A Kootenay author can celebrate a huge success this week, as Keith Powell’s historical novel, Raising Kain – The Adventurous Life of Conrad Kain, Canada’s Greatest Mountaineer, is now a Kootenay and British Columbia bestseller having sold more than 1,000 copies.

“It is known in the book industry that if a book sells 5,000 copies in Canada or 1,000 in British Columbia it is considered a bestseller,” said Powell, a Cranbrook-based author, in a release.  “So I guess at over 1,000 copies sold, it makes my second book a ‘Kootenay’ bestseller and B.C. bestseller too.”

Raising Kain begins in 1909 and follows the story of twenty-five year-old Conrad Kain, from his tiny Austrian village of Nasswald located in the heart of the Rax Mountains to Canada. Kain boarded a CPR ship en route to the Canadian Rockies and became the first official mountain guide of the newly formed Alpine Club of Canada.

Powell’s novel was first released in early 2012 through his own publishing company, Wild Horse Creek Press and is now available at bookstores across the Kootenay region.

Book reviewer and Alpine Club of Canada member Ron Dart has the following to say about Raising Kain:

“Raising Kain is a must-purchase and must-read for those keen to know more about Canadian mountaineering history and culture, the Alpine Club of Canada and, equally important, a creative approach and interpretation

of Kain’s life through photographs, letters, lenient fiction and hard fact history. This tome has certainly raised Kain again to the pedestal he belongs on in the Canadian mountaineering hall of fame… Raising Kain is an A++ keeper and charmer of a book that invites many a reread.”

Raising Kain is Powell’s second historical novel following his 2010 Living in the Shadow of Fisher Peak. Powell is currently collecting stories for his next book about hiking and climbing adventures on Fisher Peak.

“It is my hope that this book, Raising Kain, The Adventurous Life of Conrad Kain ­— Canada’s Greatest Mountaineer, captures some of the rich heritage and legacy that Conrad Kain left behind in his relatively short but extraordinary life in the Canadian Rockies,” Powell said.