The Originality of the Goal

For the past 30 years, the French magazine Montagnes and the Groupe de Haute Montagne have been awarding the Piolet d'Or, or "Golden Ice Axe," recognizing remarkable mountaineering achievements from the previous year. Although it is considered the highest honor in the mountaineering world, I could never quite understand why it was awarded for summits that most people had never heard of—climbs and traverses far from the well-known peaks like Mont Blanc, Denali, or Everest. Instead, the Piolet d'Or often recognizes feats accomplished in more obscure, remote areas, far from the spotlight.

I didn't fully grasp this until I began trekking leisurely through the Sacred Valley. Endless ridgelines stretch out before you, one after another, and just when you think you've reached the end, another twenty rise up on the horizon—fifteen of which seem utterly unreachable. This experience made me reflect more deeply on one of the criteria for the Piolet d'Or: "originality in the choice of the objective and the innovative nature of the ascent."

"Originality" here refers to something novel, while "creativity" involves finding multiple ways to create something that serves a practical or aesthetic purpose. But I started to wonder: do we value something that is novel but not useful? Or something useful but not original? For me, the answer is "no" to both. And that's why I feel like Roald Amundsen every time I go for a walk in the Sacred Valley—there is a deep sense of exploration, discovery, and purpose in the journey itself, not just in the destination.