Alpine Awards
The Glacier Mountaineering Society presents alpine awards in five categories:
Outstanding Individual Achievement
J. Gordon Edwards Lifetime Achievement
William Wanser Honorary Award
Technical Peaks Award
10,000-foot Peak Award
Recipients in each category are listed below. Nominations are solicited for candidates to receive Alpine Awards. Please send the names of nominees and the reasons you feel the candidate should receive the award. Only members in good standing may nominate individuals for awards and each award has specific criteria which are given below. Awards are presented each year on Saturday of Glacier Mountaineering Week at the annual GMS Luncheon. The deadline for nominations is June 1, of the current year. Send nominations to: GMS Alpine Award, PO Box 662, Whitefish, MT 59937.
Outstanding Individual Achievement
This award is presented to a member in good standing for a period of no less than two years and is reserved for a specific climb of high excellence. This could include the first ascent of a peak, a difficult first route ascent, a first winter ascent, etc. Recipients are:
| Name | Date of award | Achievement |
| J. Gordon Edwards | 1987 | Exploration and documentation of Ptarmigan Wall Traverse and Iceberg Notch return |
| Terry Kennedy | 1987 | First ascents of the north face of Cleveland (1976) and Siyeh (1979) |
| Jim Kanzler | 1987 | First ascents of the north face of Cleveland (1976) and Siyeh (1979) |
| Tom Cladouhos | 1988 | First winter ascent of Mount St. Nicholas (1985) |
| Trenton Cladouhos | 1988 | First winter ascent of Mount St. Nicholas (1985) |
| Lane Johnson | 1990 | First winter ascent of Mount Stimson (1989) |
| Don Scharfe | 2003 | First winter ascent of Mount Jackson (1988) |
| Orrin B. Webber | 2013 | First winter ascent of Mount Jackson (1988) |
J. Gordon Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award
This most prestigious award is presented to a member in good standing for a period of no less than two years who is at least 50 years of age for a mountaineering record spanning several decades that includes achievements in the categories listed below that are exemplified by J. Gordon Edwards in honor of whom this award was named:
- Successful high quality climbs within and/or outside of Glacier National Park. Examples might be: Mount Cleveland, Kinnerly Peak and Blackfoot Mountain in Glacier and Granite Peak, Mount Rainer and the Grand Teton outside of Glacier.
- Exploratory trips and climbs
- First ascents or the development of new routes or features
- Publishing route descriptions and articles Leadership as a climb coordinator and/or in other areas of GMS
Recipients and the year in which the award was made are:
| Name | Date of award |
| Gordon Edwards | 1987 |
| John Mauff | 1988 |
| Bill Wanser | 1989 |
| Joe Steffen | 1990 |
| Dick Schwab | 1995 |
| Denis Twohig | 1996 |
| Shirley Twohig | 1996 |
| John Dormaar | 1997 |
| Michael Young | 1999 |
| Bill Blunk | 2001 |
| Ralph Thornton | 2001 |
| Alice Edwards | 2001 |
| Jane Edwards | 2003 |
| Bill Hedglin | 2005 |
| Brian Kennedy | 2009 |
| Steve Berg | 2010 |
| Ken McDermott | 2011 |
| Lawrence W. Hiller | 2013 |
William Wanser Honorary Award
This GMS Award is presented to a member or non-member who is at least 55 years of age for mountaineering achievements, or achievements and excellence, usually over decades, related to Glacier National Park and mountain environments. Categories could include writing, journalism, art, photography, teaching, research, history, sciences, etc. Recipients and the year in which the award was made are:
| Name | Date of award |
| Warren Hanna | 1988 |
| Mel Ruder | 1991 |
| Bob Frauson | 1993 |
| Doug Follett | 1995 |
| George Ostrom | 1999 |
| Jerry DeSanto | 2002 |
| Lew Sabo | 2004 |
| Brian Kennedy | 2014 |
10,000-foot Peaks Award
This award is presented to a member in good standing for a period of no less than two years who has climbed all of Glacier's 10,000 foot peaks. These include Mount Cleveland, Mount Stimson, Kintla Peak, Mount Jackson, Mount Siyeh and Mount Merritt. Recipients and the year in which the award was made are:
| 1987 | 1988 | 1990 | 1991 |
| J. Gordon Edwards | Vic Davis | Dave Leppert | Grant Bernard |
| Alice Edwards | Eric Schwab | Dan Block | |
| Bill Blunk | Sarah Cox | ||
| Ralph Thornton | Bill Hedglin | ||
| Denis Twohig | |||
| Shirley Twohig | |||
| 1993 | 1994 | 1996 | 1997 |
| John Dormaar | Clao Milner | Brian Kennedy | Dave Wing |
| Laurie Barnard | Larry Sandefur | Greg Notess | |
| Greg Harrah | Al Streitmatter | ||
| 1999 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 |
| Jim Egan | Becky Petrashek | Larry Hiller | John Lakey |
| Vern Ingraham | Al Hofmeister | ||
| Jeff Young | Tom Kotynski | ||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| John Carr | Bret Doucett | Dennis Bonawitz | Steve Berg |
| Paul Edwards | Dell Meuchel | April Carr | Alice Ford |
| Bud Iszler | Linda Soper | Ron Gruber | Alex Hasson |
| Peter Yerger | Jerry Lundgren | Ronnie Laudati | |
| Dean Stensland | |||
| Bruce White | |||
| Rhonda White | |||
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Denise Davies | Darrel Coverdell | Bill Haring | Don Arthur |
| Tom Farago | Joel Vignere | Steve Niday | |
| Ken McDermott | Richard Smith | Frank Wesolovski | |
| David Olson | Jim Valentine | ||
| Jim Schroeder | |||
| Susan Schwartz | |||
| Alda Sigvaldason | |||
| Stephen Smith | |||
| Julie Stetter | |||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| Rick Thomas | J. David Slovak | Paul Jensen |
Technical Peaks Award
This award is presented to a member in good standing for a period of no less than two years who has climbed all five of Glacier's technical peaks as enumerated in Caffrey's Climber's Guide to Montana. These include: Mount Wilbur, Mount St. Nicholas, Split Mountain, Blackfoot Mountain and Walton Mountain. Recipients and the year in which the award was made are:
| 1990 | 1991 | 1994 | 2002 |
| Jaime Johnson | Lisa Johnson | Denis Twohig | Larry Sandefur |
| Ted Steiner | Shirley Twohig | ||
| Gary Yates | |||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Dennis Bonawitz | Jerry Lundgren | Larry Hiller | Brian Kennedy |
| David Pengelly | Jim Till | Al Hofmeister | |
| Don Scharfe | Linda Soper | ||
| Peter Yerger | |||
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Jack Beard | Ken McDermott | John Lakey | Ron Gruber |
| Vern Ingraham | Susan Schwartz | Steve Niday | |
| Ralph Thornton | |||
| Frank Wesolovski | |||
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
| Richard L. Smith | Paul Jensen | Don Arthur | |
| Denise Davies |