Sarah Hueniken wins 2026 Summit of Excellence Award

The 51st Annual Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival celebrates Sarah Hueniken as the recipient of the 2026 Summit of Excellence Award. Since 1987, this annual award has recognized outstanding individuals who have made a significant contribution to mountain life in Canada.  

Sarah Hueniken is a certified ACMG Alpine Guide who has spent over 25 years in the Rockies sharing and pursuing her passion for climbing. Hueniken was the first North American woman to climb the mixed rock-and-ice grades of M11, M12, M13, and M14 and as a former North American Ice Climbing Champion, her achievements include first ascents worldwide—from the high peaks of China to frozen cliffs in Iceland.
Beyond her athletic feats, Hueniken’s career has been deeply committed to empowering others to step into their own strength. For over a decade, she has developed and led women-specific mountaineering programs designed to shatter barriers in the backcountry, fostering a self-sufficient community of female leaders who are confident in taking the sharp end of the rope.

Hueniken’s trajectory was completely rewritten after a tragic avalanche claimed the life of a close friend. Recognizing a profound void in the outdoor industry for emotional support for climbers who have experienced trauma, she sought to fill those gaps. Hueniken co-founded the Mountain Muskox Mentorship Program—a Bow Valley non-profit providing professionally facilitated peer support circles for individuals coping with trauma and loss in the outdoors which now has branches in other Canadian mountain communities. As the Executive Director for the past six years, Hueniken has helped it grow from one pilot chapter to six chapters throughout Western Canada, reaching hundreds of people through monthly circles and a yearly two-day immersion. As well, the Mountain Muskox Memorial bench was built with the intent of sharing both the beauty of the mountains and the memory of loved ones as a community—a place where everyone can come and sit with the amazing people we all miss in an incredible setting. 

In 2020, after the accident, Hueniken became Avalanche Canada’s first Ice Climbing Ambassador and co-created the Rockies Ice Climbing Avalanche Atlas. Along with the mapping skills of past Summit of Excellence recipient Grant Statham, Hueniken’s idea was to gather all of the knowledge and experience from the ice climbing community and share it publicly so others could learn and make informed decisions about ice climbing routes. Through community surveys, data was collected, which formed the foundation for a summary document mapping the exposure zones above ice climbing routes. The result is a cutting-edge, groundbreaking information system.

Hueniken’s contributions to the outdoor community have earned her the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) Gold Distinguished Service Award, the Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee Medal, and recognition as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

Presented by Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival since 1987, the annual Summit of Excellence Award is presented in memory of Calgary climber Bill March, an internationally respected mountaineer, author, and educator, who led Canada’s first successful Everest climb in 1982. The 2026 committee are Joanna Croston, Nancy Hansen, Geoff Powter, Louis Rousseau, Senja Palonen, and David Smart. Recent award recipients include Dr. Alison Criscitiello (2025), Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison (2024), Andy Genereux (2023), Grant Statham (2022), Helen Sovdat (2021), Raphael Slawinski (2020), David Smart (2019), Jacques Olek (2018), Don Serl (2017), and David P. Jones (2016).

There are two opportunities to see Hueniken at the 2026 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival.

The 2026 Summit of Excellence Award (sponsored by the Town of Cochrane) will be presented during the festival on Saturday, November 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the Jenny Belzberg Theatre at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Join Hueniken and Ines Papert live on Friday, November 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the Jenny Belzberg Theatre. As two of the world's most accomplished ice climbers and alpinists, Hueniken and Papert hold numerous records and have made bold first ascents around the world, including right here at home in the Canadian Rockies. Editor Erin Moroz joins them on stage for an honest conversation about leading hard lines, ageing, and what it means to climb with other strong women. The panel discussion will be followed by films in competition.

The 2026 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival schedule is available to view online. Tickets and passes can be purchased at banffmountainfestival.ca or Banff Centre Box Office.

Film competition finalists will be announced on October 5.

Online films will be available following the festival from November 12-22, 2026 (available in CAN/USA only).

Please visit banffmountainfestival.ca for more festival information.

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If you’d like to provide media coverage of the 2026 festival, please submit a media accreditation application form (submissions open until October 1).

For more information or image requests, please contact: 
Jess Elliott
Media and Communications, Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Box 1020, Banff, Alberta
Canada T1L 1H5  
jess_elliott@banffcentre.ca 

About Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival: Created 51 years ago, Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival has become the premier event of its kind in the world. The nine-day festival hosted by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Canada, showcases the world’s best films, books and photographs on mountain subjects – climbing, culture, environment and natural history, exploration and adventure, wildlife, and sport – and attracts the biggest names in mountaineering, adventure filmmaking, and explorers as presenters and speakers. An international jury will also award over $40,000 in prizes for films and books submitted to this year’s Festival competitions. banffmountainfestival.ca    

Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Partners: The 2026 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Presenting Sponsors are Rab and Banff and Lake Louise Tourism. The festival is also supported by YETI, Oboz Footwear, World Expeditions, The Lake Louise Ski Resort, Grangers, SLY Foods, NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), Bluetti, Clipper Ventures, Arc’teryx, Durston Gear, Wild Rose Brewery, and Wild Life Distillery.

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity: Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a post-secondary institution built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and leadership development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creative decision-making across dozens of disciplines. From our home on Treaty 7 territory in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to move everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, thinkers, and audiences – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to build an innovative, inspiring future through education, performances, convenings, and public outreach. banffcentre.ca