You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2024 here.

Kazuya Hiraide, 45, July 27

At the time of his death, in July 2024, Kazuya Hiraide was perhaps the most lauded and respected figure in Japanese alpinism. Over the last 25 years, he led a diverse and prolific career in the world’s Greater Ranges, both as a ski mountaineer and a pioneering alpinist. He and his climbing partner Kenro Nakajima died in a fall while attempting the steep West Face of K2 (8,611m).

Though he kept a low public profile and had few sponsors, Hiraide’s climbing resume is staggering. Nearly every year for the last 25 years he embarked on serious expeditions to the Karakoram or Himalaya. His early efforts included Cho Oyu and other 8,000-meter mainstays—he also summited Everest three times, though he rarely mentioned those ascents in conversation—but as he honed his skills, Hiraide’s passion quickly became exploratory routes on remote, highly technical peaks, far from crowds and guidebook information.

In 2008, Hiraide and close partner Kei Taniguchi became the first Japanese climbers in history to receive the Piolet d’Or, for the first ascent of the Southwest Face of Kamet (7,756m) in India’s Garhwal Himalaya. Hiraide went on to receive the award three more times with Kenro Nakajima, his partner for most of the last decade. (Hiraide was one of only three people in history to have won four or more Piolet d’Or.)

Born in Japan’s Nagano Basin, as a child Hiraide was a practitioner of the martial art kendo, and later excelled as a competitive speedwalker. He began mountaineering at university, after joining a college climbing club. In a 2022 interview with ExplorersWeb, he remarked that he was drawn to the mountains because they represented a stark contrast from the red tape of traditional athletics. “I wanted to choose my own goals, my own finish lines,” he said.

But on one of his first Himalayan trips, to the heavily trafficked 8,000er Cho Oyu, he realized that he’d have to chart his own path in the mountains to find the freedom he wanted. “What I found on Cho Oyu was a lot of people,” he explained. “I followed the trail on fixed ropes and all I did was pass one climber, then another, then another …  I was doing exactly the same as I did as an athlete: competing with others. After that experience, I promised myself I would get out of the stadium, once and for all.”

Hiraide said that, although he respected all ambitions in the mountains, even guided efforts on commercial peaks, his own motivations and climbing ethos revolved around breaking ground. “Where others have already been, it’s the known world,” he said. “I look for the unknown, for the blank patches on the map, and for new paths.”

Though his list of noteworthy ascents is gargantuan, perhaps Hiraide’s most meaningful was the Northeast Face of Pakistan’s Shispare (7,611m). He tried the peak four times in 10 years, beginning in 2007 with Yuka Komatsu, then 2012 with Takuya Mitoro. The following year, he and Taniguchi, who he called, “the ultimate partner,” retreated under a serac at 5,700 meters. Taniguchi died two years later in a climbing accident. In the wake of Taniguchi’s passing, Hiraide began questioning his life in the mountains, but found new energy and a fresh perspective in the reliable, dauntless Nakajima who he said “understood my relationship” with the peak. The pair climbed it by a 2,700-meter route, which they graded WI 5 and M6, in 2017, making the peak’s third ascent, and its first in alpine style. They wrote about the climb, which netted their first Piolet d’Or, for the American Alpine Journal in 2018.

Hiraide and Nakajima were inseparable for the rest of their climbing careers, and earned the award again for first ascents of the South Face-Southeast Ridge of Rakaposhi (7,788m) in 2019 and the North Face of Tirich Mir (7,708m) in 2023. In a short film, ROPE, about that ascent, Hiraide made it clear that if he were to push his limits—and risk his life—with anyone, it was Nakajima. He said meeting the younger climber had completely revitalized his climbing, and given him the spark to continue. “I have climbed many mountains, and now I have become afraid of them,” he said. “When I head for a mountain, fear makes me hesitate,” he said. “It’s hard for me to take the step, but Kenro does it without a second’s hesitation. I have lost that innocence. His courage is the reason I am able to climb these mountains.”

In a piece written in September 2023 for El País, IFMGA guide Óscar Gogorza called Hiraide “the best mountaineer of the 21st century.” In their interview, Hiraide was candid about what K2’s West Face meant for him, as an alpinist approaching the twilight of his career. “I know I don’t have many years left before I retire, but I’m hoping to do something big,” Hiraide said. “Yes, I have a dream… the West Face of K2.”

Kazuya Hiraide is survived by his wife, Joko Hiraide, and two children. In December, they accepted a posthumous Piolet d’Or for Tirich Mir on his behalf.

You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2024 here.

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