The Kendal Mountain Festival is an annual event held in November in

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

, Cumbria, on the edge of the

English Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mountains, and for its literary associati ...

in the UK. It celebrates outdoor and adventure culture with a diverse programme of films, talks, workshops and other events. The festival has grown to become a significant event in the international outdoor community, attracting filmmakers, athletes, writers and enthusiasts from around the world. The current festival patrons include Sir Chris Bonnington, Leo Houlding, Keme Nzerem,

Louise Minchin Louise Mary Minchin (née Grayson; born 8 September 1968) is a British television presenter, journalist and former news presenter who currently works freelance within the BBC. Beginning in 2012, Minchin was a regular anchor on the BBC One pro ...

, Aldo Kane, Graham Zimmerman and

Shauna Coxsey Shauna Coxsey (born 27 January 1993) is an English professional rock climber. She is the most successful competition climber in the UK, having won the IFSC Bouldering World Cup Season in both 2016 and 2017. She retired from competition after ...

, as well as patron of the Kendal Mountain Book Festival, Robert Macfarlane. The directors of the festival are Steve Scott and Clive Allen. Jacqui Scott is the CEO.

Description

Kendal Mountain Festival features approximately 200 events over four days, encompassing a wide range of activities. The film programme showcases over 150 international adventure films, while the speaker events feature prominent figures in the world of outdoor adventure, such as mountaineers, explorers and athletes, discussing their experiences and achievements. The festival also includes the Basecamp Village, a central hub with exhibitors from outdoor brands and community groups, and multiple stages for talks, demonstrations and live music performances. The Kendal Mountain Book Festival is an integral part of the festival, celebrating mountain literature and nature writing that explores the themes of adventure, landscape and environment. It runs concurrently with the film festival, featuring speakers, discussions and events focused on literary works. A key element of the Book Festival is the presentation of the

Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature is an annual prize of £3,000 awarded by the Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust to an author or authors for "an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature". The p ...

,About — The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature
/ref> an annual award that recognises outstanding contributions to the genre. The prize commemorates the lives of Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, British mountaineers who died on Mount Everest in 1982. The festival invests in its community outreach and schools programme, such as "Kendal for Schools" programmes and free family adventure programme.

History

The Kendal Mountain Festival was first held in October 1980 as a two-day event under the name "Kendal Mountaineering Film Festival". The original programme featured films, art exhibitions, seminars and photography centred around mountaineering and outdoor culture. The founding organisers were Alan Evans, Jess Stock, Ian Wall, John Porter, Jim Curran and Brian Hall. Over the years, the festival has hosted talks by notable figures in climbing and mountaineering, including

Yvon Chouinard Yvon Chouinard (born November 9, 1938) is an American rock climber, environmentalist, and businessman. His company, Patagonia, sells outdoor products, outerwear, and food. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by '' ...

Reinhold Messner Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from the German-speaking province of South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent o ...

Catherine Destivelle Catherine Destivelle (born 24 July 1960) is a French rock climbing, rock climber and Mountaineering, mountaineer who is considered one of the greatest and most important female climbers in the history of rock climbing, history of the sport. She c ...

Fred Beckey Friedrich Wolfgang Beckey (14 January 1923 – 30 October 2017), known as Fred Beckey, was an American rock climber, mountaineer and book author, who in seven decades of climbing achieved hundreds of first ascents of some of the tallest peaks and ...

, Lynn Hill,

Tommy Caldwell Tommy Caldwell (born August 11, 1978) is an American rock climber who has set records in sport climbing, traditional climbing, and in big-wall climbing. Caldwell made the first free ascents of several major routes on El Capitan in Yosemite Na ...

and

Ueli Steck Ueli Steck (; 4 October 1976 – 30 April 2017) was a Swiss rock climber and alpinist. He was the first to climb Annapurna solo via its South Face (though this is disputed by some), and set speed records on the North Face trilogy in the Alps. ...

. Since its early years, the festival has developed a reputation as a platform for mountain and outdoor films, screening titles such as ''The Bat and the Wicked'', ''Five Days One Summer'', '' Hard Grit'', '' Touching the Void'' and ''

Free Solo Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of rock climbing where the climber (or ''free soloist'') climbs Solo climbing, solo (or alone) without Climbing rope, ropes or other Rock climbing equipment#Protection devices, protective equipmen ...

''.

Kendal Mountain Player

Launched in 2020, the Kendal Mountain Player is an online platform offering a selection of films from the festival.

Kendal Mountain Tour

The Kendal Mountain Tour travels to venues across the UK each year between February and May.

Film awards

The festival's film competition includes thirteen award categories, in genres such as culture, environment, action sports, exploration and short-form documentary. The Grand Prize is the festival’s highest honour. In 2021, the People’s Choice Award was introduced, based on votes cast by festival attendees throughout the event.

References

External links

*{{Official website, www.mountainfest.co.uk Climbing in England Festivals in Cumbria Film festivals in England Kendal Mountaineering festivals Mountaineering in the United Kingdom