Piolet d'Or took place in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (France) and Courmayeur in the Aosta Valley (Italy) on the 24th and 25 April 2009. The 2009 awardees were: For 2008, the Piolet D'Or was canceled. The co-founders of the award decided to initiate a new process for selecting the nominees and winner, and the process could not be completed on a timely basis for 2008. The 2007 Piolet d'Or was awarded on January 26, 2007 in Grenoble, France. The winners were: Other finalist were: Piolet d'Or The Piolet d'Or (, French for "Golden Ice Axe") is an annual mountaineering award given by the French magazine
Montagnes Noires Montagnes Noires The Montagnes Noires (French: 'the black mountains'), also known as the Montagne Noire (French: 'the black mountain') and in Breton as Menez Du are an east-west oriented range of hills in Brittany centred on the town of Gourin. They culminate in the peak of Roc de Toullaeron (Breton: Roc'h Toull-al-Laeron) which attains a height of either 318m or 326m. Other significant peaks include Ar Menez (304m) and Montagne Noir (307m) (or, in Breton: Menez Du). They are composed from a range of Precambrian, Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian rocks forming a part of the Variscan orogen and include sandstones,