The following climbs appeared on the “Big List” of notable 2019 ascents prepared in advance of Piolets d’Or nominations. The list was prepared by Lindsay Griffin, with assistance from Rodolphe Popier (FFCAM) and the AAJ.

Vanoise, Pointe Orientale de l’Épéna (3,348m), northwest spur. First winter ascent of the north face, by the 765m northwest spur route (summer TD 5c), by Léo Billon, Julien Ravanello, and Benjamin Védrines (France), in one day in February.

Ecrins, Rateau West Summit (3,769m), north face. First ascent of Bonne Pioche (500m, ED M6 6a A1) by Mathieu Détrie and Octave Garbolino (France), in one February day. Second ascent with direct finish (M7 6a) by Sébastien Ratel and Benjamin Védrines (France) in March.

Mont Blanc Range, Aiguille de l’Amone (3,584m), east face. First ascent of L’Accidentelle et l’Accidenté (850m, M7) in February by Simon Chatelan and Silvan Schüpbach (Switzerland), with one bivouac.

Bregaglia, Piz Badile (3,305m), northeast face. First free ascent of the Nardella Route (900m, 7b+ 7a R) by David Hefti and Marcus Schenk (Switzerland) in September, with one bivouac. Two ancient belay bolts were replaced.

Dolomites, Punta Civetta (2,920m), northwest face. First ascent of Capitani di Ventura (700m, VIII- A1) by Davide Cassol and Luca Vallata (Italy), over four separate days, with a one-day final ascent in September.

Dolomites, Sass dla Crusc (2,907m), northwest face. First ascent of Rapunzel: a long snow face followed by four steep pitches (120m), graded M8 WI6+, by Manuel Baumgartner and Simon Messner (Italy) during one day in December.

In addition, there were several notable ascents in the Alps using bolts. (The Piolets d’Or considers only alpine-style routes without drilled gear placements.) These other climbs included:

Déjá (400m, 12 pitches, 8c+) in the Rätikon massif (Switzerland), redpointed by Fabian Buhl (Germany) in late November. Originally bolted in 1992, the route had been tried by many climbers, including four years of work by Buhl.

Silberrücken (350m, 8a+) on the Rotbrätt (Jungfrau), by Swiss climbers Roger Schäli and Stephan Siegrist. The route was put up in 2018 and redpointed in June 2019.

La Vida es Silber (900m, 8a) on the north face of the Eiger (Switzerland), first one-day redpoint (July 23), by Swiss climber Roger Schäli, after several years of attempts.