2010 Mugs Stump Award

Established in 1993 to honor the late alpinist Mugs Stump, the Mugs Stump Award annually awards grants to a select number of individuals and teams whose proposed climbs present an outstanding challenge – a first ascent, significant repeat, or first alpine-style ascent – with special emphasis placed on climbers leaving no trace of their passage. Sponsored by Alpinist Magazine, Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd., Mountain Gear, Patagonia, Inc., and W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., the Mugs Stump Award once again encourages men, women and teams from North America to submit their applications for a part of this year’s $25,000 in grant funding.

Mugs Stump was one of North America's most prolific and imaginative climbers until his death in a crevasse fall in Alaska in May 1992. Best-known for his first ascent of the Emperor Face on Mount Robson in the Canadian Rockies and his triptych of brilliant Alaskan climbs - the East Face of the Moose's Tooth and the Moonflower Buttress on Mount Hunter, and a one-day solo of Denali's Cassin Ridge - Mugs was the complete climber, adept at all forms of the game. The Mugs Stump Award has helped committed climbers fulfill their dreams of fast, lightweight ascents in the world's high places. If you share Mugs' vision of climbing as a celebration of boldness, purity, and simplicity, and have the determination to bring your dream to life, you are encouraged to apply.

Past recipients reflect both well-known and relatively unheard of alpinists, with objectives that include major ascents in Alaska, Patagonia, the Himalaya, the Rocky Mountains, Greenland and more, details of which can be found here.

[The only way is up. Mugs Stump a below the West Face of Gasherbrum IV, Karakoram, Pakistan, in July 1983. Photo: Michael Kennedy]

The 18th-annual alpine climbing award opened its grant cycle on October 1st and will be accepting grant applications from small climbing teams with fast and light alpine objectives until December 15, 2009. Further information and applications are available at www.mugsstumpaward.com. Climbs taking place between February 1, 2010 and March 1, 2011 are eligible. We encourage you to submit electronic applications to mugs_stump_award@patagonia.com (subject line "2010 Mugs Stump Application"); or mail 12 copies of your application to Kristo Torgersen, Patagonia, 259 W. Santa Clara St., Ventura, CA 93001.

Awards will be announced by January 31, 2010.

[Mugs Stump on the magic bus on the way into the Karakoram, Pakistan, in June 1983. Photo: Michael Kennedy]