Award Winners 2015
Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature 2015
Barry Blanchard reading from his book at the Award Ceremony 2015
Image © Henry Iddon
The winner of the 2015 Boardman Tasker Award is the Canadian mountaineer Barry Blanchard, with his book "The Calling: A Life Rocked by Mountains."
The irrepressible Barry Blanchard has vivid recall of every detail of his passionate struggle to escape poverty, throw himself into a hairy apprenticeship and establish himself as a non-establishment alpinist pushing himself through historic climbs and relishing the telling of the tale.
This is a gripping account of a climber's life from humble beginnings in Calgary to epic adventures in the great ranges. Known as 'The Bonatti of the Rockies', Barry has been at the cutting edge of high altitude climbing for many years and his book is a honest an visceral account of a life devoted to climbing at the highest levels, both on rock and ice.
This is one of the finest mountaineering books to appear for many years and it is destined to become a classic of that genre.
Boardman Tasker Lifetime Achievement Award 2015
Ken Wilson | Image © Sir Chris Bonington
A friend of the Boardman Tasker Trust from the outset, Ken’s contribution to mountain writing has been outstanding.
Initially a climber/photographer, Ken established Mountain Magazine in 1969. Mountain soon acquired a worldwide reputation for excellence and established Ken as a figure in world mountain reporting.
Ken also produced the much loved books, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Extreme Rock, Cold Climbs, Big Walks, Classic Walks & Wild Walks. The revised edition of Classic Rock published in 2007 was of superb quality and fully reflected Ken’s deep love of British climbing.
Ken established his own publishing company Baton Wicks, which produced a number of excellent books (many of which were entered into the BT Award) and published The Boardman Tasker Omnibus comprising: Savage Arena, The Shining Mountain, Sacred Summits and Everest The Cruel Way.