On September 11, 2004, in the Santa Maria Church in Pontresina, the King Albert I Memorial Foundation presented the golden King Albert Mountain Award to England’s Stephen Venables for his outstanding literary achievements on the subject of mountain sport and for his great success in climbing the enormous Kangshung Face of Mount Everest in 1988 without supplementary oxygen. The certificate from the King Albert I Memorial Foundation states that his well-written books are extremely suspenseful and also give readers insight into the personal feelings experienced in the face of danger and death, which aid in imagining the motivation behind a passion for the desolate and harsh world of high mountain peaks.
The Foundation, which honours the Belgian King Albert I who died while climbing in 1934, has presented four additional King Albert Mountain Awards: to Professor Lawrence Hamilton of Vermont (USA) for his lifelong dedication to the protection of mountain regions and their networks, especially the protection of mountain forests and drainage systems tied to sustainable development in mountain regions; to Professor Peter Rieder from ETH Zurich for his studies of primary production in the Alps and his concern for the mountain farming community in a time of rapid change, with regard to economic, social, cultural and demographic conditions in mountain regions; to publisher Michel Guérin of Chamonix for his commitment, enthusiasm and great care for alpine literature, from which his Editions Guérin have published over 50 titles since 1995; and finally to the Swiss Alpine Museum in Bern for its effectiveness as a singular centre for the culture and nature of the alpine environment, which brings the fascination and importance of the mountain world closer to a broad public.
The King Albert I Memorial Foundation, registered in Zurich, was founded by Walter Amstutz in 1993 in honour of the Belgian King Albert I (1875-1934), a great alpinist and fervent mountain climber. The foundation’s aim is to honour individuals or institutions which, through their efforts in any area pertaining to the mountain regions of the world, have made outstanding and lasting achievements.
In 2002, the Foundation presented the King Albert Mountain Award to five individuals and organizations who all distinguished themselves through their outstanding achievements for the protection of mountains. In 2000, the five photographers Jürgen Winkler, Germany, Shiro Shirahata, Japan, Walter Niedermayr, Italy, Didier Ruef, Switzerland, and Simon Carter, Australia, were honoured. Previous award ceremonies were held for Lord Hunt, Great Britain, Wanda Rutkiewicz, Poland, from the USA Dr. Bradford Washburn and Dr. Charles Houston, and from Switzerland Professor Augusto Gansser, Silvia Metzeltin Buscaini and Erhard Loretan. Additional achievement medals were handed out to Elisabeth Hawley, Kathmandu, Pit Schubert, Germany, to the team of the TV documentary series Land der Berge of the Austrian television network ORF, as well as to the Belgian charity organisation Intersoc, which has made it possible since 1949 for more than two million Belgian children and adults to take vacations in the Alps.
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