Arts and Literature at this years Kendal Mountain Festival

© UKC Gear

The Kendal Mountain Festival 2014 - 20 to 23 Nove, Lectures, market research, commercial notices Premier Post, 3 weeks @ GBP 25  © Alan James - UKC and UKH
This year the organisers of Kendal Mountain Festival have tried to increase the amount of 'thoughtful' content, which arguably makes this years KMF the most rounded ever, touching on a range of cultural and historic points - that contradict the notion that KMF is only adrenaline.
 


Jonathan Westaway  © Kendal Mountain Festival
Jonathan Westaway

That Undisclosed World: Eric Shipton and the Imperial Security State


Mountains of Tartary' (1950) recounts Eric Shipton's mountaineering exploits and travels in Xinjiang during his two postings as British Consul-General in Kashgar in the 1940s.

An accomplished Himalayan mountaineer of the 1930s, Shipton's work with the Survey of India saw him increasingly drawn into the workings of the imperial security state in the geopolitically sensitive border regions of the Karakoram. Shipton's proven ability to travel in arduous mountain terrain and gather geographical intelligence contributed to his eventual posting to Kashgar. Details of his official consular work are almost entirely absent from Mountains of Tartary and only became known in outline in 1969, with the publication of his autobiography. 

9:00 - 10:30, Saturday 22nd - CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS


Ian Hill & Julian Hoffman

The Wild and Layered Land: the mountains of Cumbria and northern Greece
 

Julian Hoffman  © Kendal Mountain Festival
Ian Hill's evocative writing explores the Cumbrian uplands through landscape and memory while Julian Hoffman's award-winning book, The Small Heart of Things: Being at Home in a Beckoning World, traces the human and natural history of the highlands of northern Greece.

Ian Hill  © Kendal Mountain Festival
Moving back and forth between these two unique regions, Hill and Hoffman reflect upon the cultural, environmental and personal landscapes of mountains. Reading selections from their work, illustrated with a slideshow of images, the two writers bring the mountains of their respective home grounds together, celebrating the connections we make with these wild and layered lands.

11:00 - 12:30, Saturday 22nd - CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS


Mount London
 

The essays and stories in 'Mount London' unpeel London's history and geography, reimagining the city as mountainous terrain and exploring what it's like to move through the urban landscape. Martin Kratz, co-editor, and Helen Mort and David Cooper, two contributors to this beautifully written new book, talk London and its high spots.

"Mount London asks interesting questions about the nature of ascents and journeys, about how we view the city and how other people might view it, and about the history that surrounds us constantly and informs our lives."
Dan Carpenter, The Cadaverine

14:30 - 16:00, Saturday 22nd - CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS


Greg Lucas  © Kendal Mountain Festival
Greg Lucas

Seriously Bad: Climbing Photography in the 1970s

Greg Lucas doesn't take climbing photographs.

The problem is all his photographs look like climbing photographs. As a child, Lucas was obsessed with climbing pictures of the 1970s that he found in magazines and books. From action shots to advertising images (Climber and Rambler to Master of Rock), he took this black-and-white world of often naïve and amateur photography rather too seriously. This early attachment served him badly; he still blames magazines like Crags and Mountain for his failure to gain a place on five Polytechnic photography courses in the 1980s.

17.00 - 18:30, Saturday 22nd - CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS


Linda Cracknell  © Kendal Mountain Festival
Linda Cracknell

Doubling Back

In 'Doubling Back', Linda Cracknell walks in the footsteps of others from the Highlands of Scotland to the Swiss Alps and Kenya.

The walks trace the contours of history, following favourite writers, her own father, and retreading ways across mountains, valleys and coasts formerly trodden by drovers, saints and adventurers. Each walk is about the reaffirming of memories, beliefs and emotions, and especially of the connection that one can have with the past through particular places. Linda will discuss the inspiration for these journeys and how walking relates to creativity and writing allows us to relish and relive such experiences.

11:00 - 12:30, Sunday 23rd - CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS


Mark Thompson  © Kendal Mountain Festival
Mark Thompson

White War

]The compelling and moving account of an unknown campaign of the First World War. The Western Front dominates our memories of the First World War. Yet a million and half men died in the Dolomites in a war that need never have happened, when Italy declared war on the Habsburg Empire in May 1915.

Led by General Luigi Cadorna, the most ruthless of all the Great War commanders, waves of Italian conscripts were sent charging up the limestone hills north of Trieste to be massacred by troops fighting to save their homelands. This is a great, tragic military history of a war that gave birth to fascism. Mussolini fought in these trenches, but so did many of the greatest modernist writers in Italian and German - Ungaretti, Gadda, Musil, Hemingway. It is through these accounts that Mark Thompson, with great skill and empathy, brings to life this forgotten conflict.

13:30 - 14:30, Sunday 23rd - CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS

The Kendal Mountain Festival 2014 - 20 to 23 November

Kendal Mountain Film Festival

Kendal Mountain Festival is by far the largest and most varied event of its type in the world - it is also the main social event for outdoor enthusiasts in the UK

'Kendal' is one of the leading festivals of its kind in the world. It is an internationally-known event, attracting film premieres from around the globe. Film makers, TV producers, adventurers, climbers and world-class lecturers gather to take part in four packed days of the very best films, speakers, books and exhibitions covering all aspects of mountain and adventure sports culture. It is also the main social event for outdoor enthusiasts in the UK and 2014 will be our 15th straight year.

HOW TO BOOK TICKETS

The dates are 20-23 November and tickets are available now. Book online - www.mountainfest.co.uk - or by phone 01539 725133 - news as it happens at www.mountainfest.co.uk

ACCOMMODATION

Easily accessible from the M6 and by train and there are plenty of accommodation options in and around the town but you need to be on your toes as they fill up very quickly over the Mountain Festival weekend.

CAMPING
This year we will once again have a camping field but owing to its popularity, you need to book in advance - more info.

For all your questions, accommodation and travel needs go to www.golakes.co.uk here you will find all the information you should need for your visit to Cumbria, alternatively call the accommodation booking line on 0845 450 1199.


For more information Kendal Mountain Festival



24 Nov, 2014
For the record, these events were some of the best at the festival, and even though it clashed with the Swiss Machine, I wouldn't have missed Greg Lucas' presentation for the world.

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