Banff Book and Film Winners Named

Two works about mountain tragedies—on Nanga Parbat and Denali—took the grand prizes at the Banff Mountain Festivals, which concluded on November 4. 

Tod am Nanga Parbat: Die Messner-Tragödie (Death on Nanga Parbat: The Messner Tragedy), a documentary about the death of Gunther Messner in 1970, was the grand-prize movie. The 44-minute, German-language film, directed by Ludwig Ott and produced by Jo Angerer, combines film, photos, and interviews to show this famous expedition in a new light. 

The Alpine Club of Canada Award for Best Film on Climbing went to the Josh Lowell-Peter Mortimer movie King Lines, about Chris Sharma’s life and climbs. 20 Seconds of Joy, an emotional movie about a Norwegian BASE jumper, won the People’s Choice Award. 

Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering’s Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters, by James Tabor, was the grand prize–winning book. Tabor investigated the 1967 tragedy on Denali, in which seven of 12 climbers attempting the Muldrow Glacier died during a vicious storm. 

Other prizewinners included Stephen Venables’ memoir Higher Than the Eagle Soars; John Harlin’s The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father; and Glen Denny’s photo album Yosemite in the Sixties. 

To see all the prize winners and finalists, go to http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainculture/festivals/2007/. 

Date of Event: November 1 (book awards); November 4 (film awards) 

Source: Banffcentre.ca

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