Top Kiwi mountaineer invited to Banff festival
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| Monday, 11th June 2012 |
Kiwi alpinist and mountaineer, Pat Deavoll, has been asked to speak at the prestigious Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, in November.
Deavoll's autobiographical book Wind from a Distant Summit has gained plaudits and praise both in New Zealand and internationally. Deavoll will join an illustrious crod of elite climbers and authors who have spoekn at the festival in the past. Sir Chris Bonnington, Reinhold Messner, Joe Simpson, and Jon Krakauer are all former speakers. Besides deavoll, this year's line up of speakers includes Stephen Venables, Simon Yates, Andy Kirkpatrick.
New Zealand Alpine Club general manager Sam Newton said: "Pat's book is a social commentary offering a fantastic insight into the elite level of extreme, high-altitude alpinism.
“Only a handful of people can climb at that level. Even fewer can convey the experience through good writing. That is why Pat is invited to such events and why we are lucky to have her at the club.”
Deavoll currently works as the activities and events coordinator for the New Zealand Alpine Club in Christchurch.
Of the invitation, Pat said she was “very surprised and honoured to be invited".
"It is also really pleasing to know that my book has been taken seriously in the international field of mountain literature,” she added.
Deavoll was raised on a farm in North Canterbury and educated in Christchurch. After becoming one of New Zealand's best whitewater kayakers, she worked as an outdoor instructor for many years, before retraining as a journalist. She began mountaineering in her late teens and has climbed at the elite level for decades.
In recent years, she has made a habit of mounting trips to the greater ranges of Asia. The objective being technically-challenging, first ascents at extreme altitudes.
She continues to undertake extreme mountaineering expeditions. Last year she climbed in Afghanistan (a story on this trip to published on wildernessmag.co.nz soon) and in July this year she will be travelling to remote Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to climb the unclimbed west face of Rahazon Zom.
Deavoll's autobiographical book Wind from a Distant Summit has gained plaudits and praise both in New Zealand and internationally. Deavoll will join an illustrious crod of elite climbers and authors who have spoekn at the festival in the past. Sir Chris Bonnington, Reinhold Messner, Joe Simpson, and Jon Krakauer are all former speakers. Besides deavoll, this year's line up of speakers includes Stephen Venables, Simon Yates, Andy Kirkpatrick.
New Zealand Alpine Club general manager Sam Newton said: "Pat's book is a social commentary offering a fantastic insight into the elite level of extreme, high-altitude alpinism.
“Only a handful of people can climb at that level. Even fewer can convey the experience through good writing. That is why Pat is invited to such events and why we are lucky to have her at the club.”
Deavoll currently works as the activities and events coordinator for the New Zealand Alpine Club in Christchurch.
Of the invitation, Pat said she was “very surprised and honoured to be invited".
"It is also really pleasing to know that my book has been taken seriously in the international field of mountain literature,” she added.
Deavoll was raised on a farm in North Canterbury and educated in Christchurch. After becoming one of New Zealand's best whitewater kayakers, she worked as an outdoor instructor for many years, before retraining as a journalist. She began mountaineering in her late teens and has climbed at the elite level for decades.
In recent years, she has made a habit of mounting trips to the greater ranges of Asia. The objective being technically-challenging, first ascents at extreme altitudes.
She continues to undertake extreme mountaineering expeditions. Last year she climbed in Afghanistan (a story on this trip to published on wildernessmag.co.nz soon) and in July this year she will be travelling to remote Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to climb the unclimbed west face of Rahazon Zom.
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