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Bernadette McDonald
Bernadette McDonald is the former vice president, and founder, of The Banff Centre for Mountain Culture. She was director of the Bamff Mountain Film Festival from 1998 to 2006 and was founding director of the Banff Mountain Book Festival. She has acted as festival juror on festivals around the world and continues to consult and lecture on mountain culture issues.
Bernadette has edited four books: Voices From the Summit: The World’s Great Mountaineers on the Future of Climbing, Extreme Landscape, Whose Water Is It and Inspiring Creativity. She has authored three books: I’ll Call You in Kathmandu: The Elizabeth Hawley Story, Brotherhood of the Rope, the biography of Dr. Charles Houston and Tomazˇ Humar. Her books have been translated into a number of languages and have won international awards. She has written for various publications, such as Alpinist, Vertical_ and Walrus Magazine.
She is past chair of the board of trustees for the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, and a founding member of the International Alliance for Mountain Film. She was an invited speaker at the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2001 to launch International Year of the Mountains and received the King Albert Award in 2006 for her contributions to the global mountain community. In 2008 she was honoured with the Summit of Excellence Award and in 2009, was awarded the prestigious Alberta Order of Excellence by the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.
Bernadette spends most of her discretionary time in the mountains,climbing, ski touring, hiking, and riding. These travels have taken her to the mountains of Japan, South America, Africa, Europe, and Tibet as well as the North American Ranges.
Awards
King Albert Award, United Nations, 2006
Summit of Excellence Award, 2008
Kekoo Naoroji Award for Mountain Literature for Brotherhood of the Rope, 2008
Kekoo Naoroji Award for Mountain Literature for _Tomaz Humar, 2009
Banff Mountain Book Festival Award, for I’ll Call You in Kathmandu, short-listed
Banff Mountain Book Festival Award, for Brotherhood of the Rope, short-listed
Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature, for Brotherhood of the Rope, short-listed
Banff Mountain Book Festival Award, for Tomazˇ Humar, short-listed
Alberta Order of Excellence Award, Province of Alberta, 2009
