Budding explorers, emerging writers and new critical thinkers joined established authors and outdoor celebrities to share their latest adventures with audiences from across the UK, with Festival Patron, British Mountaineer, Sir Chris Bonington describing the lineup as ‘incredible’.
Commenting on this year’s Festival, CEO Jacqui Scott said:“Historically, Kendal Mountain Festival was considered a niche event; just for those who summited the highest peaks or established the hardest rock climbs, but year after year our programming team have continued to challenge perceptions of who the mountains are for and welcome and celebrate a much broader cross section of society to the Festival.
This year it was clear that we have finally reached a tipping point in acknowledgement and acceptance that the outdoors at once belongs to no-one and to everyone and that we all have a responsibility to protect our natural spaces. One of the silver-linings of the pandemic was that people reconnected to the green spaces and nature around them, with a mass reassessment of how we value and chose to spend our time. We have seen this reflected in the number and diversity of those attending Kendal Mountain Festival 2022.”
Over 25,000 tickets have been sold for more than 300 events spanning film screenings, talks, specialist outdoor sport sessions, panel discussions, family friendly activities, art exhibitions, the Adidas Terrex 10K trail race, networking and social events including BBC Radio 6’s Nemone taking to the decks for the Arc’teryx Party and a full blown club night at The Brewery Arts presented by The North Face. A series of Montane ‘Secret Sessions’ in keeping with the Festival’s brand of enabling surprise encounters and fostering community connection ensured a jam-packed long weekend of fun, insight and inspiration.
Filmmakers from across the globe submitted entries to the Kendal Mountain Festival International Film Competition and record numbers joined the Festival in person. The People’s Choice Award went to 29-year-old Sheffield based filmmaker Jessie Leong with her take on ‘The Last Forgotten Art’ of wide-crack climbing. The Kendal Mountain Festival Panel of judges gave special prize to ‘An Accidental Life’ directed by Henna Taylor and telling the recovery story of alpinist and speed climber Quinn Brett who experienced one of the most traumatic accidents in the history of rock climbing.
In the 6th year of the Kendal Mountain Book Festival, this year played host to authors and their works from the UK and beyond. Headline speaker, George Monbiot captivated a full house, speaking about alternative farming techniques and audiences were moved to tears by Manni and Reuben Coe’s account of unconditional brotherly love in the face of challenges resulting from Reuben living with Down Syndrome. Author Pradeep Bashyal joined in person from Nepal to share his account of being a Sherpa as detailed in his book Sherpa: Stories of Life and Death from the Forgotten Guardians of Everest, written together with Ankit Babu Adhikari. Audiences were treated to a beautiful live performance of music by Cumbrian solo artist Hayden Thorpe and clarinettist Jack McNeill who accompanied biologist Amy-Jane Beer, award winning poet Zaffar Kunial and Kendal Mountain Book Festival Patron Robert Macfarlane to trace the connections between nature and sound.
Kendal Mountain Book Festival Director Paul Scully said: “One of the most exciting aspects of the Kendal Mountain Book Festival is the opportunity for our audience to discover authors and books that they might otherwise never have heard of. In an extension of the Kendal Mountain Festival remit, to Share The Adventure, the Book Festival does so through words, wanderings and wonder.”
Community is at the very heart of the Festival and brought about through a collaborative effort between over 80 local, regional and global brand and organisation partners, not to mention the dedicated team of more than 100 volunteers. New partners to this year’s Festival included Cornish surf brand, Saltrock who have also recently opened a new store in the town centre, Jack Wolfskin with its strong corporate sustainability message and UK National outdoor activity provider Plas-y-Brenin who hosted a packed programme of free workshops from their Basecamp Tipi.
The Festival’s 1100 sq metre Basecamp located in Kendal’s Abbot Hall and completely free to enter is the social and industry hub of the Festival and contributes to the already sizable footprint of venues dotted throughout the town, together forming the world’s biggest adventure festival that annually boosts the local economy by over £4.5million and waves the flag for the small market town of Kendal internationally.