The book reflects the eight decades that Bradford Washburn has spent documenting mountain landscapes from the Grand Canyon to Mount Everest. Edited and compiled by Antony Decaneas, the book includes one hundred large format mountain photographs selected from the over 10,000 images in the Washburn portfolio.

"We considered a number of books for the Grand Prize - smart and provocative books, books that told exciting stories - but we were won over by the timelessness and beauty of the images that Brad Washburn has made over the course of his remarkable career and that are collected in this book," says Chris Dafoe, a member of the 2000 book jury. "Many of these photographs may have been shot for scientific purposes, but clearly there's an artist's eye at work here. The book captures both the grandeur of the great mountains and the subtle delights that can be found in the mountain world."

A pre-screening committee selected 27 finalists out of 98 entries from seven countries including Canada, the USA, the UK, Nepal, Germany, South Africa and Italy. The finalists were judged by an international jury consisting of Chris Dafoe, Canada; Susan Golomb, USA; and Bernard Amy, France. Bernard Amy comments "The 27 entries represented a high-quality selection, often very different, but all deserving to be finalists. As often in a jury discussion, the Grand Prize emerged from the whole as an obvious choice. It appeared to be a perfect book among books, telling the story of one of the most important personalities in American mountaineering."