Vertebrate Authors at the Kendal Mountain Festival

• 17th—20th Nov 2016

We're very excited to be attending the Kendal Mountain Festival again this November where we'll be supporting our authors and showcasing our latest range of titles – including our Boardman-Tasker-nominated books – and some older favourites. You can find our stand in the Base Camp area.

Author events

This year, the Kendal Mountain Festival is playing host to a wide variety of fantastic speakers from the world of adventure, with a number of our authors are taking part in events and presenting lecturers. 

Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature

Friday 18 November; 13:00-17:45, Brewery Arts Centre – Malt Room

Simon McCartney and Mark Vallance both have books shortlisted for this year's Boardman Tasker Award and they will be appearing in coversation with host Stephen Venables as part of the event. Find out more and book tickets here.

Ian 'Spike' Sykes

Friday 18 November; 19:30-22:30, Kendal Town Hall

As part of the festival's Jumbo Sports Session, Spike will be appearing in conversation to give a fascinating and unique insight into his action-packed life of mountain rescue and outdoor commerce. Find out more and book tickets here.

Chris Bonington – Mountaineer

Saturday 19 November, 12:00-13:30, Kendal Town Hall

For this one-off appearance, Chris will be reminiscing about his experiences and talk about the 2016 revised edition of his book Chris Bonington Mountaineer, a photographic autobiography documenting over sixty years of climbing the world’s most beautiful and challenging mountains. Find out more and book tickets here.

Helen Mort – Lines of Ascent – poetry and climbing

Saturday 19 November, 13:30-15:00, Brewery Arts Centre – Malt Room

Award-winning poet Helen Mort and fellow climber and writer David Wilson discuss the mountain adventures that inspired their poetry. David and Helen will read from their work, including new and unpublished poems, and discuss the challenges of putting mountain landscapes and experiences into verse. To book tickets and to find out more, click here.

Simon McCartney – The Bond

Saturday 19 November, 14:00-15:30, Kendal Town Hall

Simon's book, The Bond, tells his story of his two remarkable first ascents in Alaska, the second of which, on Denali in 1980, effectively ended Simon’s climbing career. Simon has travelled to his home in Hong Kong to share these adventures. To book tickets and to find out more, click here.   

Nick Bullock

Mountain Equipment Scottish Winter Session

Saturday 19 November, 16:00-18:00, Kendal Leisure Centre

A unique event featuring Vertebrate authors Nick Bullock and Guy Robertson with Greg Boswell, Mick Fowler and Andy Nisbet. KMF has brought together four exponents of the Scottish art, representing the best of their generations. To book tickets and to find out more, click here.

Bearly alive – Bullock & Boswell

Sunday 20 November, 15:00-16:30, Brewery Arts Centre – Theatre

Nick Bullock and Greg Boswell have forged one of the most effective alpine climbing partnerships of recent years. In this talk, they'll share tales from their routes together, including their famous encounter with a grizzly bear last winter. To book tickets and to find out more, click here.

Bob Comlay – ‘Travels with Tilman’

Saturday 19 November, 17:30-19:00, Brewery Arts Centre – Malt Room

With a talk illustrated with more than 100 photographs from his private collection, Bob Comlay will give us a unique insight into his frienship with H. W. Tilman, the greatest explorer and travel writer of the twentieth century, with whom he sailed to Greenland in the 1970s. To book tickets and to find out more, click here.

John Porter – A Brief Golden Light

Sunday 20 November, 15:00-16:30, Kendal Town Hall

John discusses the golden generation of mountaineers in the 1970s and 80s who made bold lightweight ascents on some of the world’s highest mountains. To book tickets and to find out more, click here.

Book signings

We have also arranged for a number of our authors to do book signings on our stand. You can catch them at the following times:

Saturday 19 November

3 p.m. Bob Comlay (travelling companion of H.W. Tilman)

4 p.m. Simon McCartney (author of The Bond)

Sunday 20 November

12 p.m. Chris Bonington (author of Chris Bonington Mountaineer)

2 p.m. John Porter (author of One Day as a Tiger)

We're also hoping to have Nick Bullock on the stand at some point too. Call by the stand for more information.

See you there!