Two years after he was swept from the world's second-highest mountain after rescuing three others during a two-day span when 11 climbers died on K2, Ger McDonnell -- an Irishman whose love of the mountains brought him to Alaska -- will receive a prestigious posthumous award for his history of heroism.

McDonnell, who worked in Alaska as an engineer and was well known in both the climbing and Irish music worlds, will be honored by the mountaineer town of Pinzolo, Italy, which since 1972 has presented the International Alpine Solidarity Award in recognition of those who put themselves at risk to help imperiled climbers.

In 1996, retired Denali National Park ranger Daryl Miller became the first American to receive the top award, the Targa d'Argento, also called the silver shield. Gold medals are presented in memoriam to the families of those who die while aiding others.

This is the second time McDonnell has been honored for his actions on K2. Last year, explorersweb.com gave him its Best of Explorers award.

"It is very good news and incredible that Ger has been recognized internationally once again," McDonnell's brother, J.J., told Mountaineering Ireland. "It is in some way comforting, yet hard also on the eve of his second anniversary."

McDonnell was 37 when he died Aug. 2, 2008, a day after becoming the first Irishman to stand atop the 28,253-foot K2, a mountain known for its ruthlessness.

After an overnight bivouac on his descent, McDonnell and Italian climber Marco Confortola discovered two Korean climbers and their Sherpa trapped upside down in a tangle of ropes above the Bottleneck, a steep ice couloir in the mountain's death zone.

In interviews later, Confortola said he and McDonnell delayed their descent by three or four hours while they tried to free the men.

Confortola finally decided the effort was futile. As he began his descent, he was puzzled to see McDonnell climbing up the mountain -- though he later realized McDonnell had gone up to release tension on the ropes. McDonnell reportedly spent several more hours working alone before finally freeing the three men.

With McDonnell still above them, the three began their descent and ultimately met up with two other members of their expedition. An ice serac above gave way, sweeping McDonnell to his death. A subsequent avalanche killed the party of five below that included the three climbers McDonnell had saved.

"McDonnell was the finest of mountaineers," the Pinzolo awards committee wrote. "He was ... someone who took part in many rescue efforts, and someone who was capable of abandoning his own plans, such as conquering the world's most difficult peaks, to assist climbers in difficulty."

In 1999, McDonnell and climbing partner Mike Mays were awarded the Denali Pro Pin for their efforts in leading five imperiled climbers -- one suffering from snow blindness, one from exhaustion -- to safety during a whiteout. McDonnell broke trail to get the group to McKinley's 17,000-foot camp.

"Ger just couldn't walk away without helping people," John Dowd, an Irishman who climbed with McDonnell in Alaska and Pakistan, told Mountaineering Ireland.

McDonnell is one of five people who will be honored with gold medals at a ceremony next month in Pinzolo. The other four will go to the families of four rescuers who died a helicopter crash after a landslide last year on the slopes of Monte Cristallo in the Italian Alps.