October 3, 2001

Finalists Announced for 2001 Banff Mountain Book Festival

From the high Himalaya to the frozen wastes of Antarctica, from kayaking adventures to jungle explorations, this year’s finalists for the 8th annual Banff Mountain Book Festival bring mountain stories to life through their words and images. A pre-screening committee has selected 34 finalists from 122 entries representing 10 countries including Canada, the USA, the UK, Australia, Germany,  India, Italy, Singapore, Slovenia, and South Africa.

"We’re thrilled by the response to this year’s competition. Every year the field of entries grows, a testament to the book festival’s international reputation and the popularity of mountain literature," said Bernadette McDonald, vice-president, Mountain Culture, The Banff Centre.

The Banff Mountain Book Festival, presented by Canadian Mountain Holidays, runs
October 31 – November 4, 2001 in conjunction with the 26th annual Banff Mountain Film Festival (October 29 – November 4, 2001).

A number of finalist authors will be featured at the 2000 festivals including Brenda Fowler, Ed Webster, Simon Yates, Jon Bowermaster, Julie Summers, Mark Kroese, Harish Kapadia, Ken Belford, and Rick Ridgeway.

The book festival jury includes Maria Coffey, author of Fragile Edge, Margaret Foster, former editor-in-chief of The Mountaineers Books, and Dawson Stelfox, the first Irishman to summit Everest. Winners of the following awards will be announced at the festival during the evening book festival presentation on November 1.

• Grand Prize: Phyllis and Don Munday Award, sponsored by the Alberta Sections of the Alpine Club of Canada: $2000

• Jon Whyte Award for Mountain Literature, sponsored by The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta: $1000

• Best Book — Mountain Exposition, sponsored by Mountain Lights Bookstore, Lake Louise, Alberta: $500

• Best Book — Mountain Image, sponsored by Spotted Dog Press, Bishop, California: $500

• Best Book — Adventure Travel: $500

The finalists in each category are:

American Rock: Region, Rock, and Culture in American Climbing, Don Mellor, Countryman Press (USA, 2001)

Below Another Sky: A Mountain Adventure in Search of a Lost Father, Rick Ridgeway, Henry Holt and Company, Inc. (USA, 2001)

A Brief History of British Mountaineering, Colin Wells for the Mountain Heritage Trust, British Mountaineering Council and Mountain Heritage Trust (UK, 2001)

Denali: A Literary Anthology, edited by Bill Sherwonit, The Mountaineers Books (USA, 2000)

Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine, Julie Summers, The Mountaineers Books (USA, 2001)

The Flame of Adventure, Simon Yates, Random House UK (UK, 2001)

Hazard's Way, Roger Hubank, The Ernest Press (Scotland, 2001)

History of the Great Mountaineering Adventures, Stefano Ardito, White Star (Italy, 2000)

Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier, Brenda Fowler, Random House Inc. (USA, 2000)

Kiss or Kill: Confessions of a Serial Climber, Mark Twight, The Mountaineers Books (USA, 2001)

Pathways into the Mountains, Ken Belford, Caitlin Press Inc. (Canada, 2000)

Raven's End, Ben Gadd, McClelland & Stewart (Canada, 2001)

Snow in the Kingdom — My Storm Years on Everest, Ed Webster, Mountain Imagery (USA, 2000)

Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther Than the Eye Can See, Erik Weihenmayer, Dutton (USA, 2001)

Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest, Jamling Tenzing Norgay
et al., Harper San Francisco (USA, 2001)

Fifty Favorite Climbs: The Ultimate North American Tick List, Mark Kroese, The Mountaineers Books (USA, 2001)

The Illustrated Guide to Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue, Andy Tyson and Mike Clelland, Climbing Magazine (USA, 2001)

OUTSIDE Adventure Travel: Sea Kayaking, Jonathan Hanson, W.W. Norton & Company (USA, 2001)

Trekking and Climbing in the Indian Himalaya, Harish Kapadia, New Holland Publishers (UK, 2001)

Das andere Bild der Berge, Jurgen Winkler, Bergverlag Rudolph Rother GmbH (Germany, 2000)

The Great Divide: Photographs from the Canadian Rockies, Ernie Kroeger, The Banff Centre Press (Canada, 2001)

High Himalaya, Art Wolfe (photos) and Peter Potterfield (text), The Mountaineers Books (USA, 2001)

Millennium Experimenta #3, Betta Gobbi (editor), Grivel s.r.l. (Italy, 2001)

Arctic Crossing: A Journey through the Northwest Passage and Inuit Culture, Jonathan Waterman, Random House of Canada Ltd. (Canada, 2001)

Birthplace of the Winds: Storming Alaska's Islands of Fire and Ice, Jon Bowermaster, National Geographic Society (USA, 2001)

Blue Nile: Ethiopia's River of Magic and Mystery, Virginia Morell, National Geographic Society (USA, 2001)

Frank Kingdon Ward's Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges, Kenneth Cox, Antique Collectors' Club (USA, 2001)

The Middle-aged Mountaineer, Jim Curran, Constable & Robinson Publishers (UK, 2001)

A Painter's Year in the Forest of Bhutan, A.K. Hellum, University of Alberta Press (Canada, 2001)

Points Unknown: A Century of Great Exploration, edited by David Roberts, W.W. Norton & Company (USA, 2000)

Shackleton's Forgotten Men: The Untold Tragedy of the Endurance Epic, Lennard Bickel, Thunder's Mouth Press (USA, 2001)

Sikkim : A Traveller's Guide, Sujoy Das and Arundhati Ray, Permanent Black (India, 2001)

This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland, Gretel Ehrlich, Pantheon Books (USA, 2001)

Where the Pavement Ends: One Woman's Bicycle Trip Trough Mongolia, China & Vietnam, Erika Warmbrunn, The Mountaineers Books (USA, 2001)