Jordi Corominas will have his Golden Piolet. Then it is true that there is a certain form of poetic justice: finally, the mountaineer who did not want to be known will be forced to put himself in the spotlight and explain himself. Corominas loves words but does not talk about himself. Never. There may not be anyone who has ever heard him say “I climbed this or that.” In a universe of excessive egos, that of Corominas (66 years old) cannot be traced. However, the figure of the Catalan raised in La Rioja is legendary and allows us to understand the link between mountaineering of the 20th century and that of the 21st, between the heaviness of besieging the great mountains and the freedom of climbing them lightly. Between fighting with the big problems and embracing them to be able to rise to the difficulty without traps, shortcuts or artifices.
The award ceremony (next December 10) as winner of the honorary Golden Piolet of the 2024 edition may become his most difficult ascension, but Corominas will always be able to draw on the poise of his most committed ascensions. “It’s not going to be easy,” he concedes with a half smile. And that half smile barely hides his excitement. It was necessary for him to be awarded a Golden Piolet for his resume to emerge and his dimension as a mountaineer to be truly understood.
Jordi is not only the man who signed the second and only repetition of the route Magic Line to K 2. In fact, this famous ascent served to further bury a long list of great firsts in Peru, Patagonia or in the Himalayas, many of them alone. Huge successes that Choir he kept to himself. Paradoxically, to be reluctant to speak, or more precisely to speak about himself, Jordi Corominas loves words, he is a passionate reader, a late student of the Spanish language, father of the publishing house Verticualidad and a person who loves to talk about mountaineering. With everything he has experienced, he maintains intact his interest in getting to know himself and discovering the motivations of those who, like him, have made the mountains a way of relating to life. “The organizers asked me for my entire resume, but it seemed boring to me, so I only focused on some good ascents… No, definitely what matters in the world of mountaineering is the person, what they have inside, what moves them. assuming certain things… that can be interesting to investigate,” he explains.
Before glossing his achievements, it is enough to say that Corominas has many times crossed forbidden lines, the edge that separates existing or ceasing to exist. Because? In his response lies the interest of a specialty that refuses to be a mere sport. One of his regular rope companions, Jordi Tosas, once said that he had seen his friend face such delicate climbs that, assuring him, he could only pray that he would not fall.
Corominas concedes that only if explained honestly does the absurd gesture of climbing mountains make sense. But Jordi did not always want to share what he had inside: he sensed that he might encounter rejection, incomprehension or lack of sensitivity. After climbing the Magic Lineand in front of this journalist’s recorder, he crossed his arms and announced that he would only speak “about the facts, not about feelings.” A decade later, caught by surprise and with the passage of time as a buffer, he agreed to explain himself. It was a delight. Now, he even admits to being reminded of his great role: “I am not the best Spanish mountaineer… my fundamental value may have simply been to transmit my vision to young people, from classic mountaineering to the modern fast and light alpine style.” For a decade, Jordi led the National Mountaineering Team and then dedicated himself to training new mountain guides. Never in the last three decades has he stopped guiding and just a year ago he led Jordi Pons, a national mountaineering legend still eager to climb at 90 years of age, to the top of Monch, in the Alps.
“How he deserves it! And how great it is to have it awarded!”, is excited by Mikel Zabalza, present at this edition of the awards as part of the jury.
In 2009, Corominas also participated as a member of the jury at the Golden Piolets. That year, an honorary award was awarded for the first time, and it went to the unique Walter Bonatti. On the rebound, Corominas met his idol and a large number of elite climbers. He returned home full, happy to be able to “talk about mountaineering” with his face uncovered. Now Corominas’ last name appears next to Messner, Kurtyka, Lowe or Scott. That is to say, very close to the mountaineering actors who served as an example.
