Livingstone and Strazar on a 2018 expedition in Pakistan. Photo: Alex Cesen
Organisers of the Nick Estcourt Award have announced this year’s recipients, adding that it will be the final year it will be granted in its present form.
The award was instituted 40 years ago to commemorate the mountaineer after whom it is named, who died in a climbing accident in 1978.
Tom Livingstone and Luka Strazar have won a grant of £2,500 to help in their attempt on a new line on the 7,710m (25,295ft) Nepalese peak Jannu after 2020’s monsoon season.
The award trustees said, in line with the spirit of the award, the climbers will accept the true challenge of their objective by climbing alpine-style and not carrying bolts.
“Their bold, intended climb captured the imagination of the trustees such that they decided to end their administration of the award with a higher than usual grant of £2,500.
“Nick Estcourt died on K2 in 1978 and since 1980 the Nick Estcourt Award has kept his name alive by awarding an annual grant to mountaineering expeditions tackling objectives of the kind that Nick loved.
“The trustees are proud to have kept the award going for 40 years but have decided that this will be the final year in which the grant will be awarded in its current format.
“The remaining funds will now be made available to the Mount Everest Foundation who will continue to keep Nick’s name alive by attaching his name to a single expedition each year which fulfils the criteria of the Nick Estcourt Award.”
Estcourt climbed extensively in the European Alps, Himalaya and Karakorum and on numerous rock-climbs, including El Capitan in Yosemite. During his time at Cambridge University, he was president of its mountaineering club.
Awards are made to expeditions of ‘considerable mountaineering significance’ such as first ascents or those of existing routes in a more challenging style or conditions.
Among participants of expeditions funded by the Nick Estcourt Award are Andy Cave, Kenton Cool, Vic Saunders, Mick Fowler, Kate Phillips, Simon Yates, Julie-Ann Clyma and Dave MacLeod.
Tom Livingstone and Luka Strazar’s attempt is dependent on Covid-19 restrictions being lifted.
