A leading outdoors brand has partnered with an acclaimed charitable trust to support a prestigious literature award.
Mountain Equipment, the UK-based outdoor clothing and equipment manufacturer, is now the official supporter of The Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature.
Established in 1983 to commemorate the lives of Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, the Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust celebrates their legacy by presenting an annual Award for Mountain Literature and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mountain Equipment which was founded in 1961 supplied expedition gear to both Pete and Joe.
'Perfect match' of outdoors brand and charity
Richard Talbot, product and marketing director for Mountain Equipment explained why they wanted to partner the trust. He said: “Climbing, mountaineering and Alpinism have always been more than just a physical pursuit – and mountaineering literature more than just a physical record.
“Few other activities can have compelled so many of its participants to express themselves through writing, and even fewer seen so many of its most celebrated protagonists prove their worth as authors, a fact that the Award has sought to recognise and celebrate.
“For 60 years, we have been closely associated with Alpinism and we owe much to Pete and Joe, and those that they climbed with, not only for their achievements but for the generations since that they have challenged and inspired.
“We hope that by supporting the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature we can encourage others to experience and understand the mountain environment through literature.”
Sir Chris Bonington, patron of the Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust, said the partnership is the "perfect match".
He said: I’m delighted with the news that the Boardman Tasker Prize will now be supported by Mountain Equipment. Pete and Joe often relied on Mountain Equipment’s high-altitude garments on expedition, so the link is a close one and I know both parties feel this association is a perfect match on many levels.”
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What is The Boardman Tasker Award?
The Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust was established to promote literature by providing an annual award to authors of literary works, the central theme of which is concerned with the mountain environment.
The prize of £3,000 commemorates the lives of Boardman and Tasker and is given to the author or co-authors of an original work, which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature.
This year’s shortlist for The Boardman Tasker Award features: The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War and Everest by Ed Caesar (Viking); Himalaya: A Human History by Ed Douglas (Penguin Random House); Signs of Life: To the Ends of the Earth with a Doctor by Stephen Fabes (Profile Books: Pursuit Books); Never Leave the Dog Behind by Helen Mort (Vertebrate Publishing); To Live: Fighting for Life on the Killer Mountain by Elisabeth Revol (Vertebrate Publishing); and Emilio Comici: Angel of the Dolomites by David Smart (Rocky Mountain Books).
