North to the Future: An Offline Adventure through the Changing Wilds of Alaska by Ben Weissenbach wins 2026 Banff Mountain Book Competition Grand Prize

The Banff Mountain Book Competition is delighted to announce the 2026 Grand Prize winner during the 51st annual Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

At the age of twenty, college student and digital native Ben Weissenbach went north to Arctic Alaska armed with little more than inspiration from his literary heroes and a growing interest in climate change. What met him there was a world utterly unlike the 21st century Los Angeles in which he grew up—a land of ice, rock, and grizzlies seen by few outside a small contingent of scientists with big personalities.

“North to the Future is a stunning tribute to the impact mountains have on our souls. Ben Weissenbach's experience of the Arctic as a digital native with little wilderness experience brings a fresh perspective to the world of mountain literature. His earnestness, matched by skillful journalism and beautiful prose, take us to a place of wonder as we ponder the future of our planet and the landscapes we cherish. North to the Future is bound to become a classic in the genre, a masterclass on weaving critical reporting with elegant chronicles of Weissenbach's own evolution.”

– Lauren DeLaunay Miller, 2026 Book Competition Jury

The Banff Mountain Book Competition is an internationally recognized literary competition within the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival (Oct. 31 - Nov. 8, 2026), celebrating mountain literature in all its forms. $26,000 CAD in cash is awarded annually with seven awards selected by an international jury of writers, adventurers, and editors.

The seven category award winners, announced on October 22, were selected from 27 category finalists (chosen from a total of 173 submissions, from authors across 12 countries). The categories are Mountain Literature, Environmental Literature, Adventure Travel, Mountain Image, Guidebook, Mountain Article, and Climbing Literature. Ben Weissenbach’s North to the Future succeeded in the Adventure Travel category. See the full release of category award winners here.

The 2026 Book Competition jury members are:

– David Chambre (France) – climber, and writer of historical reviews for worldwide mountaineering and climbing publications.

– Lauren DeLaunay Miller (USA) – journalist, audio producer for the adventure podcast, The Dirtbag Diaries, author of Valley of Giants: Stories from Women at the Heart of Yosemite Climbing (2022), and winner of the 2022 Banff Mountain Book Competition Award for Climbing Literature.

– Rob Lovell (UK) – publisher and chief executive of the award-winning Scottish Mountaineering Press, and member of the Fort William Mountain Festival team.

Grand Prize

$5,000 – Sponsored by the Alpine Club of Canada
North to the Future: An Offline Adventure through the Changing Wilds of Alaska
Ben Weissenbach, Grand Central Publishing (USA, 2025)

Category Awards

Mountain Literature
$3,000 – Sponsored by Fjallraven
Lone Wolf: Walking the Line Between Civilization and Wildness
Adam Weymouth, Knopf Canada (Canada, 2025)

Environmental Literature
$3,000 – Sponsored by Arctos & Bird
Black Bear: A Story of Siblinghood and Survival
Trina Moyles, Knopf Canada (Canada, 2026)

Adventure Travel
$3,000 – Sponsored by The Town of Banff
North to the Future: An Offline Adventure through the Changing Wilds of Alaska
Ben Weissenbach, Grand Central Publishing (USA, 2025)

Mountain Image
$3,000 – Sponsored by Mountain Life Media
Fjell: A Faithful Witness
Photography by Orsolya Haarberg; texts by Maria Hasselgård, Tinde Publishing (Norway, 2026)

Jury note: Rob Lovell abstained from adjudicating the Mountain Image award due to a conflict of interest.

Guidebook
$3,000 – Sponsored by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG)
Cabin Wild: Alpine Bivouac Huts 
Ben Tibbetts, Alpenglow Editions (France, 2025)

Mountain Article
$3,000 – Sponsored by The Lodge at Bow Lake
The Misfits
Chad Heddleston and Madeleine Woda, Summit Journal (USA, 2025)

Climbing Literature
$3,000 – Sponsored by Oboz 
The Great Mixed Climbs of Scotland
Guy Robertson and Hamish Frost, Scottish Mountaineering Press (UK, 2025)

Jury note: Rob Lovell abstained from adjudicating the Mountain Image award due to a conflict of interest.

Special Jury Mentions

Glacier Climbing & Crevasse Rescue: Essential Skills for Snow Travel
Ian Nicholson, Mountaineers Books (USA, 2025)

Spirit of the Great Bear
Jack Plant, Figure 1 Publishing (Canada, 2026)

Since 1976, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity has been a global leader in celebrating mountain culture with a festival dedicated to the genre’s best in film, literature, photography, music, and more. This year’s nine-day festival, taking place October 31 to November 8, 2026, will welcome adventurers, filmmakers, authors, photographers, and mountain enthusiasts from around the world. Highlights include the return of the bustling festival marketplace, free talks on the Rab stage, outdoor patio parties with live music, exhibitions, and much more!

Don't miss our popular daytime book events on Friday November 6, featuring authors Dillon Osleger, Heather Dawe, Claire Cameron, Trina Moyles, Gloria Dickie, Ben Weissenbach, and Rosemary Brown.

The Banff Mountain Film Competition is also underway at the 2026 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival. Winners will be announced on Sunday, November 8, 2026.

The 2026 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival schedule is available to view online. Tickets and passes can be purchased at banffmountainfestival.ca or Banff Centre Box Office.

Online films will be available to watch following the festival from November 12-22, 2026 (available in CAN/USA only), tickets are on sale now.

Please visit banffmountainfestival.ca for more festival information.

For more information or image requests, please contact: 

Jess Elliott
Media and Communications, Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Box 1020,107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta
Canada T1L 1H5  
jess_elliott@banffcentre.ca 

About Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival: Created 51 years ago, Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival has become the premier event of its kind in the world. The nine-day festival hosted by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Canada, showcases the world’s best films, books and photographs on mountain subjects – climbing, culture, environment and natural history, exploration and adventure, wildlife, and sport – and attracts the biggest names in mountaineering, adventure filmmaking, and explorers as presenters and speakers. An international jury will also award over $40,000 in prizes for films and books submitted to this year’s festival competitions. banffmountainfestival.ca    

Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Sponsors: The 2026 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Presenting Sponsors are Rab and Banff and Lake Louise Tourism. The festival is also supported by YETI, Oboz, World Expeditions, The Lake Louise Ski Resort, Grangers, SLY Foods, NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), Bluetti, Clipper Race, Arc’teryx, Durston Gear, Wild Rose Brewery, and Wild Life Distillery.

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity: Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a post-secondary institution built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and leadership development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creative decision-making across dozens of disciplines. From our home on Treaty 7 territory in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to move everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, thinkers, and audiences – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to build an innovative, inspiring future through education, performances, convenings, and public outreach. banffcentre.ca