Honorary AC Member George Lowe Receives Piolets d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award

American alpinist and honorary Alpine Club member George Lowe has been announced as the recipient of the 2023 Piolets d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award.

^{George Lowe photographed in Tanzania in 2015 by Wikipedia user Mellowish126 and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International}

Among Lowe's many notable accomplishments are the first winter ascents of several peaks in the Grand Teton National Park, the first ascent of the north face of North Twin Peak in the Canadian Rockies, the first ascent of the Infinite Spur on Mount Foraker and the first ascent of Everest's Kangshung Face. However, perhaps his most famous climb is one he did not complete. In 1978, alongside Michael Kennedy, Jim Donini and Jeff Lowe, he made an attempt on the north ridge of Latok I, turning back just shy of the summit. It was an incredible effort, handily demonstarted by the fact that the line remains unclimbed to this day.

The 2023 Piolets d'Or ceremony is due to take place on 15 November in Briançon, France. Further details are available via the Piolets d'Or website.

AC South West Events for 2023/24

This autumn and winter, Alpine Club members in the south-west will be running a programme of six lectures/events. Two lectures and a mountain poetry evening are confirmed for 2023 with three more events planned for 2024.

The lectures will take place once a month from October to March, starting at 7:30pm, normally in the upstairs room at the Nova Scotia pub in Bristol. The planned dates and speakers are below:

11 Oct : Dave Wynne-Jones – ‘An Approach to Expeditions’
10 Nov: Bristol Climbing & Mountain Poetry Evening (Venue: John Sebastian Lightship, Bathurst Parade, Bristol, BS1 6UB)
13 Dec: Simon Richardson - Looking Around New Corners in the Alps and Canada
10 Jan: TBC
14 Feb: TBC
13 Mar: TBC

We hope to see you there!

2023 Piolets d'Or 'Significant Ascents' List Includes Routes by AC Members

^{Paul Ramsden acclimatising in the Jugal Himal. The line of his new route 'The Phantom Line' (1300m ED) is visible in the background
Photo: Tim Miller}

The Piolets d'Or have released a list of what they consider to be "significant ascents" from 2022. Among the noted routes are several by Alpine Club members:

• The first ascent of Gulmit Tower (5810m) by AC member Will Sim and Fabian Buhl.
  
  
• The first ascent of the east summit of Barnaj II (6303m) by Tom Seccombe and AC members Callum Johnson and Matt Glenn.
  
  
• The first ascent of Jugal Spire (6563m) by AC members Paul Ramsden and Tim Miller.
  
  
• The first ascent of 'The Pace of Comfort' (950m, 5.10 A3+ M6 70°) on the north-west face of Kichatna Spire (2739m) by David Allfrey, Whit Magro and AC member Graham Zimmerman.

The complete list of ascents is available to view on the Piolets d'Or website.

This list, as the website makes clear, does not represent the nominees for this year's Piolets d'Or Awards, but rather it is a record of significant or innovative ascents climbed in alpine or capsule style during 2022.

The 2023 Piolets d'Or awardees will be announced in due course and will receive their awards at a special ceremony on 15 November in Briançon, France.

AC Peak Lectures Return for 2023/24

Having taken a pause at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, our popular Peak District lectures have taken longer to return than we would have hoped. However, thanks to the hard work of AC vice-president Adéle Long, they are now back with a full schedule for the autumn and winter of 2023/24.

The lectures will take place once a month from October to March, either at The Sir William Hotel in Grindleford or Outside Café in Hathersage. The planned dates and speakers are below:

5 Oct : Charlene Gibson - Climbing Cho Oyu
9 Nov: Catherine Moorehead - In conversation with Jeremy Windsor about her biography of Doug Scott.
7 Dec: Simon Richardson - Looking Around New Corners in the Alps and Canada
11 Jan: Mick Fowler - Chombu: 'The one that got away'
8 Feb: Kasia Piatek - An Expedition to Sikkim
14 March: Ronnie Legg - Ama Dablam by an Average Josephine

Some of the venues are yet to be confirmed, but will be added to the listings in due course. The first two lectures will take place at The Sir William in Grindleford.

We hope to see you there!