Steel Angel award
The annual award for the best alpine ascent performed by a female team
Our mission is to empower women to achieve their best in climbing, while promoting the sport to welcome new members into our community
The Steel Angel award has been presented annually since 2008 (with the exception of 2020 when the award ceremony was suspended due to COVID-19). Primarily, the long-list of the award featured all-female teams from Russia and CIS countries, although in 2017 and 2018, there were also nominees from Latvia.
In 2004 the Award Committee decided to make the award international.
We are delighted and proud to welcome female climbers among the nominees for the Steel Angel Award 2025! If you have information about interesting projects and remarkable ascents made by female teams in 2025, please feel free to share it with us by email at steelangelaward@gmail.com
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We’re shaping the future of mountaineering, empowering female climbers with the liberty to choose their own unique path.
Liana Darenskaya. Co-founder of the Steel Angel award
The 16th Steel Angel Award was given to the Slovenian team — Anja Petek, Patricija Verdev — for their first ascent of Lalung I (6,243 m, Ladakh), by East ridge, 2000 m, ED, M6+, AI5+
News
The 16th Steel Angel went to Slovenia
Steel Angel Award 2024 nominees and jury panel
The introduction of the Steel Angel Award to the international community
The DNA of the Steel Angel Award
At the core of mountaineering lies the essence of challenge. At the core of any award, there is an inherent vector for the advancement of a particular sphere of activity.
In the DNA of many women lies the same passion as that of men: passion for adventure, affinity for mountains, determination to defy heights, sheer cliffs, and the uncharted realms of mountain peaks. Ascending as an all-female team represents the ultimate challenge.
Just as for men, ambitions serve as a motivating factor for women. They are propelled by the same aspirations for infinite growth and refinement.
For many years in the global mountaineering community, there has existed an award that acts as a vector for shaping global trends in mountaineering: the Piolets d’Or. However, in all these years, no female team has claimed this accolade. Similarly, in the history of Russian mountaineering, no female team has secured victories in championships or climbing competitions. Therefore, in 2008, we established the Steel Angel Award.
Irina Morozova, creator of the prize for all-female teams ascents and co-founder of the “Steel Angel” award
The inspiration of female alpinism
Female mountaineering is not about numbers. It matters not who has climbed more pitches, who has spent more nights on a wall or hammered in more hooks. Those are men who care the most about all that, about difficulty and challenges, whereas female mountaineering is all about motivation. First of all, all the nominees of this award enjoy the process of climbing a mountain, the process of launching an expedition. They enjoy the good company, their unique female charm and atmosphere. This is why it matters not, whether they climb an easy route in Crimea or an extremely difficult wall in Caracorum.
Arkady Klepinin. Co-founder of the Steel Angel Award. CEO of Alpex, the official Russian distributor of Grivel
They support us
Interested in supporting us? Please ask for our partnership information by email at steelangelaward@gmail.com