountain Award 2008
«Jon Mathieu, born in 1952, of Engadin origins, studied history, anthropology and psychology. He is professor of History at the University of Lucerne, and has conducted some outstanding research on the Alps. Jon Mathieu is distinguished for his studies on culture and history of the Alps, his leading role in shaping alpine research institutions and especially for his scientific collaboration with partners in the Andes and the Himalayas.
Jon Mathieu's early research results were published in «Bauern und Bären», on Lower Engadin societal relations from 1650 to 1800. Among many other books, he later published «Geschichte der Alpen 1500 bis 1900 – Umwelt, Entwicklung, Gesellschaft». His numerous publications and papers on the culture and history of the Alps have been an inspiration to students and laypeople alike.»
Albert Mountain Award 2008
«Hanspeter Schreier, born in Basel in 1941 and resident in the U.S. and Canada since 1963, is professor emeritus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
His research and publications focus on Natural and Human Aspects of Water Resources and Watershed Management in the Himalayas, the Andes and the Rocky Mountains. In one of his seminal research and training programmes, Hanspeter Schreier compared the highland-lowland connections of four river basins in the Himalayas with four river basins in the Andes, inspiring a learning process and exchange of experiences between eight watershed teams in the world's largest mountain systems. Hanspeter Schreier has been instrumental in putting Mountains, Water Resources and Climate Change on the global scientific, economic and political agenda.»
Albert Mountain Award 2008
«Building on the original base of the 30-year-old Banff Mountain Film Festival, the Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre today encompasses literature, film, environmental and social issues, visual arts, mountaineering, and scientific interchange among researchers and practitioners. Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre is known worldwide for its varied and distinguished mountain programmes. Bernadette McDonald and Leslie Taylor have, as a team, given dynamic and effective leadership for this outstanding mountain institution. The Banff Centre is situated in Canada’s first National Park, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mountain Culture at the Banff Centre, through its blending of the arts and sciences to focus on mountain communities, mountaineering and natural environment is an institution that is unique in the world.
Bernadette McDonald (left) is Vice-President Mountain Culture, and since 1988, has been Director of the Mountain Film Festival, and is founding Director of the Mountain Book Festival. She serves as juror for film festivals around the world. She is a mountaineer and writer; her book «I’ll Call You in Kathmandu», 2005, is dedicated to Elisabeth Hawley, a former winner of the King Albert Mountain Award.
Leslie Taylor (right), after working in various national parks, finished her park career as acting Superintendent of Banff National Park. She was elected in 1989 as Mayor of the newly-incorporated Town of Banff, and served two terms before joining The Banff Centre. She is Associate Director of Mountain Culture, for Mountain Environment, and is Editor of Mountain Culture’s proceeding series.»
Albert Mountain Award 2006
«Werner Bätzing, born 1949 in Kassel, Germany, Professor for Cultural Geography at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nürnberg since 1995, has studied the Alps for over 25 years. His research and teaching, his publications and participation as scientific adviser for the most important alpine organisations, make Bätzing a leading expert on problems of the Alps as a whole, with a special focus on the structural changes resulting from urbanisation and depopulation in general and the growing disparities endangering cultural landscapes in particular.
Werner Bätzing was one of the first to study all the alpine communities between Nice and Vienna and gave the Alps a special position within the European planning policy. The publication «Die Alpen – Geschichte und Zukunft einer europäischen Kulturlandschaft» has developed since 1984 into the classic of critical alpine literature. And the guide «Grande Traversata delle Alpi GTA» is a book of dreams for trekkers and an income generator for local residents.»
Albert Mountain Award 2006
«Ursula Bauer, born 1947 in Solothurn, media documentarian and author, and Jürg Frischknecht, born 1947 in Herisau, journalist and lecturer, are both passionate writers and hikers.
Bauer and Frischknecht have been a couple for decades and since 1995 they have created a new type of literary tour book, which describes the people in their cultural and natural environment, offers hikers lasting knowledge and enjoyment en route and stimulates a fascination for known and unknown Swiss and Italian Alps. Whoever takes along these well-illustrated books sees more, enjoys more and supports the local economy more. «Grenzschlängeln» (Hiking along the border from the river Inn to the lake of Geneva), «Antipasti und alte Wege – Valle Maira» (Antipasti and old trails – Valle Maira), and «Grenzland Bergell» are some examples. The publications of Bauer & Frischknecht advocate modern development in harmony with traditional values and solidarity between urban and mountain people.»
Albert Mountain Award 2006
Jürg Frischknecht died on 18 July 2016 in Zurich and Ursula Bauer on 10 November 2024 in Zurich as well.
«Harish Kapadia, born in India in 1945, mountaineer, explorer and writer with a degree in commerce, law and management from the Mumbai University, received worldwide recognition for his longstanding commitment to geographical exploration in the mountain ranges of India and neighbouring countries. By promoting awareness of unknown valleys, their histories and their people, and by drawing the attention of the public to the beauty of their peaks, he has made a unique contribution to the development of trekking and mountaineering in the Himalaya and the Karakoram.
Harish Kapadia has participated in more than 25 expeditions, frequently as their leader, and has published 15 books and a large number of articles and papers on his experiences.»
Albert Mountain Award 2006
«Oswald Oelz, born 1943 in Rankweil/Austria, has, as a mountaineer, medical professor, researcher and author lived his whole life inspired by the mountains. From his youth and throughout his life he has been a bold rock climber. Together with the best mountaineers of his generation, he has climbed extensively in the Himalayas, reaching Everest in 1978, among others. He was the third person to climb the highest summits of all seven continents.
Parallel to his mountain climbing, Oswald Oelz pursued a successful medical career and became one of the foremost researchers on acute mountain sickness. His work has led to a larger understanding and new therapies of this illness. He is the author of «Mit Eispickel und Stethoskop» (1999), a lively account of his mountaineering adventures and professional experiences, as well as coauthor of «Kopfwehberge» (2001), a history of high altitude medicine. His publication «Everest – Lhotse, Schweizer am Everest 1952 and 1956» is a history of the unforgettable expeditions undertaken by the Swiss.»
Albert Mountain Award 2006
«Michel Guérin, born in 1952 in Roanne, France, founded the publishing house «Editions Guérin» in 1995, specialising in classic and modern mountain literature. The first book – an illustrated edition of the classic «Les conquérants de l’inutile» by Lionel Terray – became a success. Over 50 titles have since been added, all part of an enthusiastic and outstanding effort made on behalf of alpine literature. Michel Guérin’s objective is to preserve classic mountain literature, and publish new and foreign-language authors.
After a career as a teacher, bookstore manager and advertiser, he returned to his passion, bringing important and beautiful books to interested readers in three different series: Texte et Images (great authors and volumes), Terra Nova (new expeditions and findings), and La Petite Collection (high-quality reading). All are easily recognised by their colour – the red of the socks worn by mountain climbers during Michel Guérin’s youth.»
Albert Mountain Award 2004
Michel Guérin died by a heart attack in Chamonix on 24 October 2007, his 55th birthday.
«Prof. Dr. Lawrence S. Hamilton, forest ecologist, born 1925 in Toronto, Canada, Professor of Natural Resources Conservation at Cornell University, New York, initiator of Asian mountain programmes at the East-West Centre in Hawaii, leader of the ‘Mountain Protected Areas’ sub-commission of the World Conservation Union, played a fundamental role in the worldwide conservation of mountain areas in connection with sustainable development of mountain communities.
His tireless support in creating and managing mountain protected areas and his vision for establishing corridors of mountain protected areas passing through whole continents are unparalleled. His regular newsletter met with world wide appraisal and his enthusiasm inspired a network of scientists and managers caring for conservation of mountain areas. Lawrence Hamilton’s publications and conferences are proof of his commitment to preserving the mountain areas as biological and cultural treasures for our future generations.
He was one of the small group of scientists who initiated, and gave freely of their skills, to place «mountains» on the global agenda at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio 1992, and subsequently through various fora at international, national and local levels.»
Albert Mountain Award 2004
Lawrence S. Hamilton died on 6 October 2016 in Charlotte, Vermont, USA.
«Prof. Dr. Peter Rieder, born 1940 in Vals, Grisons, Switzerland, is Professor of Agronomy and was formerly Director of the Centre for International Agronomy at ETH, Zurich. He remained throughout his national and international career – as son of the mountains – deeply committed to the mountain population, its agricultural system and economic survival, in a rapidly changing world. Peter Rieder initiated and implemented in the last years two challenging projects in the Alps: PRIMALP, dedicated to sustainable primary alpine production, and MOVING ALPS, which analysed the economic and social problems of isolated mountain valleys and their potential for further development.
His studies on the mountain population, agriculture and landscapes are highly respected in the scientific community and his insight into the daily life of mountain farmers made him the best known advocate of a future-oriented mountain policy.»
Albert Mountain Award 2004
«Stephen Venables, born in 1954 in London, is an outstanding mountaineer, a gifted author and successful editor. As a mountaineer, he accomplished numerous important first ascents. His daring climb, in 1988, of Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen on a new route up the huge Kangshung-Face and his desperate retreat down the mountain, resulted in his becoming a legend in his lifetime.
As a writer, he has the extraordinary talent to communicate his experiences as a mountaineer to the public. His accounts are thrilling. However, they also convey his personal feelings when facing risk and death, and enable us to understand the passion for a savage and severe mountain world. As the editor of the book «Everest: Summit of Achievement», he has created a work of lasting significance which forms a fascinating chronicle of early climbing attempts and the final successful ascent in 1953.»
Albert Mountain Award 2004
«Founded in 1903 by the Bern chapter of the Swiss Alpine Club, opened in 1905 in the former House of Parliament and located since 1934 at Helvetiaplatz in Bern, the museum has become an institution of national and international importance.
As the Swiss Alpine Museum celebrates its centenary, it is considered a unique centre for alpine culture and nature, bringing the fascination and significance of the mountains to a broad audience. With comprehensive activities comprising the collection, education services and the distribution of information, the Swiss Alpine Museum conveys informatively and entertainingly – especially to youths – current, historical and future aspects of the Alps. The museum has become the first point of contact for questions and answers about mountains. Its continually expanding collection of objects and documents allows impressive and instructive exhibitions.»
Albert Mountain Award 2004
The Swiss Alpine Museum was totally renovated in 2011/2012 and is now called ALPS Swiss Alpine Museum.
«Alliance in the Alps, a pioneer network comprising a large number of communes in seven Central European countries, was founded by CIPRA and the Alpine Research Institute in 1997 with the purpose of stimulating local environmental initiatives and assisting each other across all borders in pursuing a sustainable development of Alpine environments without destroying their heritage or denying their inhabitants the benefits of recreational tourism.
Projects and experiences are exchanged at meetings and conferences and during excursions. Results are reported in the internet for free use by all interested parties with the aim to improve social, economic and ecological standards in their communities and to stimulate awareness of ecological principles for the benefit of future generations. The alliance’s strategy is bound to have an exemplary influence on tomorrow’s issues in the Alpine arc.»
Albert Mountain Award 2002
«Prof. Dr. Jack D. Ives, born in Grimsby, England, in 1931, emigrated to Canada in 1954; geographer and teacher; played an eminent role in establishing the Mountain Chapter of Agenda 21, proving his long-standing and deep commitment to a sustainable development of the world’s mountain environments, to the protection of their fragile ecosystems, to preservation of their heritage, and to raising awareness of their global importance.
Jack Ives’ numerous scholarly papers and books, in particular his founding editorship of the journal «Mountain Research and Development» (1981–2000) reveal his impressive expertise and tireless efforts to enhance the knowledge and vision of students, scientists, and political leaders. The book «Mountains of the World: A global Priority», edited by Bruno Messerli and Jack Ives and intended for the eyes of the UN General Assembly, met with world-wide appraisal.»
Albert Mountain Award 2002
«Prof. Dr. Bruno Messerli, born in Belp, Switzerland, in 1931, geographer, scientist, researcher and teacher, played a leading role in establishing the Mountain Chapter of the United Nations’ Agenda 21, evidence of his exceptional and tireless commitment to a sustainable development of the world’s mountain environments, to the protection of their fragile ecosystems, to the preservation of their heritage, and to raising public awareness of their significance and importance as sources of water, energy, food, recreation, and challenge.
Bruno Messerli’s numerous publications, scientific papers and books are proof of his continuous endeavours to give geographical research enhanced socio-political relevance. The book «Mountains of the World: A global Priority», edited by Bruno Messerli and Jack Ives and intended for the eyes of the UN General Assembly, met with world-wide appraisal.»
Albert Mountain Award 2002
Bruno Messerli died on 4 February 2019 in Muri bei Bern.
«Hans Weiss, born in Küsnacht, Switzerland, in 1940, landscape conservationist, scientist, publicist, lecturer and teacher, has contributed decisively in preventing Swiss alpine landscapes from being destroyed, in the preservation of cultivated land and in arousing lasting public awareness of nature’s values and mountain’s ecosystems. Hans Weiss’s numerous articles in the Swiss media and in particular his two books «The Peaceful Destruction of Swiss Landscape and Attempts at Reversal» and «Indivisible Landscape: Enhanced Ecological Awareness» have been instrumental in incorporating new guidelines into existing laws.
His successful efforts to introduce basic training in ecological issues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and his cooperation in establishing a fund for the preservation of cultivated land are invaluable contributions without which the Swiss landscape, in particular the Alpine scenery, would present a different picture.»
Albert Mountain Award 2002
Hans Weiss died on October 13 2024 in his favorite café, the "Sempione" in Varzo.
«Eco Himal, an international non-governmental, non-profit association founded in 1991, based in Salzburg, Austria, supports ecological, social and cultural development programmes in Nepal and Tibet in partnership with local organisations and experts.
A prime example of sustainable development in a Himalayan community is the construction of a small hydroelectric power plant in Thame in the Sagarmatha National Park of Nepal supplying Namche Bazar and its environment with electricity. The project, together with additional initiatives involving solar energy, clearly demonstrates how eco-political needs of society can effectively be met, saving fuel-wood and reducing excessive deforestation.
In addition to energy and infrastructure projects Eco Himal focuses its attention on poverty alleviation through rural development, on biodiversity conservation, on promotion of a sustainable mountain tourism, and on assistance in protecting Nepal’s rich cultural heritage.»
Albert Mountain Award 2002
«With his brilliant colour photography Simon Carter, born in Canberra in 1966, shows the fascination of rock climbing in the incomparable landscape of Australia. Carter, a top climber himself, captures magic climbing moments in pictures of riveting athletic and visual beauty. Picture, action, person and site form a perfect unity.
The photographs, published by leading climbing magazines all over the world, and above all the book «Rock Climbing in Australia» convey a most convincing, powerful amalgam of both photographic and climbing expertise.»
Albert Mountain Award 2000
«Walter Niedermayr, born in Bolzano in 1952, is a photographer with a very personal message which, although critical, remains detached. The creative element in his work is closer to painting than to photography and displays a contemplative attitude toward mass tourism and the despoliation of the Alpine environment.
Walter Niedermayr’s work has been exhibited world-wide and in 1995 he received the European Photography Award. He has published two exceptionally beautiful books, portraying the mountain world with subtle abstraction and unfailing artistic consistency.»
Albert Mountain Award 2000
«Didier Ruef, born in Geneva in 1961, outstanding independent professional photographer, has been widely acclaimed for his photographic work related to mountain farmers in Switzerland.
His expressive black and white pictures demonstrate with understanding and sensitivity their laborious life and daily struggle throughout all seasons and pose the crucial question, whether this form of life, so important in the past, can continue in today’s modern world.»
Albert Mountain Award 2000
«Shiro Shirahata, born in Hirosato/Otsuki, Japan, in 1933, has gained universal praise for his brilliant, inspiring and awesome mountain portrait photography. Shiro Shirahata’s professional excellence covers almost all continents. He has published numerous books on mountain photography, some of them translated into as many as seven languages, portraying the Japan Alps, the European Alps, the Rocky Mountains, Nepal Himalaya, Karakoram, and South Korea.
Shiro Shirahata has participated in a large number of photographic and mountaineering expeditions to remote areas reaching 8000 m on Makalu.»
Albert Mountain Award 2000
Shiro Shirahata died on 30 November 2019.
«Jürgen Winkler, born in Berlin in 1940, professional photographer and mountain guide, has published outstanding collections of black and white pictures in the field of classic mountain photography.
Through careful composition of light and shade, which forces him to condense and translate Nature’s colours into clear visual structures, Jürgen Winkler succeeds brilliantly in expressing the mysterious and sometimes hostile elements, the solitude and the potential risks to which the mountaineer exposes himself. His techniques and objectives are presented in lucid and beautiful language.»
Albert Mountain Award 2000
1994 - 1998
«Prof. Dr. Augusto Gansser-Biaggi, born in Milano in 1910, geologist, scientist, researcher and teacher, played an eminent role in determining the geological structures of the Himalaya. Augusto Gansser’s interpretation of the Indus-Tsangpo suture as an oceanic remnant between two colliding continental masses was instrumental in explaining the origin of the Asiatic mountain belts. His monographs on the «Geology of the Himalaya» (1964) and the «Geology of the Bhutan Himalaya» (1983) have become classics in descriptive geology.
Augusto Gansser has participated in scientific expeditions to East Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, Patagonia, the Antarctic, the Central-Asiatic regions of Russia, the arctic Ural, China, Tibet, and the frontier ranges of Brazil, Venezuela and British Guyana, as well as to the Colombian Andes and has made various first ascents of mountains, partly on skis for the first time.»
Albert Mountain Award 1998
Augusto Gansser died on 9 January 2012 in Massagno, Switzerland, at the age of 101.
«Elizabeth Hawley, born in Chicago in 1923, historian by training and reporter by vocation, long-term resident of Kathmandu, has devoted herself since 1962 to recording mountaineering activities in the Nepal Himalaya. Her detailed and accurate reports are based on personal interviews with members of every climbing expedition. Her work has resulted in the production of a unique record of the story of climbing in Nepal. The wealth of data contained in her records represents an authentic and valuable information source for climbers wishing to plan future mountaineering expeditions to the Nepal Himalaya.
Apart from her work as a journalist, Elizabeth Hawley is engaged in the affairs of the Himalayan Trust, an aid organization founded by Sir Edmund Hillary, which supports medical, educational, cultural, and reforestation projects in the Solu-Khumbu district situated SW of Mount Everest.»
Albert Mountain Award 1998
Elizabeth Hawley died on 26 January 2018 in Kathmandu.
«Since 1982, in the course of 109 documentary programmes, the ORF Team «Land der Berge», under the leadership of Lutz Maurer, has provided a large and appreciative television audience with the opportunity to obtain a close acquaintance with a wide range of themes centred around the world’s mountains. The subjects have covered alpine, social, cultural, and scientific issues, expressed in a creative style through the medium of colour photography and film. Skirting a narrow boundary between romanticism and glorification of the pioneers, «Land der Berge» has presented a faithful illustration of its subject strictly observing its established guidelines of ethical and objective reporting.
The series, characterized by its high standard of quality, is unique in the world by its exceptionally comprehensive coverage, and by the open-minded nature of its productions. They are the result of the personal devotion and commitment of their producers who continually had to face dangers and hardship in order to obtain their material.»
The picture shows, from left to right: Dominique Grünner, Fulvio Mariani, Lutz Maurer, Manfred Gabrielli.
Albert Mountain Award 1998
«Since 1949, the Belgian Association Intersoc has made it possible for over three million young people, families and retired persons to discover the Alpine World. This has provided generations of Belgians with the unique opportunity of becoming acquainted with the mountain environment and with the people who dwell there, also to gain the skills of travelling in the mountains, and to be able to feel some of the enthusiasm and devotion for the mountains that was felt by King Albert I.
Thanks to the efforts each year of a few thousand voluntary workers, young people – also those with limited means – have been able, with the help of trained instructors and guides, to acquire confidence in all aspects of the Alpine environment and have been encouraged to experience and respect the unique grandeur of the Mountain World.»
Albert Mountain Award 1998
«Dr. Charles S. Houston, born in New York in 1913, mountaineer, scientist, teacher and doctor of medicine, first brought to the world’s attention the previously obscure illness known as High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, which even today kills the unwary who go to the mountains. For forty years he has studied problems caused by lack of oxygen, exploring the mechanisms of man’s acclimatization to high altitudes on mountains and in decompression chambers. He has enlarged our understanding of Acute Mountain Sickness, High Altitude Retinal Haemorrhage and Cerebral Edema and has written many books and scores of articles about mountain medicine and his own climbs.
Since 1975 he has organized the world-renowned International Hypoxia Symposia. Dr. Houston has climbed in the Alps, Alaska and the Himalaya, leading expeditions to Nanda Devi, K2 and the first reconnaissance group to the South (Nepal) side of Mt. Everest.»
Albert Mountain Award 1996
Charles S. Houston died on 27 September 2009 in Burlington, USA.
«Silvia Metzeltin Buscaini, born in Lugano in 1938, mountaineer, gifted author and geologist by profession, is a dynamic and decisive spirit in the development of women’s alpinism. She is an advocate of unrestricted mountaineering and is deeply committed to ethical principles and honesty towards both oneself and others, including non-climbers and sponsors.
She has climbed extensively, especially in the Dolomites and in Patagonia, and participated in numerous expeditions to Asia, Africa, North and South America. She has published several books and papers in German, Italian, French and English, some jointly with her husband, on geology for mountaineers, on women’s mountaineering, and on climbing in the Dolomites and in Patagonia. The monograph on Patagonia, in particular, met with universal praise and is widely recognized as the most comprehensive publication to date on this inspiringly beautiful wilderness.»
Albert Mountain Award 1996
«Erhard Loretan, born in Bulle in 1959, Swiss mountain guide and cabinet-maker by profession, is a distinguished and modest new age mountaineer endowed with exceptional strength of mind and displaying an impressive record of difficult climbs, many of them solo climbs, in the Alps, the Andes, the Himalaya and the Antarctic. He conquered his first eight-thousand-metre peak, Nanga Parbat, at the age of only twenty-three, in 1982, and with the ascent of Kangchenjunga, in 1995, completed the full range of all fourteen eight-thousand-metre peaks.
Climbing difficult routes in extreme altitudes in Alpine style, very fast with only a minimum of equipment and food and without oxygen or high-altitude porters, is his passion. He accomplished his exploits without seeking publicity and fulfilled his dreams independently of public or commercial pressure. He has thus opened up new dimensions in mountaineering.»
Albert Mountain Award 1996
Erhard Loretan died in fall on 28 April 2011, his 52nd birthday, while climbing the Gross Grünhorn in Valais.
«Pit Schubert, born in Breslau in 1935, mountaineer, aircraft engineer by profession and safety expert of the German Alpine Association since 1968, is a world leader in accident prevention in mountaineering. By analyzing and researching causes of accidents and exhaustive testing of technical material, he succeeded in establishing DIN, ÖNORM, CEN and UIAA standards for mountaineering equipment. His safety recommendations have been instrumental in preventing innumerable accidents. The outcome of twenty-five years of research and experience was the publication in German and Spanish, in 1994, of his comprehensive book «Safety and Risks on Rock and Ice».
Pit Schubert displays an impressive record of difficult climbs in the Alps, with all classic North faces, as well as in Tibet, Nepal and India. He has participated, twice as leader, in four expeditions to the Himalaya, including the South face of Annapurna IV.»
Albert Mountain Award 1996
«Lord John Hunt, born in India in 1910, began climbing when he was fifteen, and mountains have since been the great obsession of his life. His list of climbs extends from Europe to Kashmir and the Karakoram, Pakistan, Nepal and the Himalaya, Sarawak, the Caucasus, the Pamir, the Yukon, Greenland, and Peru. His greatest triumph came when he organized and led the British Expedition to Everest, in the course of which Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing reached the summit on 29 May 1953. News of the great event was received in London just in time for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Lord Hunt has since been president of the British Mountaineering Council, the British Ski Federation, the Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society. He has served both his country and humanity at large, holding many prestigious public appointments.»
Albert Mountain Award 1994
John Hunt died on 8 November 1998 in Henley-on-Thames, England.
«Wanda Rutkiewicz, born in Lithuania in 1943 as Wanda Blaszkiewicz, was a courageous and pioneering spirit in the development of women’s alpinism and the exploration of the world’s highest peaks for more than a quarter of a century. She was a devoted environmentalist and a gifted writer and filmmaker. An outstanding climber, she scaled eight of the fourteen peaks over 8000 m, some of them by extremely difficult routes, and organized and led the 1975 Polish Women’s Gasherbrum Expedition.
Wanda Rutkiewicz died on or around 12/13 May 1992 near the summit of Kangchenjunga in an attempt to climb her ninth 8000 m peak. With her tragic death feminine alpinism has lost one of its greatest and most distinguished exponents.»
Albert Mountain Award 1994
«Dr. Bradford Washburn, born in Cambridge (Massachusetts) in 1910, was for many years the guiding spirit of the ambitious enterprise of mapping, from 1982 to 1991, the roof of the world, Mount Everest, 8850 metres, on a scale of 1:50 000. At present he is working with a brilliant team of geophysicists on the plate tectonics of the Everest region and the rate at which the mountain still continues to rise – possibly by as much as 4 to 5 centimetres per year.
Expert photographer and mountaineer, mapper of Mt. Everest, Mt. McKinley, the Grand Canyon and New Hampshire’s Presidential Range, director and builder of the Boston Museum of Science from 1939 to 1980, Bradford Washburn has organized and led many scientific, photographic and exploratory expeditions in North America and Asia.»
Albert Mountain Award 1994
Bradford Washburn died on 10 January 2007 in Lexington, USA.