The Spaniard Jordi Corominas will succeed the American George Lowe in the prestigious Piolet d’or Carrière rankings next December in San Martino di Castrozza. A reward which salutes a life dedicated to the high mountains with, as a highlight, his formidable solo finale on the Magic Line you K2 en 2004.
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High-level climbs in impeccable style
« Jordi has contributed significantly to many areas of mountaineering, from his own high-level climbs in impeccable style, to his long career as a professional guide (over 30 years in the Alps), to his role as director of the Spanish national mountaineering team from 2002 to 2010, or the training of new guides. » This is how the Piolets d’Or jury justifies its choice this year of the Spaniard Jordi Corominas, a mountaineer as discreet as he is talented, with a career rich in some beautiful Himalayan epics, like all those who received the prestigious award before him .
Born in 1958 in Barcelona, Jordi Corominas grew up in the south of the Basque country and began climbing in La Roja, then in the Pyrenees where he notably achieved some good winters in the 1980s. Having lived in the valley for many years from Benasque, at the foot of Aneto, he became a high mountain guide in the early 1990s, a time when he made his first major achievements in the Himalayas with the ascent of Dhaulagiri and the third ascent of Thalay Sagar (6,904 m) and first in alpine style of the west ridge (V+ 60°).
In 1988, he had already reached 7,400 meters on the Austrian route of Lhotse Shar, a route he will attempt again in 2010 and 2019. He is also credited with some daring attempts on the northeast ridge of Everest in 2000 , in the west face of Gasherbrum IV in 2006 or in the south face of Shishapangma in winter 2013. But also some great successes like the south pillar of Tengi Ragi Tau, the first of Kundalini, on the east face of Meru Nord, 6 450m (6b, A2+ 85°) or the first of the west face and southwest ridge of Cho Polu (6,700 m), in Nepal.
The Magic Line, his masterpiece
But his masterpiece is undoubtedly this famous ascent of the Magic Lineon the south-southwest ridge of K2, in 2004, 18 years after the first by the Slovenian Petr Božik and the Poles Przemyslaw Piasecki and Wojciech Wróż. On August 17, leaving at dawn from a small tent at 8,100 meters in the company of Manel de la Mata and Oscar Cadiach, Jordi Corominas finally arrived alone at the summit, at midnight, after a major 20-hour ascent. The rocky jump crossed during the ascent marking the point of no return, he will make the descent via the Abruzzi spur of which he knew nothing.
“Solo is such a personal experience that I don’t feel the need to talk about it. »
The Spaniard spoke very little about this solo: “ I don’t want to tell and I don’t want to take pictureshe once confided to Dario Rodriguez, editor of the Spanish magazine Unevenness (Lire 100 Mountaineers ; Guérin, 2015). Soloing is such a personal experience that I don’t feel the need to talk about it. And I’m so focused that I can’t think about taking photos. These are things that I keep within myself and that I cannot publicize. I keep them at the bottom of a drawer. »
The idol Walter Bonatti
In addition to the Himalayas, Jordi Corominas has also climbed a lot in Peru where he notably succeeded in the first solo route of the Japanese route of the south face of Chopicalqui (6,395m), the first (after three attempts in five years) of the west face of Siula Chico (6,265 m) (ED+) or the first of the south face of Nevado Copa (6,188 m) (ED, to the summit ridge).
« During the 2024 Piolets d’Or, I hope someone else asks him not what he climbed but what he felt every time he faced a mountain challenge, writes mountaineer and journalist Oscar Gogorza in the Piolets d’Or press release. I also hope that during the ceremony, he will be as happy as the day he met his idol Walter Bonatti, the day the Italian received the first Piolet Carrière. »
The career Piolet d’Or winners2009 : Walter Bonatti |
