Imaginary Peaks: Katie Ives in conversation with Allison Williams (in-person)

In 1962 Summit magazine readers were astonished to see a photo of an allegedly unknown range: the “Riesenstein” peaks of British Columbia. The main summit, the mysterious author claimed, remained tantalizingly unclimbed. The editors printed the article, as if missing the clues that its creators (one of whom was later revealed to be influential Northwest conservationist and guidebook author Harvey Manning) had planted to hint that the story was a hoax. During this talk, based on the new book Imaginary Peaks: The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams, author Katie Ives will be exploring some of the richly varied tales behind the Riesenstein, from the long history of climbers’ obsessions with supposed blanks on maps to the complex motivations of the local pranksters who plotted the hoax—and the collective fascination with wild places and mythic mountains that the Riesenstein reveals.

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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.

ALLISON WILLIAMS is a Seattle-based travel, outdoor, and adventure writer, currently serving as deputy editor for Seattle Met magazine. She holds degrees from Duke University and University of Alaska Anchorage, with studies at Oxford University and Columbia University. She worked as a writer and editor for several New York City publications before returning to the west coast. For ten years she has covered travel, adventure, politics, food, and history for Seattle Met, and she has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the City and Regional Magazine Association. She has written three guidebooks and her work has been included in a number of anthologies, including recognition in 2020's Best American Sports Writing. Her freelance work has appeared in Outside, AFAR, Smithsonian, American Alpine Journal, The Alpinist, Popular Science, and more.