kendal mountain festival

The Kendal mountain film festival

            Kendal Mountain Festival is an award-winning event that has grown in size and diversity over the last 17 years. It`s the main social event for outdoor enthusiasts in the UK, Thousands of outdoor enthusiasts plus media industry specialists, athletes, top brands & equipment manufacturers, artists, photographers, adventurers, explorers and inspirational speakers gather every year to share adventures and celebrate the very best in outdoor and adventure sports culture. At the heart of Kendal’s programme is the International Film Competition, attracting premières from around the world – it has been called the 'Oscars of outdoor filmmaking'. Over 100 films are screened (from 240+ entries) with twelve coveted awards up for grabs. KMF is not all extreme action - you can experience culture, drama, wildlife and environmental documentaries, it claims to be the world's largest lecture program covering outdoor content. Theirs also book events, including the coveted Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and the ever popular packed 'Specialist Sessions' are now legendary and provide a core social gathering for the following categories – Climb, Bike, Snow sports, Endurance Sports, Underground (Cave), Adventure & Exploration and Outdoor Swimming. These sessions are events within the event!

Together with the photography exhibitions, workshops, competitions, active sports events – Film Archive – the main Festival and Outdoor Cinema events are now a big attraction for thousands of people every year.me being one! The vision is to inspire more people to explore, enjoy and represent mountains, wilderness and their cultures. 

! Share the Adventure!

I totally love the Kendal mountain film festival ( KMF) and I try to go every year if I can , it takes a bit of time learning how to get the best out of the weekend , I’ve learned a lot over the years , no complaints though I’ve had a great time every time I’ve went , there’s so much happening you can’t see and do it all but what I have learned you can do is look out the areas that interested you most and plan towards that get it booked up and organized before you arrive as the sessions and film tickets sell out ,

                This year 2018 I had booked a room in plenty time even before I had decided I would definitely go , my time at home was limited between work trips , as much as I love the KMF it was maybe going to be an expense and some time that I couldn’t afford this year , once I seen the programme I changed my mind imediately and was determined not to miss it , then over the space of a few days I started to book things up that I wanted to go see while there, then I let sheila know it was a goer ! The emails went like this –

Hello Sheila

                Ok so as promised here is what I have booked we have a room booked in the premier inn Kendal Thursday Friday and Saturday night so far, I’ve checked and the Sunday night is still available and cheap so it’s a definite doer if you can manage it ? I’ve nothing booked films or shows wise the Thursday night but there’s plenty on that I can book once I hear back from you? I have got two all day film passes for Friday Saturday and Sunday, on the Friday I booked us into a secret session at 15:00 and then a talk by a bloke called Brendan Leonard at 21:00 in the malt room cabaret so there’s plenty scope to do stuff all day Friday, the Saturday I’ve booked us an early start at something called the findra session which is what I am most looking forward to even though it’s an early start 09:30 at the cinema! Its people that I think are like me and I’ve seen one of the speakers at some events I’ve done ,this event tipped the balance on my decision to go! That’s all I’ve booked SO Far and  its one of the reasons for my need to let you know because it’s your time off also ,so now you need to pick something you would really like, there’s plenty on and you know how it all works we still have all the films to watch between talkers and this time we won’t have the train journey in and out of town to bother about, we can head back to our room to get changed and showered whenever we like through the day. I am excited about it already ,so if you can have a look at the programme that would help me make decisions on what to book,

               

               Kenny

                The next email I replied to an email with an email like this -

Hi Kenny, Hi

Good morning sheila

                I’ve booked the Kendal central premier Inn for the Sunday night so I’m looking forward to this a lot a full weekend of escapism  magic  it will be easier if I go through your email points and reply as I read !

I’ve had what I think is a pretty good look over the events for KMFF, you certainly did lol  there’s so much choice and a few things I fancy that are clashing with each other, which is frustrating! I concur

I’d jotted down a few things last night before I got your email today and I’d included the Brendan Leonard thing, so I’m good with that for the Friday. Me too and we have the film passes for the full weekend we will need to see how many different sets of films there is and catch those also ! I can see my wee note pad and pen going like the clappers lol

For the Thursday I thought the opening ceremony and the Harvey Maps fell running session looked good, it’s in the brewery arts centre theatre and includes the film premiere of Kilian Jornet’s “Bob Graham Round” starts at 7.30pm-10pm. I shall have a look at the Harvey maps and book that today I hadn’t previously noticed it!

For the Friday we have a gap between 4.30 and 9pm, I’d be happy for you to choose something for then, I’d be happy with any of the options available. We will need to eat and we have films to see and walks round the stalls etc. so we won’t be stuck but I shall have a look

Saturday is such a packed day it’s been difficult to whittle it down and it may end up as names in a hat lol!! Yes I agree entirely the Saturday I would like us to get stuff booked as they will all sell out as we have learned! We can’t do it all so a flick of a coin may be our only choice in the end! But then again I’ve not looked at our options and would like to make a balanced choice

The findra sessions sound fab :-) yep it was a must for me its people like me! That was what swung it all for me I looked into findra the sponsor as I had heard of them which is no surprise as they are a female specific outdoors brand! let’s not go there lol that finishes at 11am, then there’s the Patagonia Adventures Activists at 12-2pm which also sounds mega interesting, I am not so sure about activists I get regular emails from Patagonia and read about some of their activists some great some not so but most of it not inspirational, I think this year their main focus was on the European river damming which I haven’t truly sorted in my head if I am actually against hydropower is it the best of a bad bunch? it’s certainly better than nuclear power then the Columbia mountain running session is at 2.15-4.15 sounds much more my bag but is it Sheila’s ? It would be a quick dash from Kendal town hall to Kendal leisure centre but from memory I don’t think it’s too far to walk. We are young and fit we will be fine

On Saturday evening there’s Berghaus women in adventure at the town hall 8-10.30pm, I wouldn’t mind going to that, the blurb says it’s inspiring and motivating for everyone, whether male or female:-) however if you didn’t fancy that there’s a special screening of a new mountain film on at the same time in the brewery arts centre. I don’t mind going as long as you don’t mind me standing up for a blurt out at the end ! ok I won’t do that if I can help it !! seriously though if you want to go to this it’s no problem, it’s your holiday also and I as you know I support woman in adventure my only beef with any off it is, that some of the more feminists try to blame woman’s lack of desire for outdoor activities actually any sports or even career and life choices, some groups of females put the blame on men like me when the truth is I am actually more keen for woman to get into the outdoors than most woman its other woman that judge and label woman who do stuff not me or men like me ,  there is always the option of us doing different things if you would prefer to go without me ,but I’m happy enough to go and I’m sure it will be interesting everything is great to go see TBH at the KMFF

Sunday- the Jonny Muir thing at 10.30 caught my eye but may be a wee bit early after a late Saturday night. We are in the centre of town I can grab breakfast on route and have coffee and a snack while listening I follow him on twitter and would have bought his book by now had I not got such a back log to read  ! There’s a wild swimming film on at 1-2.30pm but to be honest I’d be ok to go to anything on the Sunday. There’s a special screening at 5-7pm of Free Solo, the Saturday showing is already sold out. It says it’s the premiere but I thought we’d watched something on you tube recently about Alex Honnold free climbing El Capitan, or was that a different climb?? It’s a different route and a more professional filming and like you I’m game to go see anything and now we have all day to enjoy, I shall have another look but is the wild swimming one also the creative woman world’s longest book girl telling about meeting the woman she wrote the book for in her dying days and the book was a posthumous best seller? More research for us!! So much to see and do and even though we have the full weekend so little time!

I don’t see an issue with me getting Monday 19th off work, I’ll just do three longer days that week to get my hours in so book the Sunday night if it’s still available, if not we can drive back on the Sunday evening. I`m still waiting clarification to see if I’m getting the train back on Monday or Wednesday

After these emails I started doing a bit of research of the program and decided to book the Thursday night running session, and it became the first fail!

HARVEY MAPS FELL RUNNING SESSION, 19:30 Thursday 15 Nov 2018 Extended Theatre, Brewery Arts Centre We are sorry but this event has sold out.

Please contact the Brewery Arts Centre Box Office on 01539 725133 to add your name to the Waiting List.

                Panic set in but I panicked possibly unnecessarily when I seen the Thursday night running session was fully booked ,I leapt to the Saturday afternoon running session and clicked buy tickets! Once on the booking page I could easily see it was a long way from selling out, , but people had been booking the best seats! ? So I considered waiting to hear back from Sheila but decided bugger it if it’s done its one less decision to make and I just booked it!  It’s the Saturday afternoon 14:15 at the leisure Centre .which is on the outskirts of town! Our Saturday is starting to fill up

                Of course there is a balance of time doing the special sessions with speakers and going to the various venues for the films there is 18 film categories for the films this year these films are At the heart of the Festival after all it is the International Film Competition, awarding 12 sought-after film prizes, In 2018 they received a record-breaking number of film entries. Over 90 made it through pre-selection, which will now this year be screened in 9 venues across Kendal!. I love watching these films and there’s plenty different genres to choose from previous knowledge each genre will show roughly 6 short films some only 3-4 mins others as much as 40mins long! So with 18 genres of on average 6 films. We will need to save some time to catch all the films and specialists sessions  plus have dinners and a few beers



       

                                 Things sell out far too quickly and with me working away from home communicating what to book without being too selfish turns out there is 4 choices of sessions to go to on the Thursday night and they were all sold out before the 3^rd of November ! Two weeks before the event start every year this is just getting busier and busier , I phoned the box office and added our names to the waiting list for the Thursday night sessions , the girl at the box office informed me they had added an extra screening of dawn wall as the other had sold out and if I wanted to go I had better book that soon , this was the 5^th of November I had 5 sessions booked already Cameron McNeish ,Brendan Leonard ,mountain running session , and everyday adventure session plus the full weekend film passes , we certainly won’t get bored but if there’s other stuff to book we better book them before we go as tickets will run out ,

       
              when I got home from work me and Sheila sat for an afternoon working out a planner for the weekend as we didn't want there to be a lot of stuff sold out when we had gaps in time when we got there , it was amazing how easy it was to fill the whole weekends time up there was no gaps at the end of our afternoon of planning every hour was accounted for , and we had to make the sad realization that our weekend film passes were going to be underused as our schedule is so full that out of the 18 genres of films we will only be able to go see 6 ! due to all the speaker sessions we have booked

Thursday at Kendal

        

        We set off at 11:40 and arrived at 14:20 so Google was only 10minuits out with its predicted two and half hours ,the premier inn is in the heart of town and were early enough to get a decent car parking space at £5 for 24hrs , once booked in and unpacked we headed straight out and ended popping into the Shakespeare inn for a quick beer and some planning before going to the brewery Centre box office to collect our whole weekends worth of tickets , when collecting our tickets I asked what was the chances of us getting into that nights films or the trail running event ? I was 42^nd in line for the trail running session so basically no chance and for the two film sessions I was 6^th in line so a reasonable chance if I kept my phone on,

           

     We decided on a witherspoons dinner it’s a big witherspoons in Kendal and its always busy, I wonder if it was partially to blame for so many local pubs shutting! it’s truly hard to believe just how many pubs and small hotels are shut around Kendal town Centre every year it gets worse and worse, but we had pizza`s and beers at a very reasonable price served quickly with no fuss , that suited us the other good thing with it was it was on the route up the hill to the rifleman’s bar where the start of the opening ceremony ,

                I got a beer in the rifleman’s in a plastic tumbler to listen to the opening ceremony and a short speech by Chris Bonnington .then it was flags and head torches on and a walk downhill behind the band with people out on the street swinging cowbells, once down at the level of main street there was a slight incline ,  I spotted Chris Bonnington just ahead chatting to a woman I marched behind them tapped the lady on the shoulder and said excuse me but I need to beat Chris bonnington up this hill , which I thought was hilarious, I can now say I’ve beaten Chris Bonnington up a hill , Sheila shook her head and said he is in his 80`s but I’m no caring !

                The parade finished at the brewery and there was special opening ceremony screenings we were in the main theatre to watch, it was great we had good seats and after a quick speech watched 7 films all were good but I especially liked skier versus drone and also a short film called new view of the moon, after the films I went to the box office to ask about tickets and they had one! Not so good when there was two of us so we made the decision to go back to the rifleman’s bar which we knew had some folk music on that night, it was really good in there and the beers were good also the owner put a few plate of sandwiches around we had made a good choice

                On the walk back into town suddenly sheila shouted stop and waved at a car to stop! She had spotted a dog about to run onto the road in front of a car, this was very good of her and very observant BUT! She took the responsibility of this dog upon herself and I had to help her capture this what turned out to be a Doberman puppy with no collar, it was very skittish but we eventually hooked it into Sheila’s buff and got it into town. I tried to pan it off to a bar manager while he was closing up his bar he was having none of it ( cheers mate ) we then went to the town square and I left sheila to entertain it ,while I sourced some water and tried another bar to get help , this one was worse I reckon the security guy thought I was looking for a rammy , he came out with two of his sidekicks and I’ve been in enough situations to know these boys were out to give me a message , I took of my glasses turned sideways and explained I was looking for help not trouble , it broke the ice and I got some water but they weren’t willing to take the dog , when I got back sheila had found a number for some pet rescue, she had phoned them and got some fella out his bed and he was on his way , he took what seemed an age ! But was brand new when he arrived and hooped the dog and had it in his van in minuets, so we had a late night but not because we were out partying!

  

Friday Kendal

                It was an early rise for people that had been up late rescuing some skittish dog who turned out to be called B from the txt sheila received the owner had been traced, we never even had time for breakfast before going to the venue for film genre journey, 6 films the best of which was the longest hole about a golfer and his caddie playing a golf ball across Mongolia! I’m not a golf fan but really enjoyed this film, after those films we had time for breakfast, all the cafes were busy but we managed to find a pop up café at the town hall with zero que it was ideal, we headed to basecamp as there was a talk I wanted to see before the next film genre, the talk was called into the outside! but it wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and we asked around nobody knew anything about it, I had printed out the basecamp schedule nearly two weeks earlier and it wasn’t until much later that we worked out the whole schedule had been changed for basecamp, this was a pain as it meant I wasn’t as well organised as I thought I was and would need to recheck all our schedule once I found some time!

                We caught some more films instead of the hoped for talks one of them an environmental one about a country that is sinking and will disappear called Kiribati , after that we had time to kill before our booking on to the secret sessions at 3pm , we had a walk round the stalls I had my favourite ski gloves with me which I had worn through at the thumbs , I asked at the Patagonia worn wear stand if they would repair them even though they were not Patagonia gloves and they did fix them for free they wouldn’t even take a donation this furthers my resolve to buy only Patagonia clothing the rest of my life and even then only if I need it ! I spoke to the repair crew about their van and it all seems like such a good life and set up

                We met at the secret sessions sign with the others that had booked this mystery talk at a mystery venue , once assembled we followed a guide down Kendal high street eventually finding our way into a pubs left bar where there was intimate seating around two chaps sitting in the centre . we were given a warm mulled wine a piece of Kendal cake on our seat and a Christmas pie (awesome), the two speakers turned out to be the burgess twins Adrian and ali (Aid & Al), the chat was really good these boys have had one amazing fun life and continue to do so, the world has changed unrecognisably since these boys best climbing days, their tales of adventure will never be repeated it was a fun relaxed intimate talk and I got a beer in the second half

                After that we went to spoons again for beer and pizza again, we timed it wrong and were slightly late for our next session which was a film crew called salt street giving tips and tricks about filming for amateurs it was good and interesting mostly for me due to the fact it was just street filming folk doing skiing cycling stunts there was some cool footage of a closed dry ski run in Sheffield the Ski Village closed in April 2012. They took two skiers and one boarder back to the charred remains of the dry ski slope where they learned to ski and filmed them doing tricks. There was also a parkour or freerunner doing stuff on stage with the film crew showing you how to capture their moves

            We went back to the basecamp got a beer and a free flask cup from the Columbia bar and spoke to a bunch of Irish people who were over promoting and learning about the outdoor film festivals for killarney Ireland is looking to get in on the scene which is great killarney is a good place to have an outdoor film festival

            We then went to see the run films genre at the Shakespeare theater which was excellent I especially liked the welsh chap running the dragon race he had a great sense of humor and there was plenty names I recognized doing the event most of the talking was in welsh which didn’t take anything away from the film

            We then had a bit of a dash to grab a beer on route to the malt room to see our last speaker of the day Leonard Brendan the semi rad guy who has a film at the festival also called why I ran 100miles , it was a good end to a good day

Saturday at Kendal

                Another early rise and again no time for breakfast before our findra everyday adventurers session the speakers were good they were just everyday people who have jobs but squeeze as much outdoors into their spare time as possible a bit like myself ! , when we came out from that all the cafes had ques , we found a place then went and caught some of the climbing genre films they were a mixed bag they are always good but the only stand out film for me in this genre this year was blood moon an excellent film about a climb in Madagascar ,

                We then had a quick march over to the leisure centre we thought it would be tight for time as it’s a fast 20mins walk across town from the brewery arts centre to the leisure centre scenic walk though along the shore of the river Kent , we were going to the trail running event and I was really looking forward to it so I didn’t want to be late , I had decent seats booked and as it turned out we were there in plenty time , the session host was an editor of his own running magazine called like the wind I bought one of his companies magazines while there ,Jonathon Alban world OCR champ and skyrunner , eoin Keith an Irish distance runner of my generation . Damien hall 5^th placed UTMB runner his film underdog went on to win peoples favourite at the festival and jenny tough an adventure runner we have been following on line and seen talk at other events , all the speakers and films were good and I did enjoy the screening of Kilian Jornets record breaking run of the bob Graeme round  ,I spoke on the microphone at the Q&A`s at the end about my dot watching , we all got a free T shirt at the end and I had a beer while we planned our next move

                 We opted to head back to the brewery arts and basecamp where we got beers at the Columbia stage and listened to some speakers at base camp I spoke with a Swiss mountain guide who was there promoting a national park in the alps , we had some time to catch some films before our next session we chose flow genre . Boy nomad was good but ice and palms was my favourite of that collection two blokes cycling with their skis over the Alps in winter an awesome adventure for two normal blokes, we had to leave this film collection early to get along to the town hall for our next session

                We felt we had plenty time and grabbed some chips to eat en`route, this turned out to be a mistake we were actually 20mins late! the staff were just about to give our seats away , Sheila had got the timings wrong and I was glad it was her because this was her choice of the weekend women in adventure hosted by Anna Mcnuff , I loved telling anyone that would listen that I was dragged here when I could have been at the ortovox ski session , but it was an ok session some of it more than ok the speakers were good even the ones that you could tell by the shaking papers had never spoke in front of so many people before , we even got a chance for a lengthy after show chat with jenny tough she is a genuinely nice person with lots of natural energy it was a good session after all even for this self-confessed Manimal

I wasn't the only bloke at the women in adventure evening ! I didn't carry out my threatened question of who is doing the ironing when you girls are out at the hills during the Q&A session , I did cheer along for jenny Graeme awesome achievement getting a new female world record cycle .the Scottish cyclist, 38, had circumnavigated the globe by bike in 124 days she rode 18,000 miles across 16 countries, unsupported, carrying all her kit. ... she had done amazing averaging 130mile a day for a few months makes my cycles seem like a walk in the park ,and I told her so when I bumped into her after the session

                It had been a busy long day we had two beers in spoons to round it off but we were their last customers and even all the take away shops were shut on the way back to the hotel it was a Saturday night this town shuts early!

Sunday at Kendal

                It was a slighter longer sleep on the Sunday morning which turned out to be a mistake! The first two screenings we tried to get into on Sunday morning were fully booked! although these sessions were free with your weekend film passes you still had to book your seat for them , this was a real shame for us as we actually got into the first session .we went to sit on a seat I had a free bloody Mary and there was goody bags on the empty seats we stupidly fessed up and asked the staff if those seats were taken they ’re `checked our tickets and horsed us out , the second screening we tried we joined a que of others like us who hadn’t pre booked a seat before nipping to the box office to see if all the seats were booked ?which they were we gave up and went for breakfast , the first café we tried had a big que the second didn’t do food from 11:30-12 it was by then 11:30 ! But this worked out well as the 3^rd café was really good

                After breakfast we went to basecamp and caught the second half of science in sport, I wish I had come sooner I love this stuff there was a scientist with a flask of potassium sodium I missed the ratio but these are essential to our diets and in our stomachs, he threw in one jelly baby and the reaction was superb a temperature gun on the flask showed the temp rise to 120 degrees! that’s a lot of energy from one wee sweetie and the energy was sustained over a reasonably long period , it’s easy to see why jelly babies used to be my sweet of choice for distance runs ( before I got moralistic on my eating habits ) , after that we watched Jonathon Albon talk again about his skyrunning and OCR titles it’s an impressive list of wins from an athlete most people have never heard of , , the next speaker was James Glancy he is a wildlife conservationist and former military commander. James served in the British Special Forces and Royal Marines, deploying on multiple tours around the world, including three combat tours of Afghanistan. In 2012 he was awarded the prestigious Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for leadership and bravery on the frontline. He is now a Director of Veterans 4 Wildlife, a conservation charity, where he focuses on the preservation of African wildlife and combating the global trade in shark fins. His management company, AnotherDay. Sees him work and operate in some of the most dangerous parts of the world investigating wildlife crime and advising on security strategy,

                I bought a set of postcards winners of the photography competition then We had dinner at the Shakespeare inn , it was very nice and handy also for our next film screening at the Shakespeare theatre this collection was called fight and I loved the surfer Dan short film and Takayna was interesting but sad I had already seen every few winters, they also showed underdog in full which went on to win people’s choice , but I preferred the welsh running film dragons back, the problem was I had totally forgot I wanted to see the backcountry ski speaker at basecamp and it had passed by the time the films had finished

                Next up was Cameron Mcneish`s talk promoting his biography, it was very good he started off with a quick song and his chat was very good a few pictures a couple of wee films and some banter all good, I bought a signed copy of his biography at the end, and apologised to him while he signed it for dragging him into politics about Scottish forestry during the Q&A`s after his chat he said he didn’t mind!

                We then had a walk up to the town hall to catch the screening of the best of Kendal films, there is a temporary bar put up in the town hall for the KMFF weekend which was being dismantled during this screening, I got the very last beer they would be serving  , this perhaps wasn’t wise as I had to go for two pees during the film screenings , I suppose it’s all about personal choices and I would probably disagree with most of the best of choices , we left a bit early ( I was needing another pee) , with hind sight we may have been better just going home on the Sunday night after Cameron mcneish as we both had work the next day the town was now dead we had two beers and headed to bed for our early rise . The end of a great weekend  we had missed more than we had seen but had filled our time with very few spare moments , there truly is just too much to see and do which is why I shall return again and again it’s a great event , it’s a shame Scotland has nothing to match it
  


  
 

Below is a list of this year’s prize winners and my thoughts on these! 

Grand Prize Free Solo – I never got a chance to see this but it was inevitably going to win a prize, I hopefully will watch it as soon as I can

Judges Special Prize Wonderful Losers – I felt this was way too long interesting concept and very interesting if your into tour de France style cycling but just not my bag

Judges Special Prize Chasing Monsters – decent camera work and thriller style shoots but again not my bag no idea how it got a prize with the competition it had!

Best Short Film AMA – very artistic again not my bag ballet underwater isn’t the great outdoors to me, but the judges probably see stuff I don’t  ,there was plenty other good ones to choose from , I would have chosen surfer Dan even though it was American or maybe UK in 100 seconds that made me think

Best Environment Film The Island and the Whales – again I was sad I missed this as I plan to visit the pharoe isles one day and I like whales but it must have been good to beat the one about Tasmania Takayna and the UK in 100 seconds

Best Mountaineering Film La Congenialità The Attitude of Gratitude - shame I missed this one it must be good to beat 24/8 blood moon and wide boyz tooled up in this category

Best Adventure and Exploration Zabadast again I missed this one

Best Climbing Film The Dawn Wall – I like tommy Caldwell and sorry I missed this film

Best Culture Ascending Afghanistan – missed this one should be good as it had some good competition in this category, boy nomad, riding the dragon and every few winters may have been in this category

Best Adventure Sport Divided- sorry I missed this I like lee Craigie

Best Sound Parasol Peak – very cultured and the sound is clever but the music could have been more upbeat!

Best Visual This Mountain Life – missed this one also

People's Choice Underdog – I wasn’t surprised this won I felt that the event staff wanted it to win this category. I like Damien hall and underdog was ok but in my opinion not the best, apparently there was some doubt about some votes being cast being illegible! I reckon that’s possibly the welsh chaps writing in welsh (my guess nothing official) but I would have thought riding the dragon about the welsh speaking normal bloke running the dragons back or maybe the longest hole and a few others before underdog! Like Dave McLeod’s 24/8 which was my vote, so a Scotsman an Englishman and a welsh man?!

Boardman Tasker Prize

            I like to try and guess the winner everuy year and get some great ideas for books to read from this competition , ive guessed correctly more than often and this year yet again I guessed right and it was deserved , it’s a great book by a great writer

'Limits of the Known' by David Roberts was the winner of the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature. Roberts takes a look at his personal relationship to extreme risk and tries to rationalize why so many have committed their lives to the desperate pursuit of adventure.

    other prizes were given for the photography competition and children's literature

   The Organisers of the Kendal Mountain Festival said this year’s event was the biggest ever, with about 16,000 visitors attending.

More than 18,000 tickets were sold for attractions at the UK’s biggest social gathering of the outdoor community

With over 90 films and More than 150 speakers from the width breadth and diversity of outdoor pursuits.

Next year’s Kendal Mountain Festival will take place between 14 and 17 November