The Fox of Glencoe wins at Banff.
It’s been a big month here at the Press with the fantastic news that The Fox of Glencoe has been honoured with this year’s Mountain Literature Award at the 2022 Banff Mountain Book Competition. This internationally recognised competition celebrates mountain writing in all its forms, and attracts entries from all over the world. It’s fabulous that Hamish MacInnes, legend of Scottish mountaineering, rescue, film-making and equipment design, is being recognised at this prestigious event. The project was a labour of love for the team, and there are a great many people to thank for the success of this project, both friends of Hamish and the Press. In particular, our Editor, Deziree Wilson, has been credited by the judges at Banff as having ‘artfully arranged his understated, humorous and self-deprecating writings and breathed new life into Scottish mountaineering history, literature and culture.’ High praise and well deserved.
The other big bit of news is that we have sent One Man’s Legacy, our forthcoming biography about Tom Patey (another legend of Scottish climbing, and so much more), written by Mike Dixon, off to print. We’re expecting this to arrive at the warehouse at the end of November. You can pre-order now to receive 10% off, with free postage and packaging, by using the discount code PATEY in the Press store. We’ll be shipping copies out as soon as the book arrives.
Finally, please check out the last article in this email. It’s been nine months since the launch of our Creatives digital publication, and we’ve been taking stock of how it’s going and where to go next. It’s become clear that Creativesoffers something unique: a free-access platform which is also free to submit to and reaches a wide variety of subscribers. This is combined with a personal editorial experience that is rare in publishing. We’re always looking for more work to showcase, and Creators to support, so we’d love it if you could spread the word.Pre-order One Man’s Legacy
DEZIREE WILSON
Profile of a Mountaineering Prodigy
Tom Patey was one of a kind. Deziree Wilson explores why his remarkable achievements made him the perfect subject for our latest biography, One Man’s Legacy.
If you’re a climber based in Scotland, it’s almost impossible to avoid following in the late Tom Patey’s footsteps. Widely acknowledged as one of the leading Scottish mountaineers of the last century, so many of his routes live on in our collective consciousness thanks to their inventiveness, quality of lines and exquisite locations, notably in the Cairngorms and North-West Highlands, but also farther afield, in the Alps, Norway and the Karakoram. His story is one of pioneering ascents, boundless enthusiasm and a carefree spontaneity that belied a tough fearlessness and exceptional endurance.
A stalwart of 1950s bothy culture, Patey was also a gifted musician, writer and raconteur who transcended social and cultural boundaries with ease. He had the ‘tragicomic gift of the balladeer’, and despite mixing with the privileged classes as a university graduate, Marine and, later, a GP, he would gleefully swat egos like flies with his mischievous brand of satire. But although his collected essays and verses were published posthumously in the celebrated One Man’s Mountains, there has never been a definitive biography about this remarkable individual—until now.Read more
DEZIREE WILSON
A Date with The Dagger
Having completed editing work on the forthcoming biography on Tom Patey, Deziree heads into the heart of the Cairngorms to revisit one of Patey’s historic first ascents in his old stomping ground.
After spending the best part of a year editing Mike Dixon’s biography about the renowned Scottish mountaineer Tom Patey, I wanted to do something special to celebrate the book’s completion. I’m lucky to live in the Cairngorms, whose nooks and crannies Patey spent so much time exploring, and climbing one of his own routes in the heart of this mountain range seemed a fitting conclusion to the project.
Shamefully, I’d never climbed on Creagan a’ Choire Etchachan, although I’d hiked up the surrounding hills, so, on a glorious summer day, I set off with my husband and our friend, Clare, in search of The Dagger, a three-star HVS whose sweeping right-hand corner gives a classic mountain pitch.Read more
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