Shortlist 2006

In announcing the shortlist, Ronnie Faux, Chair of the judges, said this year the Prize had attracted a record number of 31 books: a daunting volume of print featuring, in varying degrees, mountaineers and the mountain environment. The judges applied the founding yardstick of the Boardman Tasker Prize and chose for the short list writing that could lead the reader to a better understanding of why the physical challenge and aesthetic appeal of mountain exploration remain so powerful.

Agreement on four of the short-listed books was reached independently, before the judges had met to discuss the entries; common reassurance that these were indeed the strongest contenders. The short list is as follows:

Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life , by Arlene Blum, published by Scribner

Blum led the American Women’s Himalayan Expedition to Annapurna I, launched in part on the sale of 15,000 T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan A Woman’s Place Is On Top. A compelling life-story which powerfully demonstrates the challenges facing women mountaineers in the 1960s and the legacy their experience has left to following generations.

High Endeavours: The Life and Legend of Robin Smith, by Jimmy Cruickshank, published by Canongate

Although Smith’s life was brief, he was aged 23 when he died in a fall from Pik Garmo in the Pamirs, he had already established a formidable reputation as rock climber and alpinist. This tribute by a close friend and partner on some of his early climbs reveals Smith, the mountaineer and promising philosopher, as a complex and compelling character.

An Afterclap of Fate: Mallory on Everest, by Charles Lind, published by Ernest Press

The perennial mystery of Mallory and Irvine on Everest receives an intriguing twist in a reconstruction of their fateful climb written virtually in Mallory’s own words, drawn from the climber’s letters, writing, and Mallory’s background as a classicist. A near forensic examination of the evidence points to one firm conclusion.

The Climbing Essays, by Jim Perrin, published by In Pinn

Surely the most prolific mountaineering writer – there are 60 pieces here with introductory notes - Perrin captures the very essence of the sport. Many of these essays are well known and icons of the craft, but there is much material not hitherto collected in book form to generate raw emotion; fear, grief and hilarity, in their turn.

A Rope of Writers: a look at mountaineering literature in Britain, by Graham Wilson, published by Millrace

Wilson is a bibliophile who has created literature by evaluating other authors’ work, roping together a host of mountaineering writers in a thoughtful and entertaining way. From the Golden Age to present day, this is an excursion into how climbing has fared under the climbers’ pen and a valuable introduction to the genre.