Mountain book prize contenders include Unjustifiable Risk and Ron Fawcett, Rock Athlete
The shortlist for the 2010 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature has been released and includes Unjustifiable Risk by Simon Thompson and Ron Fawcett, Rock Athlete by Ron Fawcett and Ed Douglas.
Published by Cicerone, Unjustifiable Risk is the first attempt for many years to compress almost 200 years of British climbing history into a single volume and 'tells the story of the social, economic and cultural conditions that gave rise to the sport and the achievements and motives of those that have shaped its development'.
Author Simon Thompson says:
‘I am delighted that Unjustifiable Risk? has been shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award. While I was struggling to climb my first gritstone VS on Stanage, Peter Boardman was on the south west face of Everest and Joe Tasker was climbing Dunagiri. Their climbs and their books, especially Savage Arena and The Shining Mountain, were an inspiration to me as a young climber.
'As Unjustifiable Risk? shows, climbing and mountaineering have a long and proud literary tradition and, in recent years, the Boardman Tasker Prize has played a major role in celebrating the best in mountain writing, so it is a great honour to be shortlisted for the award.’
Ron Fawcett, Rock Athlete is a collaboration between the legendary rock climber and outoor and climbing author, Ed Douglas. It's the immensely readable, self-effacing, autobiographical story of one of the first climbers to apply a systematic training regime to rock climbing with outstanding results.
Other titles on the five-strong shortlist are No Way Down by Graham Bowley, an account of the 2008 disaster on K2 which killed 11 climbers and left three others seriously injured in a series of accidents high on the mountain. The Hut Builder by Laurence Fearnley is a novel set in the mountains of New Zealand and finally, Climbing Philosophy for Everyone edited by Stephen E Schmid apparently poses the questions climbers are afraid to ask themselves with answers from a number of contributors, which sounds intriguing.
The judges are Ian Smith, Barry Imeson and Kym Martindale and the winner will be announced at this year's Kendal Mountain Festival in November.
More Boardman Tasker information at www.boardmantasker.com.
