Mountain Book & Film Festival

I’m in Banff this weekend taking in the world-renown mountain book and film festival here, which always has an amazing array of adventure, exploration and nature footage. This year is no exception as I’ve seen an awe-inspiring slide-video presentation by Austrian mountain climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner about her 2011 trek up the north side of K2, the last peak in her quest to climb the world’s 14 highest peaks of more than 8,000 meters.

Prior to this film festival, I didn’t really know much about Gerlinde, but her climbing feats are nothing short of heroic. As if scaling Everest and the other highest mountains weren’t enough, she does it without using any supplementary oxygen or high-altitude porters. She goes with her own team but is totally reliant on her own energy to get her to the top of each mountain. It’s mind-boggling! Just think: no oxygen, or porters! She’s truly in elite company to be able to do this. Surely after climbing the 14 highest peaks over 14 years, she deserves to be National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year for 2012.

I’ve also seen a neat film here called “Crossing the Ice” about two Australians (Cas and Jonesy) who trek unsupported from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, pulling all their own food and gear on skis, and living to tell their tale with great determination, humor and humility despite the harshest of conditions. The plot thickens as a Norwegian is attempting the same record-breaking feat at the same time, initiating an informal race that echoes the 1912 race to the South Pole between Britain’s Robert Scott and Norway’s Roald Amundsen. But this time the ending is quite different. The film is an uplifting and touching experience of comradeship over struggles that are hard to even fathom.

Another cool event I’ve seen here, has been a slide presentation by anthropologist and ethnobotanistWade Davis who recently completed his book of 12 years in the making called “Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest,” which seems quite fascinating. It’s an in-depth look at the men who mounted the first expeditions on Everest in the 1920s and their backgrounds, which were all affected by the toll of WWI. Taking risks and facing death were something most of these men had already long experienced.

And then there’s “Bear 71,” a 20-minute web documentary about a grizzly bear who was collared at age three in Banff National Park and followed during her life via cameras throughout the park until she was tragically killed by a train. This illuminating webdoc raises various questions and issues and is worth watching here.

Today I’m going to see another round of films on this last day of the festival. For those interested in really cool adventure and nature films, you might be able to catch the best from the Banff Mountain Film Festival as it travels around to places in North America. If you do, I’m sure you will be glad you did.