April 18, 2009

2009 EUROPEAN FAIR PLAY DIPLOMA (individuals) ZDENĚK HRUBÝ and RADEK JAROŠ (CZE)

During an ascent of the eight-thousand-meter Himalayan peak Dhaulagiri, two Czech climbers rescued two Polish mountaineers suffering from altitude sickness. In doing so, they risked their own health and lives and reduced their chances of reaching the summit. Around twenty other climbers could have provided assistance to the Poles, but none of them joined the Czech pair.

Zdeněk Hrubý and Radek Jaroš later, after successfully reaching the summit, also helped two completely exhausted Spanish climbers during the descent. Their actions deserve recognition all the more because they stand in sharp contrast to the indifference and unwillingness to help that have been increasingly observed in Himalayan mountaineering in recent years.