The Golden Piolet recognizes the daring of a trio of young French-speaking mountaineers

Published on December 8, 2024 at 08:36. / Modified on December 8, 2024 at 08:38.

4 mins. reading

When we look at Flat Top (“the flat summit”), we say to ourselves that this mountain is badly named. Located in India, in the remote Himalayan massif of Kishtwar, long inaccessible due to the Indo-Pakistani conflict around Jammu and Kashmir, it peaks at 6,057 meters. Its imposing north face rises over 1400 meters which are climbed between ice walls, snow fields, granite walls and mixed sections.

It is to tackle this major challenge that a trio of young mountaineers from French-speaking Switzerland decided to set out in the fall of 2023, after leaving behind the village of Sonder, a three-day walk away. The adventurous spirit, the Neuchâtelois Hugo Béguin (25 years old), the Genevan Matthias Gribi (24 years old) and the Vaudois Nathan Monard (28 years old) left light and alone, with enough to eat for five days; their ascent lasted five and a half days. “Heads up,” smiles Nathan. The technical difficulty of this “elegant line”, the isolation of the region and this “perfect alpine style” earned them the supreme award, the Piolet d’or.

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