1st Golden Climbing Shoes Award

On Friday 7th of November, the first edition of the Golden Climbing Shoes Award will be held in Seoul, the capital of South Korea: an appointment set to become an important annual event in the Far Eastern mountaineering scenario.   Thirty journalists from all over the world will elect the Far Eastern athlete to be awarded this first, exclusive title for outstanding performance in both indoor and outdoor climbing competitions.   

Event creators include: Duck-Yong Im, editorial coordinator of the historical Korean climbing magazine Man and Mountain and Climber, and former judge of the prestigious, international mountaineering awards  “Piolet D’Or”, “Arco Rock Legend” and “Piolet d’Or Asia”.

La Sportiva, the Italian, world-wide leader company in the climbing market and official partner of the event, has gold-coated one of their most famous climbing shoes for the event:  the Testarossa. This pair of golden climbing shoes (which give the name to the award ceremony) will be the much acclaimed prize for the winning athlete.  

Duck-Yong Im and the general manager of La Sportiva Lorenzo Delladio, met recently at the factory in   Ziano di Fiemme, the company’s Headquarters.
This was an opportunity for us to gain further information about this new event.

Why did you decide to create the  “Golden Climbing Shoes Award”?
 
Lorenzo Delladio: ”The aim of this award is to help promote climbing in Far Eastern countries.  At present, climbers from China, Korea and Japan have no official international recognition for their achievements and performance. We hope that this new award will help capture interest from the media, thus introducing Far Eastern athletes to the international public of climbing enthusiasts. The introduction of this award is a positive step forward for the worldwide climbing community and will contribute to  revitalizing  the sport on a global scale ”

Why Seoul in South Korea?

Duck Yong: “There is an extremely important reason for choosing Seoul as the venue for the award ceremony. Seoul is the capital of the South Korea and the Far Eastern country which today boasts the greatest mountaineering tradition and community. In South Korea a prize of this kind would definitely be appreciated and would attract enormous attention from both media and public alike”.

When will the cermony be held?

Duck Yong: “The award ceremony will take place on Friday 7th November at the Hotel Holiday Inn in Seoul, from 4 pm onwards. For further information the Korean public will be able to follow the news published on the official Man and Mountain magazine website : www.mountain21.co.kr“.

Why a partnership with La Sportiva?

Lorenzo Delladio: ” La Sportiva, the company which this year celebrates its 80th anniversary and which today holds leadership position in the climbing shoe scenario has always played an vital role in the history of climbing.  We have always been keen to sponsor major climbing events, (the latest event was the La Sportiva Rock Legends Awards - Rock Masters, Arco).  At La Sportiva we are all climbing enthusiasts and have a great passion for both the sport and our work……and to be perfectly honest, it is just marvelous for us to see our Testarossa completely covered with gold …”

We will have to wait until the 7th of November to discover who the winner of the first, prestigious golden climbing shoe will be…..