Sean Isaac.com

10/02/05: Mugs Stump Award Winners

Rob Owens and Sean Isaac of Canmore, Alberta have been named one of five winners of this years Mugs Stump Award for thier attempt on a difficult and unclimbed ice line on the north face of Kichatna Spire in Alaska. The Mugs Stump Alpine Climbing award is given each year to support small teams with climbing objectives that exemplify fast, light, and clean alpinism. Created in the memory of Mugs Stump, one of North America’s most visionary climbers, the award, now in its 14th year, helps climbers to pursue alpinism in its purest forms. The grant is sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, Patagonia, Mountain Gear, W.L. Gore, and Climbing Magazine. For more information on the award, past recipients and their trip reports visit www.mugsstumpaward.com.

The other winners include:

• Steve House and Marko Prezelj for a trip to the North Face of Kalanka in the Indian Himalayas backed up by an attempt to complete their impressive effort last year on the huge Rupal Face on Nanga Parbat in Pakistan.
• John Varco and Sue Nott for an attempt on the unclimbed Southeast Face of Kamet in India, a peak just recently opened by the Indian Mountaineering Federation.
• Tommy Caldwell, Adam Stack and Tim Kemple for the first free attempt on one of the most daunting granite walls in the world, the West Face of Mount Thor on Baffin Island. This is a rare rock-climbing award, chosen for the strength and promise of the team and the arctic nature of the face.
• Kelly Cordes and Josh Wharton for their goal of establishing new routes on the two premier faces in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru, the North Face of Huascaran Norte and the West Face of Taulliraju.