Charlie Clarke writes... 40 years on

Charlie Clarke and Dorothy Boardman in 2001

I still recall those events of over 40 years ago with sadness; and almost with a sense of disbelief. Was I really there, on Everest?  Did we do those things, with such abandon?

In 1983, the year after Pete and Joe were lost, I wrote: 

“….was it worth it? It would not have been if we had been able to peer even dimly into what was to happen. I can only look back on the spirit of our venture.

I believe that with the mysteries of our personalities, our curious drives and self-appointed goals, we could not have turned down this opportunity without denying ourselves a glimpse at the very meaning of existence. In time I expect we shall do the same again and be lured back, perhaps by another Goddess Mother of the World.”

Well, we were lured back, many times, but never to a challenge that was so fearsome. And we are the lucky ones, to have survived…and for most of us it has been indeed just luck….. 

I think my sadness becomes worse as the years pass. When someone asks me about 1982, I’m uncomfortable. Like many soldiers after a war, I clam up. In part this is pain, and in part because I feel now that had I acted differently, the tragedy might never have happened.  I appreciate that that was not quite how I wrote about it at the time.

Pete and Joe were great friends of Ruth (my late wife) and myself - the sort of friends who would always announce when they would be in London, and were always welcome to stay.

Pete was quiet and helpful – the sort of guy who would help wash up.

Joe was differentalways on fire… Naomi our daughter, aged 7 or so, was in love with him. “What about Maria?” I asked. “We’ll see about that, I want to marry him…” she replied.

Who started the BT? I think it was Dorothy, Pete’s Mum’s idea. We had a meeting at her house to discuss setting up something in Pete and Joe’s memory. “Something good must come out of this,” Dorothy had said. 

I recall talking about Mallory & Irvine, lost on Everest in 1924, and the stained glass window in Chester cathedral that stands in their memory – for they were ‘men of Cheshire’.  And how Mick Burke, a friend and film-maker who died on his solo summit bid on our 1975 SW Face of Everest expedition, is remembered by the BBC Mick Burke Award, for an adventure film.

Pete and Joe were fine writers as well as mountaineers.  The idea of a literary award in their names took shape.  I was all for the project, part of the initial organisation, helped gather funds and I was an active Chair for many years as the BT Award evolved.

The annual BT shortlist is full of endeavour, of hard work, well-researched and much of lasting merit. The award is an excellent way to remember Pete and Joe – it  keeps them  alive, some 40 years on: press on...

 

Charlie Clarke 
October 2023

1983-2023 - Forty Years in the life of the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature

Looking back through the years of such a prestigious literary award, no one could foretell what a success such an award would be, and out of such a tragedy of loss could come such a prize.

 

The Boardman Tasker Prize, as it was originally called – The Background…

 After the disappearance in 1982, of two of the brightest climbers of their era, Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker were last seen heading for the summit of the yet unclimbed North-East ridge of Mount Everest, summarised and captured in the article on the Boardman Tasker website by Steve Dean (with thanks to Noel Dawson). Read more about this here: www.boardmantasker.com/news/2022/4/20/everest-1982-forty-years-on

In May of 1982, the Boardman and Tasker families stood with bated breath waiting for the news they never wanted to hear – “Pete and Joe are missing”. As the expedition team slowly made their way down through Everest’s foreboding shadows, with a pall of sadness over them, finding their way back to civilisation, nothing can capture those feelings of hopelessness at not being able to bring their companions back with them. Pete and Joe were only in their early thirties. The account of the final climb into the unknown, is recounted in the book Everest – The Unclimbed Ridge by Chris Bonington and Charlie Clarke.

East North East Ridge, Everest © Chris Bonington

The Everest ’82 Team © Adrian Gordon, Chris Bonington Picture Library

Everest the Unclimbed Ridge by Chris Bonington & Charlie Clarke

“Something good must come out of this” uttered Dorothy Boardman to Hilary Boardman as they waited for news. The Tasker parents and siblings also waited in disbelief, and it was uttered “But he always came back regaling stories of his adventures.”

 

The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature - how it all started…

As some of the stories unfurled of the last days of the Everest ’82 expedition, something good DID come out of the tragedy - the formation of The Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust and the creation of The Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. Thus evolved the Award for a book on ‘mountain literature’ that both Pete and Joe would be proud of and would hold the standard on a par with their own writings.

Since the Award has been in existence, over 2000 books have been submitted with shortlists from many prestigious authors. The judging involved fifty judges from a range of backgrounds and forty-three winners. Explore the archives here www.boardmantasker.com/archive

Pete and Joe disappeared, believed to be attempting to traverse the Pinnacles on the unclimbed North East Ridge of Everest at around 8250 metres, and barely a month after their disappearance, a small group meeting in Stockport agreed to define a yet unidentified memorial. The Award itself has its origins in that meeting of friends and relatives in Dorothy Boardman’s sitting room in Stockport in December 1982. With Dorothy (Pete’s mother), Dennis Gray, Chris Bonington, Charlie Clarke, Martin Wragg, Paul Tasker and others, gathered there, with a shared desire both to preserve the memory of Joe and Pete, but also to do so in a way which would be inspirational for those who would follow.  They also felt a duty to respond to people’s wish to donate to a “fitting memorial”. It was agreed that a ‘Prize for Mountain Literature’ would meet all these objectives.

With this decision made, it was also observed that there was not an award in existence for mountain literature at that time. Dorothy Boardman, Tom & Betty Tasker also thought this would be a fitting tribute to Pete and Joe. When donations started coming in from all around the world amounting to over £20,000, this gave the chance to set up a Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust. Martin Henderson who worked for Jardine Matheson (sponsors of several expeditions) became Treasurer and did all the financial work to set up the Trust as it is today. Several meetings later in Dorothy Boardman’s house with some of the Tasker family members travelling to Stockport, crammed into an old MG belonging to a family friend, such was the commitment to help build the legacy and make the award become real. Although emotions were still raw, both families were determined that Pete and Joe’s legacy would survive. The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature Award was launched in 1983. www.boardmantasker.com

The first formal meeting of the Boardman Tasker Prize committee comprising friends and family members of both Pete and Joe, was chaired by Chris Bonington.  Dorothy Boardman was the Honorary Secretary and Martin Henderson the Treasurer.  The task was not easy although both Pete and Joe’s writings, already in book form, gave an in-road into publishers who were encouraged to support the award forming an annual event. (Pete’s brother John Boardman joined the Trust a few years later giving added presence to the Boardman family representation.)

The first judging took place in 1983. The judges set a high standard using the books of Joe and Pete as benchmarks. 

Boardman Tasker Omnibus Cover

Both their writings were at a high standard, and it was necessary to make sure that the standard of the books entered and judged deserving of the award, were of a similar standard.  Bravely, this led the judges to decide not to award the prize to any of the books entered in the first year, their view was that the quality did not meet the level set by Pete and Joe’s works.

At times the standards set for two writers meant the prize was awarded to both authors. This occurred in 1984, when two joint winners were awarded the prize - Linda Gill’s Living High and Shishapangma Expedition by Doug Scott and the late Alex MacIntyre – in the opinion of the Committee and the Judges the required quality standard had been reached! The awarding of joint winners also happened in 1991 with Alison Fell’s Mer de Glace and Dave Brown & Ian Mitchell’s A View from the Ridge, in 2005 with Jim Perrin’s The villain: The Life of Don Whillans and Learning to Breathe by Andy Cave. Then last year in 2022, Brian Hall’s High Risk and Helen Mort’s A Line Above the Sky, both reached the level of quality standard expected to win the Award prize.

The first award ceremony took place in 1983, in the Alpine Club, in South Audley Street London. There it remained until 2006, with the year of the actual move being held temporarily in a Barclays West End Management Suite! (As John Boardman worked for Barclays at the time).  The prize ceremony now referred to as The Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature moved to Kendal to be a part of the Kendal Mountain & Film Festival. The BT Award for Mountain Literature Shortlisted Authors Event & Award is now one of the prominent, opening events at Kendal Mountain Festival, specifically within the Kendal Mountain Book Festival.  Working with Kendal Mountain Festival is to the benefit of both parties and going from strength to strength. We always have a sell-out event in the Malt Room, in The Brewery Arts Centre. www.kendalmountainfestival.com

 

The Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust & The Award for Mountain Literature – the people…

The Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature is run by the Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust. The original trustee board comprised of some members of the 1982 Everest expedition where Joe and Pete disappeared - Chris Bonington, Dick Renshaw, Charlie Clarke. Other trustees who volunteered to help and support the Trust along with developing the Award were, Dennis Gray, Hilary Boardman (now Hilary Rhodes), Martin Henderson, John Boardman, Maria Coffey, Martin Wragg and Paul Tasker.

The first Chair of the Trust was Chris Bonington with the first Secretary Dorothy Boardman, followed in later years by Maggie Body John Boardman took on the role of Trust’s Treasurer, and through careful management helped allow the Trust to grow financially. Pippa Southward joined in later years as the Communications/Press Officer to raise the Trust and Award’s profile.

After many years, Charlie Clarke took over the role of Chair, followed by Paul Tasker, who served for many years. Another change happened when John Boardman stepped down as Treasurer, Chris Harle took on that mantle to administer the Trust’s finances. Dennis Gray retired after many years of unstinting support of the Trust and Award. When Maggie Body retired, Steve Dean took on the role of Secretary with assistance from his wife Janet as BT Charitable Trust Administrator and who have steered the award committee through the past years, seeing the competition gain its international reputation as ‘The Mountain Book Award’, with its highly successful Short Listed Authors event annually with Kendal Mountain Book Festival.

The current BT Charitable Trust has Sir Chris Bonington, CVO CBE DL as its Patron. Martin Wragg as Chair, Steve Dean as Secretary, Chris Harle as Treasurer, John Boardman, Maria Coffey, Kelvyn James, Paul Tasker (past Chair) and Teresa Tasker. Hilary Rhodes stepped down in 1922 and continues to be a committed supporter of the Charitable Trust & Award, as do Dennis Gray, Dick Renshaw and Charlie Clarke. www.boardmantasker.com/trustees. Through the dedication and hard work of all these people, the BT Charitable Trust and Award for Mountain Literature has gone from strength to strength and established a following from all parts of the world.

 

The Associated BT Awards…

Not only is a prize presented for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature, it was also decided to honour those individuals who had made a great contribution to the Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust with their own commitment and dedication and who helped raise the profile of the Trust & the Award.

This was in the form of a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’.

This award was made to Jim Curran in 2014, a stalwart supporter of the BT.  Jim supported and attended most of the Award presentations though latterly this became difficult due to his ill health. Jim had been shortlisted five times but sadly never won. His joke was akin to always the bridesmaid but never the bride in his speech.

Jim Curran

Ken Wilson © Sir Chris Bonington

In 2015, this prestigious award was also made to Ken Wilson, a great friend of the BT Trust, and Ken’s publishing company Baton Wicks’ contribution to mountaineering publishing.  Ken produced and published The Boardman Tasker Omnibus comprising: Savage Arena, The Shining Mountain, Sacred Summits and Everest the Cruel Way.  [Photo 6 – Ken Wilson – need photo]

Read about Jim and Ken here www.boardmantasker.com/lifetime-achievement-award

Sophie Miocevich being presented by Paul Tasker and Teresa Tasker

Also in 2014, to encourage younger developing authors, BT piloted a Boardman Tasker Young Writer Award for 16- to 25-year-olds, who also had an interest in mountains. This first pilot award was a huge success and a young college girl, Sophie Miocevich, from the North-East was the winner.  (She had read the Boardman Tasker Omnibus in her summer holiday!)  The prize was a sum of £250 and her story was printed in the ‘Summit’ magazine of the BMC. After a second pilot we decided that as there were a lot of other well-established young writers competitions, this would not be pursued.

Sophie Miocevich Printed Story from BMC Summit magazine – Winter 2014

The Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust & the Award for Mountain Literature – going forward…

Over the following years, high standards were maintained, and entries challenged our judges not least through the sheer variety of literary types. Entries were sent in having a range of genres – novels, poetry, expeditions, biographies, mountain travel, and mountain history. All had a ‘mountain’ theme running through the writing which met the Award criteria. The establishment of such an award led to a large quantity of submissions, not just from the UK, but from around the world and this carries on today.. www.boardmantasker.com/archive.

During the last 40 years, the Trust has received around £40,000 in donations and through special appeals, anniversary events and gifts to support the memory of Pete and Joe through the prize. Through the support of friends, families, committed supporters, donations and dedicated work from the Trustees and friends of the Trust and Award, it leads the Trust to anticipate that we can look forward to another 40 years at least!

The Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust & Award for Mountain Literature - remembering Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker

Keeping the memory of two extraordinary climbers was important in the time between the annual award ceremony, which eventually became part of everyone’s calendar.  A range of events and items on the BT website, taking place over the following years after the Award was launched with several ‘anniversary’ and ‘memory invoking’ events.

Flyer for 20th anniversary

2002 was the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of Joe and Pete, and a lecture was held in the prestigious Royal Geographic Society building which was a very poignant and emotional event. A stellar line-up included Chris Bonington, Charlie Clarke, Paul Braithwaite, Maria Coffey, Hilary Rhodes, Doug Scott, Martin Wragg, with John Barry.  John Boardman read from his brother’s book Shining Mountain and Paul Tasker read from his brother’s book Savage Arena.

In November of 2007 there was a lecture at Kendal Leisure Centre to commemorate the 25th anniversary; an event which drew a large crowd to listen to Chris Bonington, Charlie Clarke, Doug Scott, Jim Curran and family members Hilary Boardman, John Boardman and Paul Tasker. It resulted in a big family gathering of the Taskers!

Tasker Family Gathering | Photo credit Teresa Tasker

In Stockport Grammar school, the state-of-the-art Pete Boardman climbing wall was opened in 2008. The wall is named after the former pupil who is renowned as one of the greats of British Himalayan mountaineering. Facilities - Climbing Wall - Stockport Grammar School

A different kind of event was put on in the Kendal Town Hall in 2012 to celebrate the 30th anniversary.  With guest speakers Doug Scott, Roger Hubank, Stephen Venables and Andy Kirkpatrick. Chris Bonington and Charlie Clarke talked of the last days of the fatal expedition to Everest in 1982. At this lecture Doug Scott donated a high-quality framed print of Pete and Joe resting at 28,000 feet on Kangchenjunga with Everest in the distant background. The significance of this photograph was that it was signed by three members of the team who made the first ascents in May 1955. The framed print was auctioned, and sum raised added to the BT Fund.

Also, a 2013 calendar was produced to mark the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker. The calendar comprised of amazing photographs of a range of expeditions that Pete and Joe and other prominent climbers, participated in along with texts describing the expeditions and photographs. The calendar was co-ordinated by John Boardman and the BT Board and Committee and was a superb example of the feats and challenges both Pete and Joe had to face on their expeditions. Vertebrate Publishing sponsored and produced the calendar.

Calendar Front for 2013 as part of the 2012 celebrations

 

 In 2016, the Peter Boardman Climbing wall was opened at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China campus to mark Pete Boardman’s contribution both as a mountaineer and as a Nottingham alumnus. At the Award ceremony in November, display boards of the ascent of Changabang, one of the famous climbs of the partners-in-climb Joe and Pete, were in prominent position. This ascent was recorded in Pete Boardman’s Book Shining Mountain with contributions from Joe Tasker.

The idea that John Boardman had instigated, to host a celebratory evening in Buxton came to fruition in October 2017.  A host of people gathered in what proved to be a full house at the Buxton Opera House Arts Pavilion where some of those closely involved with the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature gathered as two of the past winners, Andy Cave and Stephen Venables talked and read from Shining Mountain and Savage Arena.

Over time, many distinguished guests attended the BT SLA event for example in 2014 Sherpa Tenzing’s grandson attended with Chris Bonington.

Sherpa Tenzing’s grandson with Chris Bonington and Paul Tasker

 All these events were testament to the legacy that the extraordinary feats and challenges that two British mountaineers achieved both individually and in their climbing partnership, in their short lives.  Had they lived longer who knows what else they would have achieved with their skill, technical ability and ambition.  As Joe Tasker once said in his first book Everest the Cruel Way:

“There is no need to ‘create new goals’; there exists range after range of untapped reserves of elusive, difficult objectives.  If not to Everest, to other summits.  The pain is forgotten, and the dream remains.”


The BT Charitable Trust & Award for Mountain Literature - The Legacy…

Not only is the reputation of The Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature continuing to grow, but both Joe and Pete’s books are still selling.  After forty years, people still buy, enjoy and are inspired by the four books Pete and Joe wrote.  Presently around two copies of their books are bought every day as books, audio books, print on demand and in other media across the world.  The standard they set will be respected by the Award for years to come.

Pete and Joe’s legacy is also depicted in the collections of both Joe and Pete where items donated by their families are housed in the Mountain Heritage Trust archives at Blencathra, Threlkeld in Cumbria. www.mountain-heritage.org. You can search for information on a host of items of both climbers Home Page (calmview.co.uk) by searching for either Joe Tasker or Pete Boardman. This is a catalogue tool of the collections held by the Trust.

The test of the Award’s longevity will be that in another 40 years (2063),
will our grandchildren be asking the question….
“What was the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature all about?”  

One would hope it is still going strong, still attracting authors writing about the challenges and feats that are faced in the world of mountaineering.  Whatever happens in the years to come, the legacy that the two climbers lost on Everest in 1982 will forever be remembered.

Pete Boardman

Joe Tasker

 

Teresa Tasker, Paul Tasker, John Boardman                                    
November 2023

Remembering Audrey Salkeld

We have received the sad news that Audrey Salkeld died on October 11th.

Audrey was awarded the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature in 1996 for her book A Portrait of Lena Riefenstahl and we were privileged to have her as Chair of Judges in 2014.

Audrey was made an Honorary Member of the Alpine Club in recognition of her enormous contribution to mountaineering journalism, literature and film.

Read Ed Douglas' obituary is here.

2023 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature Shortlist Announced

The Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature continues to attract a substantial degree of interest and level of entries.  In this our Fortieth Anniversary Year, there were 21 entries, with authors from Great Britain, Bulgaria, the USA and Nepal.  

The Award will be made at the Boardman Tasker Shortlisted Authors and Awards event at the
Kendal Mountain Festival on Friday 17th November 2023.

Tickets available here.

The judges for 2023 are Matt Fry (Chair), Joanna Croston and Paul Pritchard. They have selected the following five books for this year’s shortlist:

Pradeep Bashyal & Ankit Babu Adhikari

SHERPA
Stories Of Life And Death From The Forgotten Guardians Of Everest

Octopus Press

With a narrative that focuses on an often-overlooked aspect of climbing literature, Sherpa takes us on a beguiling journey into the culture, folklore and of survival of the native people that live in the high Himalayas. These are the people that have helped so many Western expeditions scale the highest peaks in the world, enabling the experiences that have shaped mountaineering history. This book tells the story of the Sherpas in their own words and, in a timely statement, also gives us a glimpse into the melting world that they live and work in – a world being rapidly and irreparably altered by changing climate.

Pradeep Bashyal is a BBC journalist based in Kathmandu. He has been covering mountains and mountaineering for nearly a decade. His works have also appeared in Nepal Magazine, The Washington Post, Buzzfeed News, Asian Geographic, National Geographic, The Diplomat, among others. After this book, in his to-dos are making a documentary on his toddler son and recording a song with Ankit. But no one has ever heard him sing. He tweets @pdpbasyal

Ankit Babu Adhikari is a writer and social science researcher based in Kathmandu. He has worked with national dailies, including The Kathmandu Post and The Himalayan Times. His works have also appeared in The Washington Post and Asian Geographic. If you google him, you may come across some strange feeds to songs and profiles featuring 'Ankit Babu Adhikari'. Don't get confused, it's the same person. He rarely tweets @AnkitAdhikari01

Katie Brown 

UNRAVELED
A Climber’s Journey Through Darkness And Back

Mountaineers Books

A compelling, raw and honest memoir from one of the most successful climbers of her generation. Brown’s bold book gives us a no-holds barred insight into her early life, her struggles with mental health and eating disorders, all against the backdrop of her meteoric rise to climbing fame as a teenager in the mid-90s. The question of ‘what happened?’ is constant and fascinating theme throughout this unforgettable read and shows how climbing can provide escapism in its rawest form.

Recognized as one of the greatest female rock climbers in history, Katie Brown began climbing at age 12 and soon dominated national and international competitions. She mastered the discipline of climbing hard outdoor sport routes quickly, often on the first try. Retired from climbing, Brown is a writer and mom. Find her on Instagram @katiebrownclimbs.

Merryn Glover

THE HIDDEN FIRES
A Cairngorms Journey With Nan Shepherd

Polygon Books

Drawing on the work of Nan Shepherd and her classic, The Living Mountain, is not an undertaking to be taken lightly and Glover doesn’t disappoint in this beautifully written and well-researched journey through the Cairngorms. Intertwining her own personal experiences of the mountains with Shepherd’s own observations, this book is an ode to the unique landscape and a valuable addition to mountain literature.

Merryn Glover was born in a former Rana palace in Kathmandu and grew up in Nepal, India and Pakistan. Her first major work was a stage play, The Long Way Home, which was broadcast on Radio Scotland. She has written three further radio plays for Radio 4 and Radio Scotland. Merryn’s first novel, A House Called Askival (2014), was published by Freight. Her second, Of Stone and Sky (2021) was published by Polygon and is set in the Highlands where she now lives. In 2019, she was appointed the first Writer in Residence for the Cairngorms National Park.

Leo Houlding

CLOSER TO THE EDGE 

Headline

Without doubt, Leo Houlding is one of the world’s foremost current climbers. There is barely a feat of adventure or endurance that he hasn’t tackled. Leo started climbing at ten years of age in the Lake District and was the youngest person (and first Briton) to free climb El Capitan. This dynamic, honest and, at times, harrowing book goes the extra mile – teaching us all about the pressures of balancing a life lived in pursuit of exhilaration but also one’s own adventure, whatever that may be.

Leo Houlding started climbing in the Lake District as a boy, rapidly rising to become the UK's most daring climber whilst still in his teens, before taking on jaw dropping ascents and epic expeditions to the most impressive and remote rock summits on the planet - from the Amazon to Antarctica, El Capitan to Everest. As well as being a world-class climber, alpinist and adventurer, he is also a filmmaker and popular public speaker.

Faye Rhiannon Latham

BRITISH MOUNTAINEERS

Little Peak Press

In this truly unique and thoroughly engaging short book, we are taken on a dream-like and wintry tour of F.S. Smythe’s original 1942 work, British Mountaineers. Latham uses the processes of erasure, curation and collage to create a reframed look at a classic text in an exciting, contemporary form. This is a thoughtful artwork as much as it is a meditation on climbing history.

Faye Latham is a writer, visual poet and rock climber based in Snowdonia and London. She completed an English degree at the University of Bristol in 2018 and a Masters in History of Art in 2019. In January 2020 she was awarded the Literature Wales Bursary for Writers Under 25 to support the development of her poetry, which resulted in her work being published in various literary journals and online magazines including UKClimbing, Lumin Journal, the CTC Rewilding Anthology and the Cambridge Literary Review. In 2021 she was awarded a grant with the Society of Authors and her pamphlet Ruin/Nation was highly commended in the Poetry Wales Pamphlet Competition. British Mountaineers is her first poetry collection.

Once again the Award continues to attract a high level of interest and entries on a variety of aspects of the mountain environment.

Steve Dean
Secretary

Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust

 
 

The 2023 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature is supported by Mountain Equipment

Mountain Equipment is proud to be associated with the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature, one of the most prestigious and respected international literary awards, and we’re delighted to be able to officially support it.

A few words from the winners

Helen Mort

I grew up admiring the books of Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker. Many of the mountain literature texts which won the BT prize over the years were formative in my interests as a (very amateur) climber but also as a writer. I never dreamed that my own work would join that list one day. I’m thrilled that ‘A Line Above The Sky’ has received this honour from judges who I admire. In fact, as a former judge of the prize myself, I know exactly how much work and care goes into the process and how difficult it is to make decisions, so my gratitude is doubled. The prize is instrumental in expanding our sense of what ‘mountain literature’ can be and this year’s shortlist reflected the diversity of work being published - I was proud to be amongst all the authors, especially Anna Fleming who I’ve been on tour with this year talking about gender and climbing. The award creates a real sense of community and fellowship I think. It’s exciting!

Brian Hall

Three years ago I was struggling to start writing, trying to define my audience and quite simply what my book was going to be about. The idea of a ’time capsule’ emerged by revisiting a period in the seventies and eighties which perhaps was the golden age of Himalayan mountaineering. Many of my friends had died as we changed the style of Greater Range mountaineering from Heavyweight Expeditions to faster and lighter Alpine style. Just to talk about climbing would not do the characters justice and I also wanted to illustrate the counter culture in which we lived at that time. Eventually I developed a concept to speak about a generation of climbers through the voices of those that can no longer speak.

As a relative novice to writing a book I was overwhelmed by the size of the project. But I attended the Banff Mountain and Wilderness Writing program in 2019. This brilliant course gave me confidence, empowering me to forge ahead with my memoir. As the pages started to accumulate I was in a world of my own, unlocking my memories through diaries, photographs, books, articles and crucially talking to friends. I was writing the book for myself, without a care that anyone would actually read it. Of course I wrote too much and it was only when Robert Davidson of my publishers, Sandstone Press started editing, that 'High Risk: Climbing to Extinction' started to read like a proper book. The notion of entering it into the Boardman Tasker Mountain Literature Award was far beyond reality. When I was one of six shortlisted out of forty entries I was amazed. Had the book done justice to the memory of my friends who where no longer with us? I had no reference point as to whether my book was good or bad. One chapter focused on Joe Tasker and I was paranoid that my writing would not reflect his stature as one of the worlds top mountaineers. Soon my climbing friends started giving me positive feedback, which swaged my fears. Obviously I was elated to be the joint winner of the 2022 Award and the enormity of the accolade has still not sunk in.

Marni Jackson - Chair of Boardman Tasker Judges 2022 speech

l-r: Helen Mort, Brian Hall, Paul Pritchard, Kieran Cunningham, Anna Fleming, Robert Charles Lee, Stephen Venables and Paul Tasker

Hello, my name is Marni Jackson and I’m talking to you from Toronto, Canada. There are no mountains here, which is one reason why I loved escaping into the books submitted to the Boardman Tasker Award this year – all forty of them, piling up like a small mountain of words in one corner of my office.

And now there are six.

I would like thank every author for the experiences they’ve shared on the page – for their generosity. I also want to thank my fellow jury members, Matt Fry and Natalie Berry, for being such good companions on this reading expedition. Together, sometimes wearing only pyjamas, we managed to climb K2 in winter, traverse the Black Cuillin (hope I’m pronouncing that right) do a few gritty routes on Stanage, and dangle upside down in a blue crevasse – all without leaving the house.

But NOT climbing turns out to have its risks as well. Kieran Cunningham has written a highly engaging account of how he spent the pandemic in the Italian alps, in lockdown, forbidden to climb his favourite peaks—and what that did to his mental health. Climbing the Walls is a reminder of the healing power of mountains and why they matter.

And I didn’t know that risk could be measured until I read Through Dangerous Doors by Robert Charles Lee, a retired risk scientist who went from adventuring with psychedelics to climbing on rock and ice, often with his equally adventurous partner Linda. Compulsively candid, Lee has written an unfiltered, unpredictable memoir that’s a pleasure to read.

Time on Rock by Anna Fleming captures the intimate relationship between climber and rock, whether it’s the gritstone of the Peak District or the granite of the Cairngorms. Her elegant, muscular writing puts us right there on the route with her, creating a peripatetic meditation on how “we shape the rock and the rock shapes us”.

Having won the Boardman Tasker prize previously for Deep Play, with his new book Paul Pritchard has gone even deeper into the spiritual rewards of a life in the mountains. After Paul was almost killed by a falling rock while climbing in Tasmania, he had to push through new physical limitations to arrive at insights that have changed his life. The Mountain Path is a devastatingly honest and inspirational account of choosing to live. It’s also great fun to read.

I think Natalie and Matt would agree that every book on our short list expands the boundaries of mountain literature. This is especially true of A Line Above The Sky, in which the poet Helen Mort draws a line between the risks and terrors of new motherhood and a more untethered life in the mountains. Freedom vs. family – that is the crux where many turn back. Shadowing the story of Alison Hargreaves, who refused to give up alpinism when she became a mother, Helen brilliantly captures the soul-forging power of two extreme experiences—climbing mountains and giving birth.

While Helen writes about women in the mountains, Brian Hall tells the story of eleven remarkable mountain-addicted men. Brian grew up with the radical climbers who would come to define a wild and glorious chapter of mountaineering in the nineteen seventies and eighties. He partied with them, climbed with them and grieved them. Full of humour, affection and respect, High Risk: Climbing to Extinction takes the reader to the heart and soul of the golden age of UK climbing.

And now we come to the announcement you’ve been waiting for...

This year, in an unanimous decision, the jury also took a risk and drew a line. The 2022 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature goes to both Brian Hall, for High Risk: Climbing to Extinction and to Helen Mort for A Line Above The Sky. Congratulations to the winners, greetings from Canada and I hope you all enjoy the celebrations tonight. Thank you.

2022 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature - The Winners

The 2022 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature goes to both Brian Hall, for High Risk: Climbing to Extinction and to Helen Mort for A Line Above The Sky.

Congratulations to the winners!




High Risk

Brian Hall grew up with the radical climbers who would come to define a wild and glorious chapter of Himalayan mountaineering in the late nineteen seventies and eighties. He partied with them, climbed with them, and grieved many of the eleven unforgettable climbers portrayed in his book. High Risk takes the reader right to the heart and soul of the golden age of UK climbing.

Climbing exploits worldwide led Brian Hall to become an internationally certified mountain guide who provides extreme location safety and rigging for the film industry. His numerous credits include the BAFTA award-winning film Touching the Void. Between 1980 and 2008, he co-directed the Kendal Mountain Film Festival of which he is a founder. Brian and his wife, Louise, divide their time between the UK’s Peak District and New Zealand’s Southern Alps.

A Line Above The Sky

One of Britain’s best young poets draws a line between the risks and terrors of motherhood and an untethered life in the mountains. Shadowing the life of Alison Hargreaves, the pioneering UK climber who did not give up alpinism when she became a mother, Helen Mort brilliantly explores the visceral education that is part of climbing mountains, and giving birth.

Helen Mort was born in Sheffield in 1985, and grew up in nearby Chesterfield. Five times winner of the Foyle Young Poets Award, she received an Eric Gregory Award in 2007 and won the Manchester Young Writer Prize in 2008. Her first collection, Division Street (2013), was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and Costa Poetry Award, and won the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. In 2014, she was named as a 'Next Generation Poet', the prestigious accolade announced only once every ten years, recognising the 20 most exciting new poets from the UK and Ireland. No Map Could Show Them (2016), her second collection, about women and mountaineering, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Helen has been the Wordsworth Trust Poet in Residence and the Derbyshire Poet Laureate and was named one of the RSL's 40 under 40 Fellows in 2018. She is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and lives in Sheffield. Black Car Burning was her first novel, and A Line Above the Sky is her first work of narrative memoir.

If you missed the Award Ceremony - you can watch it on Kendal Mountain Player from Saturday 19 November.

The Chair Of Judges’ speech by Marni Jackson is available to read here.

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