I hope you’re ready to expand your reading list.
Going into this event at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival on November 1, I was really curious about how the panel would make a choice for the best mountain book ever written. How does one even go about making such a claim? What would the criteria be for making the choice?
As it turned out, there was no criteria set for the panel. Instead, each panelist had to create his or her own criteria, and then use that to choose “the book.”
The panel, moderated by Alpinist Editor-in-Chief, Katie Ives, included outdoor writer and climber, Jon Popowich; Professor in the Department of English at the University of Calgary, Harry Vandervlist; author Bernadette MacDonald; climber and writer, Stephen Venables; and climber, writer and psychologist, Geoff Powter.
Some panelists chose their books based on a more objective set of criteria, using factors such as the book’s ongoing relevancy beyond time and place, and its accuracy, while others used a more subjective set of criteria. Did the book draw them back? How often did they take it off the shelf? What role has that book played in their life? Despite varying criteria, they all agreed that a book needs to be well written. It can be the most epic story of the century, but if it isn’t well written it didn’t make the cut.
All of the panelists chose a number of books, but mentioned one or two as his or her top choice. Here’s the final list…
The Best Mountain Book Ever Written
Click on the first thumbnail to view slideshow:
-
- Bernadette MacDonald’s choice. She appreciates a book that draws her back to the book shelf, is accurate, well-researched and also presents an authentic mountain adventure.
-
- Geoff Powter’s choice. This book inspired him to become a climber, and the fact that it moved him as much as it did is what inspired this choice.
-
- Geoff Powter’s choice. This was his more objective choice, based on his criteria that a book needs to have elements of transportation, transaction and transformation.
-
- Stephen Venables’ choice (Tilman’s book). Stephen appreciated a well-written, first person account.
-
- Harry Vandervlist’s choice. Harry brought a very academic approach to his choice, though acknowledged that one book can’t be everything he wants the best mountain book to be.
-
- Jon Popowich’s choice. John used a lot of objective criteria to make his choice, such as the book’s influence on the sport, its relevancy, and accessibility (though not necessarily for the masses).
Other books that were mentioned by the panel (among many!):
The Mountain of My Fear, David Roberts
The White Spider, Heinrich Harrer
Conquistadors of the Useless: From the Alps to Annapurna, Lionel Terray
The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek, Sid Marty
K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain, Jim Curran
The Seventh Grade, Reinhold Messner
One Man’s Mountains: Essays and Verses, Tom Patey
Freedom Climbers, Bernadette MacDonald
Solo Faces, James Salter
A Hunter of Peace: Mary T.S. Schaffer’s Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies, Mary Schaffer
That Untravelled World, Eric Shipton
Thin Air: Encounters in the Himalayas, Greg Child
Summits and Secrets, Kurt Diemberger
Kiss or Kill: Confessions of a Serial Climber, Mark Twight
In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods, Galen Rowell
Beyond the Mountain, Steve House
What do you think the best mountain book is?
Meghan J. Ward is the Editor at Highline Magazine. Based in Banff since 2008, she is also an outdoor, travel and adventure writer and loves to cover stories about inspiring adventurers, epic trips, and issues that affect our planet. meghanjoyward.com
No book of Walter Bonatti? Hmmm … To paraphrase a famous line from Shakespeare, I would say there is something unclear in the kingdom of mountain books. References have they changed so much?
I didn’t manage to capture every single book mentioned (there was quite a flurry). But, I do believe that Bonatti’s name was mentioned. Something I perhaps should have clarified is that all of the panelists pretty much agreed the task was impossible. But they still had to choose as part of the exercise. Everyone is welcome to contribute their own ideas!
Hard to pick just one but I might suggest A Night on the Ground, A Day in the Open by Doug Robinson
This must be the Best Mountain Book for Children…
I read ‘Banner in the Sky’ by James Ramsey Ullman when I was about 12 years-old. It totally captured my imagination. And so began my love of mountains and my own climbing career.