Valery Babanov (Russian: Валерий Бабанов; b. November 10, 1964) is a Russian mountaineer, who is especially known for high-altitude mountain tours above 7,000 m as well as for his severe-grade climbing tours.Babanov was born in Omsk, and started climbing in 1980. He achieved several first ascents and speed records, and was awarded with the Piolet d'Or twice, at last together with Yuri Koshelenko for an ascent on the South Face of Nuptse Shar I.