Steve House’s book, Beyond the Mountain, has been awarded this year’s Boardman Tasker Prize at the Kendal Mountain Festival.
The £3,000 prize commemorates the lives of Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker and is given to the author of an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature.
On 17 May 1982 Pete and Joe were last seen on Mount Everest attempting to traverse The Pinnacles on the unclimbed North East Ridge at around 8250 metres. Their deaths marked the end of a remarkable era in British mountaineering and the two men left a long-lasting legacy of quality writing.
This year’s award attracted 31 entries covering many genres. Beyond the Mountain is an autobiographical book, detailing Steve House’s career as an extreme climber. In announcing the award, Phil Bartlett said, “I cannot think of a climbing book that better conveys the importance of friendship and mutual trust than this one. And
this is only one of its many subtleties. House rejects false modesty and also rejects the technique of lightweight humour that some other very talented alpinists have employed in their writing in recent
years. He is unashamedly serious. And yet he not only keeps our interest; he succeeds”.