Our Peak District Bouldering guidebook, published earlier this year, has been awarded the Best Guidebook prize at this year’s Banff Mountain Book Festival.

The Banff awards represent the biggest prizes in publishing in the outdoor, adventure and environment genres and it is the second time one of our titles has won at Banff, following the presentation of the prestigious Grand Prize to Jerry Moffatt’s autobiography Revelations in 2009.

Commenting on the book, the Book Festival Jury, said:

"Peak District Bouldering is a visual treat. Filled with crisp, uncomplicated information, the book combines appealing art and design with practical maps and diagrams. This new bouldering tome jumps out of the confines of the traditional guidebook box by blending aesthetics with practicality — form and function. It has the beta. It has the maps. It has the photos. But, it also has that sexy metro style with its unique shape, strong imagery and clean layout. Clearly a winner! The result is a feast for the eyes and whether you are a novice boulderer or a world class climber, it nurtures the adventurous spirit in all of us."

Vertebrate’s John Coefield, one of the book’s co-authors, flew out to Banff to collect the prize at the Banff Mountain Book Festival on Thursday 2 November.

John commented: “To say we’re made up would be a massive understatement. A huge amount of time and effort was poured into this book, really beginning as soon as the original guide was published in 2005, with the documentation of new problems and new areas by Rupert. This built up in the 18 months before publication, as we visited crags, revisited them and visited them some more. This guide, and consequently the award, wouldn’t have been possible without the support we received from local activists, who helped us out with their local crags, checked scripts and generally offered invaluable feedback. Likewise we’re indebted to our excellent photographers who helped illustrate the guide so beautifully.

“Given the strength of the shortlist for this year’s prize – all books from the British Isles – and the high quality of recently published climbing guides, I think the future of British climbing guidebook publishing is very bright. And that can only be a good thing.”

Photo: John Coefield, with Ralphine Locke and Julia Lynx from prize sponsors Bison Belong. Photo: Don Lee/Banff Mountain Book Festival.

The Best Guidebook prize was sponsored by Bison Belong, a programme to reintroduce Bison to Banff National Park. 

The three title shortlist also included West Country Climbs, Rockfax’s comprehensive guide to climbing in south west England, and Dave Flanagan’s self-published Bouldering Ireland.

Written by Rupert Davies, John Coefield and Jon Barton, Peak District Bouldering is the most comprehensive guidebook ever published to bouldering in the Peak District. It features more than 3,300 boulder problems on more than 70 gritstone and limestone crags, both major and minor. Catering for boulderers of all abilities, there are over 2,150 boulder problems below Font 7a, and over 1,150 problems at Font 7a and above. 

[Article updated 1:30pm, Tuesday 8 November]