a question of style, form and function

Image: Nanga Parbat's Rupal Face.

A thought-provoking quote from a US climber, borrowed from ExpeditionNews :

"People's perception is that the highest mountain is the most important. And it's just simply not true, because the highest mountain isn't necessarily the most difficult. You don't get (climbing legend) Reinhold Messner calling you the best alpinist in the world for climbing Everest. You get that for climbing Nanga Parbat. That's a technical route, but nobody's ever heard about that outside of the climbing community."

Climber Steve House, 39, Oregon

He talks about the 'most important' in terms of a route or a mountain. Who determines which route, style or mountain is more important than another? Subjective and rightly so?