This year's Boardman-Tasker Prize for mountain literature has
joint winners in the shape of Jim Perrin and Andy Cave for 'The
Villain' and 'Learning to Breathe' respectively.
It's the first time since 1991 that the prize has had two winners
and the judges stressed that this year's shortlist was of a
'particularly high quality' describing the two winning books as
'quite outstanding'.
The Villain is Jim Perrin's long-awaited and meticulously
researched biography of Don Whillans, one of the greatest and most
controversial of post-war British climbers, with a spectacular record
in the UK, the Alps and the Himalaya.
By contrast, Andy Cave - ambushed by camera below - has a low
profile outside the climbing world, but is recognised as one
of Britain's best climbers with some desperately hard ascents to his
credit including a notorious route on Changabang with Brendan
Murphy.
Learning to Breathe is the story of how, as a striking miner in
Thatcher's Britain, he discovered an aptitude and passion for
climbing and decided to make it his life embarking on a series of
hard climbs across the world.
Now earning his living as a mountain guide and a sponsored climber
with Lowe Alpine, Cave - who we've just seen in Kendal - is clearly
delighted to have won. He's already spent the prize money on a carbon
fibre-framed Italian road rocket of a bicycle and is about to head
off for the Banff Festival with hopes of maybe garnering another
award. He's also sold the German and Italian publication rights to
the book.
A thoroughly nice guy and a deserving winner who was interviewed
in the Observer
earlier this year.
More about the Boardman Tasker Prize at www.boardmantasker.com
