Cold Wars by Andy Kirkpatrick

Cold Wars by Andy Kirkpatrick

Climber and raconteur Andy Kirkpatrick has won one of the top awards for mountain literature – the day after he announced he was giving up as a writer.

The Hull-born climber was named winner of the Boardman-Tasker Award today at the Kendal Mountain Festival for his book Cold Wars.

The previous day, he wrote on his blog: “Goodbye to all that.

“Being a climbing writer just didn’t work out for me, but I gave it a shot.”

Yet today, he picked up his second Boardman-Tasker prize, following the 2008 award for Psychovertical, his tale of big wall climbing on El Capitan in Yosemite, USA.

Cold Wars is subtitled: Climbing the fine line between risk and reality and is the second of his autobiographical volumes, describing epic winter ascents in the Alps and Patagonia and the conflicts of the lifestyle with family life.

Five other books were shortlisted, including one by Simon Yates, one of the subjects of the celebrated film Touching the Void.

Andy Kirkpatrick Multimedia Profile – Cold Wars from Visual Collective on Vimeo.

Kirkpatrick has garnered a devoted band of followers with his one-man stand-up show, a mix of comedy and climbing accounts.

He revealed yesterday he had been for his first job interview in almost two decades at Lyon Equipment in Cumbria and that he was giving up full-time writing.

The self-effacing adventurer added: “First off I don’t think me packing in trying to make a living as a writer is a big deal for anyone but me, and it doesn’t warrant any kind of news item, after all it’s not like I’m Stephen King.

“It’s just a personal choice by someone who’s sold a few books, but in no way whatsoever could be judged as being successful. Like I said, I gave it my best shot for ten years and it didn’t work out for me.”

He also said he is not giving up writing entirely and will continue to work as a tutor for other writers. He has also edited his partner Karen Darke’s book Boundless.

The Boardman-Tasker Prize is administered by the charitable trust set up in memory of Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker who died in 1982 on Everest’s North-East Ridge.

The prize was set up by the pair’s friends and family the following year.

Other shortlisted writers were: Jim Curran for here, there and everywhere; Wade Davis with Into the Silence; Richard Sale for the Challenge of K2; Gordon Stainforth with FIVA, An Adventure that Went Wrong; and Simon Yates for The Wild Within.