Imaginary Peaks with Katie Ives | Author Talk (virtual)

In 1962 Summit magazine readers were astonished to see a photo of an allegedly unknown range: the “Riesenstein” peaks of British Columbia. The discovery that no such mountains existed in that Canadian province inspired climbers to pore over maps, searching for the real location of the enigmatic summits—and resulting in the first known climbing expedition to the Kichatna Spires of Alaska in 1965. During this talk, based on her 2021 book, Imaginary Peaks: The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams, Katie Ives will recount tales of the Riesenstein and other mythic ranges around the world, including some in the American West, and she'll talk about the role of imagination in both mountaineering and mountain literature.

February 16th, 5pm Pacific Time (6pm Mountain Time)

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KATIE IVES is editor in chief at Alpinist magazine, and her writing has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, Outside, The Rumpus, and Adventure Journal, as well as the anthologies Rock, Paper, Fire: The Best of Mountain and Wilderness Writing and Waymaking: An Anthology of Women’s Adventure Writing, Poetry, and Art. In 2016 she received the H. Adams Carter Literary Award from the American Alpine Club. She has participated in the Banff Mountain and Wilderness Writing Program and served as a judge for the Boardman-Tasker Award, and a jury member, panelist, and panel moderator at the Banff Mountain Book Festival. She lives in Cambridge, Vermont. Imaginary Peaks is her first book.