Ben Weissenbach has won the Adventure Travel Award at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival for his book on his travels in Alaska.
Beautifully written and impressively researched, Weissenbach weaves science with memoir in what will surely become a classic in the genre.
Lauren DeLaunay Miller
A Gates Cambridge Scholar has won a prestigious prize for his book on his travels in Alaska at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.
Ben Weissenbach’s book North to the Future won the Adventure Travel Award. Lauren DeLaunay Miller, an award-winning author, journalist and audio producer who was on the 2026 Book Jury, calls it “a stunning exploration of youth, our changing climate, and the impact the digital world has on us all”. She adds: “Beautifully written and impressively researched, Weissenbach weaves science with memoir in what will surely become a classic in the genre.”
Ben [2023], who is doing his PhD in Polar Studies, is a journalist who decided to leave behind his screen-bound life and venture to Arctic Alaska at the age of just 20. His book charts his experiences and conversations with environmental scientists along the way, from Kenji Yoshikawa, a reindeer-herding permafrost expert from Japan, to Matt Nolan, an independent glaciologist, as he comes face to face with the impact of a fast-thawing region.
Ben said the motivation for writing the book was a craving for a world he hadn’t experienced. He had spent a lot of time indoors on a screen and wanted to go out into the natural world, inspired by authors such as Jack London and John McPhee.
He did some short wilderness trips beforehand and learned through mentors how to ‘be outside and connect more to a place’. When he set off for Alaska he didn’t intend to write a book, although he pitched it as a reporting project. He aimed to learn from people from Alaska, including indigenous people with generations of knowledge of the land, explore how much the North is changing and how it will affect everyone and help readers think through their relationship with technology.
The Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival is an annual event in Banff, Alberta, Canada, celebrating mountain culture, adventure and the outdoors through films, books, presentations and special events.
*North to the future: An offline adventure through the changing wilds of Alaska is published by Grand Central Publishing.
