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Award Winners of the Banff Mountain Book Festival
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 | Adventure Travel |
| Canadian Rockies |
| Mountain Exposition |
| Mountain History |
| Mountain Image |
| Mountain Literature |
The Adventure Travel category includes fiction and non-fiction books with a theme of travel to and exploration of remote and/or rugged landscapes and their cultures. There are two lists of books on this page. The first list includes all of the winners in the Adventure Travel category since the award was first made in 1995. The second list includes all of the finalists. Please note that a number of these books are still unavailable in the US (at least through Amazon.com) and that these are shown in red.
| Year | Adventure Travel Winning Titles and Author | |||||||||||
| 2006 |
Eating Stone Ellen Meloy Comments from the jury include:
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| 2005 |
Grand Prize Winner Comments from the jury include:
Adventure Travel The jury departed from the typical type of book that has won the ’Adventure Travel’ award in the past. Namely, Andy Cave’s Learning to Breathe has a good deal of climbing writing in it, and was actually a finalist in the Mountain Literature category. But the jury felt that the journey from mine to peak is what Cave so skillfully revealed in this, his first book. Comments include:
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| 2004 |
Grand Prize Winner: Southern Exposure by Chris Duff Author and adventurer
Chris Duff brings readers into the cockpit of his 18-foot sea kayak to
travel the South Pacific and Tasman Sea, and along the wild western coast of
New Zealand. Described by competition jury members as “introspective,
meditational, and at times poetic,” Duff’s descriptions of his solo kayak
trip in the oceans around New Zealand have both a gripping sense of the
uncertainty of nature, and a simple joy in self-reliance and accomplishment.
Jury members also appreciated the way that Duff “regularly leavens his acute
observations of the natural world with an equally sharp eye for human
quirkiness and character among the folk he chances upon.” Southern
Exposure also won a 2003
National Outdoor Book Award in the History and Biography category.
The Lost Amazon: The Photographic Journey of Richard Evans Schultes This book is a large-scale history of a scientist who disappeared into the Amazon Basin in the 1940s, to reappear 12 years later after identifying 2,000 new medicinal plants. |
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| 2003 |
The Anthropology of Turquoise Ellen Meloy Artist-naturalist Ellen Meloy looks at the connections between human perception, geography, and the natural world through various landscapes, from the Sierra Nevada to the Yucatan Peninsula. "This is a special little book that comes at a very interesting time in adventure," jury member Ramsay says. "With the world shrinking, Meloy discovers a myriad of journeys literally in her own backyard." |
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| 2002 |
The Horizontal Everest: Extreme Journeys on Ellesmere Island Jerry Kobalenko In the book, Kobalenko explores the past and present of this forbidding but beautiful landscape. Julie-Ann Clyma, a 2002 jury member, comments: "Kobalenko’s The Horizontal Everest stood out. He writes with passion, clarity and — praise be — some humour. I found myself smiling a lot at his observations." Read Review Special Mentions were earned by North by Roger Hubank and Light at the Edge of the World: A Journey Through the Realm of Vanishing Cultures by Wade Davis. |
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| 2001 |
Arctic Crossing: A Journey Through the Inuit Passage And Northwest Culture Jonathan Waterman According to Maria Coffey, a 2001 jury member, "Waterman gives an refreshingly honest account of Inuit life, warts and all, which I found both fascinating and highly educational." A Special Mention for Mountain Culture was earned by A Painter's Year in the Forest of Bhutan by A.K. Hellum |
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| 2000 |
Patagonia: Notes From The Field Nora Gallagher "This book reflects a wide range of travel experiences from the exhilaration and joy of teamwork to the quiet and spiritual contemplation of nature," comments Susan Golomb, a 2000 jury member. |
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| 1999 |
Beyond The Sky And Earth:
A Journey Into Bhutan Jamie Zeppa When she was only 23, a young woman from Sault St. Marie went to Bhutan to teach - only to realize that the unfamiliar people and living conditions made her feel alienated and miserable. Out of the hearts and minds of eight-year-olds came the hope and inspiration that would save Jamie Zeppa's life. Over time, she fell in love with a Bhutanese man and had a child by him. Beyond the Sky and Earth is an incredible autobiography of one woman's struggle to survive physically, mentally and spiritually in a foreign land. "An honest, well composed, unexpected book, written without pretense or any sense of fulfilling an obligation. This should be required pre-reading for all trekkers planning a "get there" holiday in the Himalaya," says jury member John Porter. |
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| 1998 |
The Clouded Leopard: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire Wade Davis This book deals with the theme of diminishing natural and cultural diversity from a worldwide perspective. "Of all the books entered in the festival, it pronounced most articulately on the sense of loss that is currently invading our notions of adventure," says jury member Bob Sandford. He adds, "It is perhaps telling that almost all the books submitted in the Adventure Travel category this year catalogued loss; loss of cultural tradition, loss of biological diversity, loss of wildness and, finally, loss of landscape and the opportunity to fulfill oneself in it. " |
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| 1997 |
I May Be Some Time:
Ice And The English Imagination Francis Spufford |
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| 1996 |
Voyage Of A Summer Sun:
Canoeing The Columbia River Robin Cody |
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| 1995 |
Kayaking the Vermilion Sea: Eight Hundred Miles Down The Baja Jon Waterman |
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The following table includes a list of the finalists for the Banff Awards in the Adventure Travel category since the award was first established.
If you like this list and want to see other award winning books on mountaineering and the outdoors, check out the winners of these three awards:
| American Alpine Literary Award |
| Boardman-Tasker Memorial Award for Mountain Literature |
| National Outdoor Book Awards |
Return to TheRagens Books homepage. For other books on our lists of recommended books, follow the links below.
| Our Current Book List. The list of books on our current reading list. |
| Mountain Climbing and Outdoor Adventures with the cover graphics. |
| Books on Wine Appreciation and Winemaking. |
| Children's Books that our boys or their cousins are reading. Click here for the Seattle Children's Theatre recommended booklist. |
| History Books that relate to our family history or that we have enjoyed. |
| Other Books that we are waiting to categorize. |
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