Wednesday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.
Eric Harvie Theatre $16 / Evening
(Note 7:30 p.m. start time)

Jim Perrin — The Villain: The Life of Don Whillans

Often referred to as the U.K.’s finest climbing and outdoor author, Jim Perrin contributes regularly to British magazines and newspapers and has written several much-lauded essays and books. Nevertheless, Perrin took his time with the Whillans story — 20 years, to be exact. Despite Whillans’s formidable climbing achievements, it’s the character of the man that is most intriguing. The savage-tongued hell raiser literally fought his way out of his working-class background to challenge the upper-class British climbing clique of the time. In this long-awaited biography, Perrin beautifully portrays Whillans’s uncompromising personality, cruel wit, and ultimately tragic end. 

Karsten Heuer — Being Caribou

After completing a trek from Yellowstone to the Yukon in 1999, Karsten Heuer and his wife, Leanne Allison, set their sights further north. In 2003, they headed off to follow the Porcupine caribou herd 1500 kilometres from Old Crow in the Yukon to the herd’s traditional calving grounds on Alaska’s coastal plain — and back. For five months the couple walked, skied and paddled across mountain ranges, through blizzards and among aggressive predators. What began as a wildlife research project became much more as they learned to listen to the earth over which they travelled. Heuer’s book Being Caribou movingly captures the story of that life-changing journey.

Jim Perrin and Karsten Heuer will be signing books in the lobby at the end of the evening program

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Thursday, November 3, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Max Bell Auditorium $30 / Day (Not Including Literary Lunch Break)

9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Sam Abell - The Photographic Life

One of the world’s most highly respected photographers, Sam Abell is celebrated for the artistic, even poetic quality of his images. In the more than three decades that he has worked with National Geographic, he has covered topics as varied as Leo Tolstoy, Lewis Carroll, the Mississippi River, the Civil War, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and Japan’s Imperial Palace. Abell has also written several books and exhibited his photography internationally at numerous galleries and museums. This articulate and thoughtful spokesperson for photography will share his experiences in achieving artistic expression through documentary photography.

Sam Abell will be signing books after his presentation.

10:30 – 11:40 a.m.
John Dugger — Mountain Banner Art

John Dugger has created banner masterpieces for the Tate Gallery, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Atlanta Olympics and Buckingham Palace. Combining techniques he learned from monk Dorjee Wangdu, a Tibetan master banner-maker, and from traditional Chinese artists, Dugger produces rich, vibrant colours that jump off the fabric, transmitting a fresh perspective on the mountain landscape.  

Noon - 1:15 p.m.
Literary Lunch Break:
David Roberts — On the Ridge between Life and Death: A Climbing Life Reexamined

$20, includes buffet lunch

David Roberts is one of today’s foremost, and most opinionated, climbing and adventure writers. His masterful style lends insights into the unique relationships formed in the edgy atmosphere of a mountain expedition. Among his many acclaimed publications is Escape from Lucania, which won the 2003 Banff Mountain Book Festival Grand Prize. In his new personal climbing memoir he recounts the exhilarating highs and the desperate lows of his climbing career and reconsiders the costs of this most perilous sport. David Roberts will be signing books after his reading. 

1:30 - 2:40 p.m.
Jennifer Jordan — Savage Summit

K2 has not been kind to the women who have reached its summit. Five of these six extraordinary alpinists have died on the mountains they pursued: Wanda Rutkiewicz, Liliane Barrard, Julie Tullis, Chantal Mauduit and Alison Hargreaves. Journalist, filmmaker, and CNN producer Jennifer Jordan examines the driving force that compelled these five female groundbreakers who chose to live their lives on the edge, to forsake everything, and ultimately pay the highest price for their dreams.

3:00 - 4:10 p.m.
Bernadette McDonald — I’ll Call You in Kathmandu: The Elizabeth Hawley Story

Elizabeth Hawley defied the conventions of her era: an American woman on her own in Nepal for over four decades, celebrated as the formidable unofficial chronicler of Himalayan climbing. Hawley’s story is cast with intriguing characters — from Sir Edmund Hillary to Hillary Clinton, from Reinhold Messner to Prince Charles — and offers a behind-the-scenes view of the tumultuous political scene in Nepal. Bernadette McDonald reveals Hawley’s opinions on the great mountaineering heroes and on some of the biggest climbing controversies in Nepal. 

Please note that contrary to the information in the festival brochure, Elizabeth Hawley will regrettably not be attending the festival.

4:10 - 5:00 p.m.
Book Launch - I'll Call You in Katmandu: The Elizabeth Hawley Story
Free Admission

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Thursday, November 3, 7:30 p.m.
Eric Harvie Theatre $16 / Evening
(Note 7:30 p.m. Start Time)

Helen Thayer — Three Among the Wolves

Helen Thayer is the consummate wanderer. Whether it’s walking solo to the magnetic North Pole or following an ancient trade route on foot across the Sahara, her journeys reflect her passion for native cultures and natural history. She undertook many of these trips in her fifties and sixties. In 1994, Helen — along with her husband, Bill, and her husky, Charlie — hiked above the Arctic Circle in the Yukon to live for six months 100 feet from a wolf den in order to observe the wolves’ daily lives. An acclaimed author and public speaker, Thayer will share her remarkable experiences among the wolves. 

Book Awards

The winners of the international book competition will be announced.

Arlene Blum — Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life

As a mountaineer and a scientist, Arlene Blum has broken new ground all her life. She has played a leading role in over 20 successful expeditions, including the first American ascent of Annapurna — an all-women expedition she eloquently described in Annapurna: A Woman’s Place. Her scientific research has led to the banning of a cancer-causing chemical previously used as a flame retardant on children’s sleepwear. In Breaking Trail, Blum shares the exhilaration, the dangers, and the joy of her evolution from a hilariously incompetent beginning climber to a renowned expedition leader. 

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Friday, November 4, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Max Bell Auditorium $30 / Day (Not Including Literary Lunch Break)

8:00 - 9:00 a.m.
Free Admission to this special session

Special Session: Have a book idea? Join Rocky Mountain Books for a seminar on presenting a book proposal to this unique publisher.

9:00 - 10:10 a.m.
Writing a Memoir — Arlene Blum, Andy Cave and David Roberts

Three incredible lives, three amazing stories. Memory fades, but a life narrative endures when recorded as a personal history. What is the motivation for these remarkable authors to dig back through their journals and relive their adventures, their triumphs and their disappointments? How do they sift through the vast numbers of events to focus on the essential core of their story? How do they reconcile what is, by its very nature, a biased view of a life — their own? And how should readers interpret these very personal memoirs? Do they have a right to challenge an autobiographer’s perspective? Book jury member Bill Buxton leads us through this engaging and provocative discussion.   

10:30 - 11:40 a.m.
Geoff Powter interviews Steve House — Voices of Adventure

Our eighth annual interview, conducted by climber, writer and psychologist Geoff Powter, features Steve House. House moves fast and light in the mountains with the motto “The simpler we make things, the richer the experience becomes.” He shares his no-compromise style freely, sometimes criticizing tactics that do not meet his standards. House’s solo ascent of the Southwest Face of K7 in Pakistan was named the “People’s Choice” at this year’s Piolet d’Or award ceremony in Grenoble, France, and on September 6 he climbed a new direct route on the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat.

Please note this is a change in the program from the festival brochure, and that Elizabeth Hawley will regrettably not be attending the festival.

Noon - 1:15 p.m.
Literary Lunch Break:
Andy Cave — Learning to Breathe

$20, includes buffet lunch

Andy Cave’s journey to the Himalayan giants began 3000 feet underground in the coal mines of northern England. Like his father and grandfather, he descended into the dusty coal shafts as soon as he was old enough. The devastating mining strike of 1984 changed all that. Out of work, Cave headed into the hills in search of the clear air of the vertical world above ground. Now considered one of Britain’s great all-rounders, he has made dozens of important first ascents around the world, including the North Face of Changabang. Cave will share his odyssey from the proud grimness of the mines to the crystalline beauty of the high peaks. This Literary Lunch Break is sponsored in part by Rocky Mountain Books. Andy Cave will be signing books after his reading.

1:30 - 2:40 p.m.
Richard Sale — Broad Peak

The first ascent of Broad Peak in 1957 was a landmark achievement. Four Austrians — Marcus Schmuck, Fritz Wintersteller, Kurt Diemberger and Hermann Buhl — carried their own equipment and dispensed with bottled oxygen, bringing the climbing ethos of the Alps to the great ranges. The expedition also resulted in the death of Buhl, at that time the world’s most famous climber. Now — using previously unpublished material from Buhl, along with the original climbing diaries of Schmuck and Wintersteller — Richard Sale shares the full, fascinating story. Fritz Wintersteller will be in attendance. Marcus Schmuck passed away in August, 2005. Our condolences go to his family. Richard Sale and Fritz Wintersteller will be signing books after this presentation.
 

3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Graham Forbes — Rock and Roll Mountains

There has probably never been another book like this about mountains — and their power to heal. Graham Forbes was a guitarist with the Incredible String Band but, like so many others, enjoyed the lifestyle too much: the gigs, the groupies and the booze. At the age of 27, he found himself more than a little bewildered, ears ringing, completely unemployable, with an empty bottle of tequila in one hand and a huge overdraft in the other. The party was over. Just when it looked as if there could be only one outcome, Forbes noticed that there were hills nearby and decided to go for a walk. Just as it seemed he might at last settle down to some sort of normal life, he met a crazy climber with a taste for the bizarre. It began a journey that transformed him. Rock and Roll Mountains intertwines wild sex, drugs, and rock tours with glowing sunsets on some of the most beautiful summits in the world. 

4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
CBC live at the festival - The Homestretch

Join CBC’s Jeff Collins as he interviews festival guests from 4 to 6 p.m. on The Homestretch. Free to the public.

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Mountain Book Fair

Thursday, November 3,
through Sunday, November 6

New This Year!

Visit the Book Fair and Reading Room on Thursday and Friday, November 3 and 4, in the Max Bell Building from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Book Fair and Reading Room return to their usual locations in Laszlo Funtek 223/224 for Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday, November 4 - November 6. The Mountain Book Fair features the latest titles in mountain literature, as well as maps, archival material, antiquarian books, and book signings by famous and soon-to-be-famous mountain authors.