Up and About: the Hard Road to Everest, the first book in a two-volume autobiography by BMC Patron Doug Scott, has won the Himalayan Club’s prestigious Kekoo Naoroji Award for Mountain Literature.

The win follows two other major nominations for British mountaineers: The Bond by Simon McCartney and Wild Country, the autobiography of Wild Country founder, and BMC past President, Mark Vallance have both been shortlisted for the 2016 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. This is the second award nomination for The Bond, which has also been shortlisted for the 2016 Banff Mountain Book Competition alongside 1001 Climbing Tips, Andy Kirkpatrick’s unorthodox take on the instruction manual. 

All these books have been published by Vertebrate Publishing. Some of their other titles include My Father, Frank which was bestowed the Kekoo Naoroji Award in 2015 – a prize that honours literature relating to aspects of the Himalaya – as well as Cold Wars and Rock Athlete which were both awarded the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and five other titles that have won at the Banff Mountain Book Competition, which are awards that celebrate literature that has made an outstanding contribution to the mountain environment. 

Following the announcements, managing director Jon Barton commented: ‘We’re thrilled our titles continue to be recognised by these prestigious awards – these are some of the most esteemed prizes in the outdoor and publishing industries. We appreciate that over the last few years a lot of great mountain literature has been released, so we’re humbled that our titles have been acknowledged among the best of them. 

The Kekoo Naoroji Award will be presented to Doug Scott on 18 February 2017 in Mumbai. The winner of the Boardman Tasker Award will be announced at a special ceremony at the Kendal Mountain Festival on 18 November 2016. The category award winners at the Banff Mountain Book Competition will be announced in mid October, and the grand prize will be announced at a ceremony on 3 November 2016 at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.

Find out more

Doug Scott lecture tour and book flyer

Simon McCartney talks about his book The Bond

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