The recipients of the 2009 Mugs Stump Award were announced at the
Ouray Ice Festival the night of Saturday, January 10, in Ouray,
Colorado. The awards, sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, Climbing Magazine, Mountain Gear, Patagonia, PrimaLoft, and W.L. Gore,
were created in 1992 in memory of Mugs Stump, one of North America’s
most visionary climbers. The award annually grants $30,000 to small
teams pursuing climbing objectives that exemplify light, fast, and
clean alpinism. The seven recipients for 2009 were announced after a
presentation by previous Mugs Stump Award winner Max Turgeon.
Organizers showed a film about Stump on a loop, followed by an
introduction by Dan Cauthorn, of W.L. Gore, who then handed the mic to
Conrad Anker, to give some personal remarks about Stump and announce
the winners.

The applications received for 2009 included many strong teams with
objectives in far-flung corners of the mountaineering world, from
Patagonia, to Pakistan, to the Canadian Rockies, to Alaska. In the end,
seven teams with outstanding talent and objectives were granted awards
ranging from $1,500 to $9,500.

2009 Mugs Stump Award Winners:

• Clint Helander, the Revelation Range, Alaska; with Seth
  Holden. The climbers propose a trip into one of the least-explored (20
  parties have visited since 1966) clusters of granite mountains in
  Alaska, to pursue rock, ice, and ridge-running objectives on three
  unclimbed massifs.
• Ryan Hokanson, the southeast face of Mount Logan, Alaska;
  with Samuel Johnson. The two climbers will make an alpine-style bid on
  the unclimbed southeast face, expecting mixed ground on an exact line
  TBD tackling a wall two miles high, one of the largest on the planet.
• Sam Magro, north face of Broken Tooth, Alaska; with Aaron
  Thrasher. The climbers have spotted a diagonalling weakness on the
  1,000-meter north face of Broken Tooth, climbed to half-height, with
  difficulties up to M6, on a previous bid but never completed.
• Jim Martinello, Mount Bute, British Columbia, Canada; with
  Bruce Kay and Jason Sinnes. The climbers look to pioneer a new free
  route on Bute’s unclimbed lower buttress (2,500 feet), and then either
  free the existing route on the upper west face (20 pitches; 3,000 feet)
  or climb a new line on the upper wall.
• Doug Chabot, Kuk Sar II, Pakistan; with Bruce Miller. The
  pair will attempt the sheer north face of this unclimbed 6,925-meter
  Karakoram peak, one that’s never been visited by climbers; the face has
  locally been rumored to be “impossible,” as well as up to 3,000 meters
  tall.
• Colin Haley, North Ridge of Latok 1, Pakistan; with Josh
  Wharton and Dylan Johnson. The climbers propose an attempt on this
  longstanding, oft-attempted (20 attempts) prize of Himalayan
  Mountaineering, climbed nearly to the summit in 1978. They propose
  beginning on snow and ice beside the ridge crest, to make quicker
  progress down low.
• Josh Beckner, El Lonko, Argentine Patagonia; with Dave
  Anderson and Jared Spaulding. The east face of the El Cap-sized,
  unclimbed “El Lonko,” in the back of the remote Pirate Valley, in
  alpine style; a secondary goal will be a new route on the North Arête
  of the nearby Mariposa (2,220 vertical feet), in the same style.