Andrej Štremfelj (born 17 December 1956) is a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

, and in 2019, became the 10th recipient of the Piolet d'Or ''Lifetime Achievement Award''.

Life and work

Štremfelj was born in

Kranj Kranj (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fourth-largest city in Slovenia and the largest urban center of the traditional region of Upper Carniola (northwestern Slovenia) and the Slovene Alps. It is located approximately northwest o ...

and got involved in

mountaineering Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...

when he was 16. In 1982, he became a mountain guide. He entered the history of Slovenian mountaineering on 13 May 1979, when he and became the first

Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( ), are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, Slovenian culture, culture, and History of Slove ...

and the first

Yugoslavs Yugoslavs or Yugoslavians ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslaveni/Jugosloveni, Југославени/Југословени; ; ) is an identity that was originally conceived to refer to a united South Slavic people. It has been used in two connotations: ...

to reach the summit of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

. Štremfelj also conquered several other

eight-thousander The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise defin ...

s, and later climbed Mount Everest once more with his wife, becoming the first married couple to do so.

Awards

* In 1992, he and

Marko Prezelj Marko Prezelj (born 13 October 1965) is a Slovenian mountaineer and photographer. Prezelj received four Piolet d'Or awards. He won the inaugural "Oscar of mountaineering" in 1992 with Andrej Štremfelj for their new route on the south ridge of ...

were bestowed the Bloudek Award, and the Piolet d'Or award, for their

alpine style Alpine climbing () is a type of mountaineering that uses any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large climbing route, routes (e.g. multi-pitch climbing, ...

ascent of the new route on the south ridge to the south summit of

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and ...

. * In June 2018, Štremfelj became the first Slovenian mountaineer, and only the 10th mountaineer in history, to be awarded the Piolet d'Or ''Lifetime Achievement Award''.

References

External links

*
2018 - Andrej Štremfelj (the Master)
Piolet d'Or, (citation, June 2018) {{DEFAULTSORT:Štremfelj, Andrej 1956 births Living people Slovenian mountain climbers Sportspeople from Kranj Summiters of Mount Everest Piolet d'Or winners