Stephen’s ‘Wild Himalaya’ Bags Prestigious Award

KATHMANDU: Prolific writer Stephen Alter has won the prestigious Mountain Environment and Natural History Award at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival 2020 in Alberta, Canada, for his book “Wild Himalaya” (Aleph) that brings alive the greatest mountain range on earth in all its terrifying beauty, grandeur and complexity.

Travelling to all the five countries that the Himalayan range – 2,500 kilometers in length, between 350 and 150 kilometers in breadth and rising to a maximum height of almost nine kilometers above sea level (Mount Everest) – traverses through India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and China, Alter braids together on-the-ground reports with a deep understanding and study of the history, science, geology, environment, flora, fauna, myth, folklore, spirituality, climate and human settlements of the region to provide a nuanced and rich portrait of these legendary mountains.