They walked quietly towards the platform. The almost embarrassed smile. Impressed, won over by a hint of shyness, Pierrick Fine and Symon Welfringer received their Piolets d’or on Saturday evening in Briançon. At only 27 years old, their day of glory has already arrived. In their quest for the uselessness dear to the late Lionel Terray, they have earned their stripes, for eternity.
Their names will remain forever engraved in the Mountaineering Pantheon after having deflowered the still virgin south face of Sani Pakkush (6,953 m) in the Batura Muztagh massif, to the west of Karakoram, the Pakistani part of the Himalayas.
Leave nothing to chance
The ascent (in mixed) of this route called “winning reverse” in 2020 therefore earned them the supreme recognition of their peers at …
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