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The 2017 Banff Mountain Book Festival Award Winners

The Banff Mountain Book Festival announced its nine category winners for 2017. There were 28 books that made the long list earlier this season.

Canadian author Bernadette McDonald won the Mountain Literature category with her book Art of Freedom: The Life and Climbs of Voytek Kurtyka.

The grand prize will be announced on Nov. 2 at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival in Banff. Awardees in each category marked with ***.

Mountain Literature – Non-Fiction
Art of Freedom: The Life and Climbs of Voytek Kurtyka Bernadette McDonald, Rocky Mountain Books (CAN, 2017)***
Karakorum: Climbing Through the Kashmir Conflict Steve Swenson, Mountaineers Books (USA, 2017)
My Old Man and the Mountain: A Memoir Leif Whittaker, Mountaineers Books (USA, 2017)
On Trails: An Exploration Robert Moor,Simon & Schuster (USA, 2016)
The Push: A Climber’s Journey of Endurance, Risk, and Going Beyond Limits Tommy Caldwell, Viking Books (USA, 2017)

Adventure Travel
The Man Who Climbs Trees James Aldred, Ebury Press, Penguin Random House (UK, 2017)
The Names of the Stars Pete Fromm, St. Martin’s Press (USA, 2016)***
Rowing the Northwest Passage Kevin Vallely, Greystone Books (CAN, 2017)
Stories from the Dirt: Indiscretions of an Adventure Junkie John Long, Globe Pequot (USA, 2017)
Walking the Americas Levison Wood, Hodder & Stoughton (UK, 2017)

Mountain Fiction and Poetry
Ice Mountain: An Elegy Dave Bonta, Phoenicia Publishing (CAN, 2017)
In Case I Go Angie Abdou, Arsenal Pulp Press (CAN, 2017)
Rising Abruptly: Stories Gisèle Villeneuve, University of Alberta Press (CAN, 2016)***

Mountain Environment and Natural History
Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens Steve Olson, W.W. Norton & Company (USA, 2016)
The Peace in Peril: The Real Cost of the Site C Dam Christopher Pollon, Harbour Publishing (CAN, 2016)
Tracking Gobi Grizzlies Douglas Chadwick, Patagonia Books (USA, 2016)***

Mountain Image
The Climbers Jim Herrington, Mountaineers Books (USA, 2017)
The Edge of the World The Editors of Outside Magazine, Globe Pequot (USA, 2017)
Racconto D’Inverno – Eine Wintererzaehlung Albert Ceolan (ITA, 2016)***

Guidebooks
Chasing the Ephemeral: 50 Routes for a Successful Scottish Winter Simon Richardson, Mica Publishing (UK, 2016)***
Haines Pass Backcountry Skiing Claude Vallier, Yukon Backcountry Skiing (CAN, 2017)
Skiing the Balkans Dimitar Dimitrov, XCoPublishing OOD (BGR, 2017)
Ski Touring and Snowshoeing in the Dolomites James Rushforth, Cicerone Press (UK, 2017)
Squamish Hiking Marc Bourdon, Quickdraw Publications (CAN, 2017)

Mountaineering Article
Gravity John Long, Rock and Ice Magazine (USA, November 2016)
The Pleasure and Pain of the Climbing Life Kelly Cordes, The New York Times (USA, November 2016)
Poumaka Angie Payne, Sidetracked (UK, October 2016)
Threshold Shift Nick Bullock, Alpinist (USA, February 2017)***

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