BY KEVIN BROOKER
MANY READERS seem stuck on the idea that mountain literature must be like mountaineering itself, the raw-boned activity that spawned it around 175 years ago: difficult, frightening, and not for everyone. In fact, Canada’s mountain- related publishing is a growing genre – in both sales and sheer variety – that is steadily moving from regional importance toward international recognition.
This November, Rocky Mountain Books, the national leader in the category, will take a well-deserved bow in an evening dedicated to its 40th anniversary at the prestigious Banff International Mountain Film and Book Festival. RMB began life as a producer of guidebooks covering Alberta’s dramatic front ranges, thanks to a passionate pair of U.K.–born mountaineers, Gillean and Tony Daffern. The husband-and-wife team’s many guides soon became indispensable to a younger generation of explorers in what remains an extremely challenging environment. Getting adventurers out and back safely soon turned into both a noble calling and a decent business.