For the love of the experience

A philosophical rejection of alpinism's "highest honor" by this years winner, Marko Prezelj. Even with broken English, he eloquently expresses the problems with competing for a first place among those who climb to the rarefied realms:

Fame is a cheap trap set by the media in which the complacent are quickly caught and exploited, realizing too late that trust and honor do not live in the same house as notoriety. The public doesn't truly care about climbers, who are links in an incestuous chain binding sick hunger for attention to media that promote or criticize according to their interests. The Piolet d'Or show organizers know and count on the cruel fact that they will always find plenty of desperate, passionate gladiators and clowns to role-play in the fame game. The more interesting question is whether it is Reality Show or Soap Opera?