While researching today’s post on the Banff Mountain Film Fest, I learned about another competition held in Banff at the same time: The Banff Mountain Book Festival.
As is the case with the film festival, the book festival recognizes the best literature and photography dealing with outdoor and mountain themes. The categories are alluring on their own: Mountain Literature, Mountain Image, Adventure Travel, Mountain Exposition, and Mountaineering History.
This year’s Grand Prize winner, Being Caribou by Karsten Heuer, tells the story of a husband and wife team who accompany a group of migrating Porcupine Caribou across 2,000 miles of Alaskan backcountry.
The best book in the Adventure category was awarded to Learning to Breathe by Andy Cave. Cave, who has a Ph.D. in the sociology of mining, begins his journey underground before eventually scaling the very dangerous Changabang peak in the Indian Himalayas.
Based on the quality of films I see every year at the Banff Film Festival, I can only imagine that their taste in literature is equally outstanding. Check out the list of all winners because I’m sure each is a gem unto itself.