Two Alpinist stories included on the longlist for Banff Mountain Book Competition; Boardman Tasker shortlist also announced

The cover of Alpinist 66 features Lonnie Kauk climbing Magic Line (5.14c) in Yosemite Valley. The story is on the long list for Best Mountaineering Article in the Banff Mountain Book Competition. 13 Feet Under by Jayme Moye is from the same issue and is also on the Banff longlist in the same category. [Photo] Jim Thornburg

The cover of Alpinist 66 features Lonnie Kauk climbing Magic Line (5.14c) in Yosemite Valley. The story is on the long list for Best Mountaineering Article in the Banff Mountain Book Competition. “13 Feet Under” by Jayme Moye, published in the same issue, is also on the Banff longlist in the same category. [Photo] Jim Thornburg

The Banff Mountain Book Competition and the Boardman Tasker committee recently announced the titles on their long- and shortlists, respectively.

Two stories from Alpinist 66 are on the longlist for Best Mountaineering Article in the 2019 Banff competition: “13 Feet Under” by Jayme Moye, and “Magic Line” by Lonnie Kauk with Paula Wright. (Wright is the managing editor for Alpinist.) The other longlisted stories for the category are “Finding Protection in Bears Ears” by Josh Ewing from The Climbing Zine, and “The Last Days of Mark-Andre Leclerc” by Matt Skenazy from Outside Magazine.

The other categories in the Banff Book Competition are Adventure Travel, Mountain Fiction & Poetry, Guidebook, Mountain Image, Mountain Environment and Natural History, Mountain Literature, and Climbing. The latter is a new category this year. The winner from each section receives a $2,000 award and is eligible for a grand prize selection.

Almost two months after the avalanche at Sentinel Pass buried Michelle Kadatz beneath thirteen feet of snow, she and Tim Banfield returned to the site to recover the skis she and Maia Schumacher had lost during the accident. To retrieve her skis, Kadatz had to dig back into the hole where she’d been buried for nearly 25 minutes. [Photo] Tim Banfield

In “13 Feet Under,” Moye tells the story of how Michelle Kadatz survived an avalanche that swept her 650 feet down slope and buried her at a depth far beyond the reach of her partners’ avalanche probes. Her improbable rescue, however, wasn’t as unusual as what she experienced while entombed thirteen feet under the snow in Canada’s Banff National Park.

In “Magic Line,” the cover story for Alpinist 66, Lonnie Kauk–the son of legendary climber Ron Kauk and Ahwahneechee descendant Lucy Parker–shares an oral history of his family, his connection to the rocks of his home in Yosemite Valley, and the personal growth that he experienced in the process of redpointing Magic Line, a route first completed by his father that remains among the most difficult single-pitch climbs in the Valley.

To see the rest of the nominees in all categories, visit the Banff Mountain Book Competition webpage here. A press release from the Banff festival organizers reads:

“Every year the book competition is inundated with outstanding entries and 2019 was no exception. After many months of reviewing 132 titles in seven categories, we have selected the top books in each category based on style, content, relevance and story as reviewed by a team of dedicated readers.”

Alison Criscitiello’s story from Alpinist 59, titled “Contraindications,” was chosen for the top prize in Banff’s Best Mountaineering Article Award category out of four finalists last year.

The Boardman Tasker shortlist includes four books that are also nominated for Banff’s Mountain Literature category: Hangdog Days: Conflict, Change and the Race for 5.14 by Jeff Smoot; Inner Ranges by Geoff Powter; No Easy Way by Mick Fowler; and Paul Preuss: Lord of the Abyss by David Smart. The other two nominees for the Boardman Tasker are Lands of Lost Borders: a Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris; and The Equilibrium Line: Poems inspired by climbing by David Wilson.

[Image] Boardman Tasker Award

Alpinist Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives is serving as a Boardman Tasker judge this year, along with Roger Hubank (Chair) and Tony Shaw. The website reports that, as usual, there was a “substantial level of entries” this year, with 32 from Great Britain, Canada, Italy, New Zealand and the USA. The winner will be announced at the Kendal Mountain Festival, on November 15. For more information about the award and the nominated books, click here.

Meanwhile, stay tuned to Alpinist.com for the upcoming podcast episode featuring Powter and his book Inner Ranges.