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The Endless Knot – surviving the death of Alex Lowe

Half way through the Banff Film Festival 2007, by far the best I’ve seen is The Endless Knot.

No special effects. No “extreme” footage.

Just an emotional true story, simply told. I highly recommend you see it.

endless_knot_dvd.jpgIn October of 1999 best friends Alex Lowe and Conrad Anker were overcome by an avalanche in the Tibetan Himalaya. Conrad barely survived the avalanche and soon began to suffer form Survivor’s Guilt. In the months following the tragedy, Conrad and Alex’s widow, Jennifer tried to comfort each other and unexpectedly found love. Now their bond is tested as Alex’s three boys try to accept Conrad as a father.

Alex’s death was but one of many tragedies that unfold when families lose loved ones in the mountains. The celebrated high altitude Sherpa families suffer this same fate more than any other group as they work at extreme altitude for Western expeditions. In honor of Alex’s legacy Jennifer and Conrad seek meaning beyond tragedy with a mountaineering school for Sherpas and high altitude workers.

The Endless Knot – Serac Films

To see the trailer click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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Banff Mountain Book Festival WINNERS

How would you like to be responsible to read all 113 festival entries?

Major winners were announced:

Higher Than the Eagle Soars: A Path to Everest, by Stephen Venables.

Yosemite in the Sixties, by Glen Denny.

Deep Water (Rockfax Climbing Guide), by Mike Robertson.

Wild Places, Wild Hearts: Nomads of the Himalaya, by Allen Smutylo.

The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father, by John Harlin III.

Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mount Everest, by Lincoln Hall

Glen Boles: My Mountain Album; Art and Photography of the Canadian Rockies and Columbia Mountains, by Glen Boles.

Read more on the Awards; Banff Mountain Book Festival Award Winners

All of these books are great and recommended. But I have a gut feeling this was not one of the best years ever for outdoor adventure books. Most of the winners are predictable.

The best bet at being a new “classic” is this extensively researched investigation into the 1967 Mt. McKinley expedition. Only five of the 12-man team survived.

The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters

Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering’s Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters

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Krzysztof Wielicki – climbing legend

I saw Wielicki present during the Book Festival. And just now he launched the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

He’s old school. Tough. Thinks nothing of losing the odd finger or toe. Says you must learn to enjoy suffering to be a real climber. (That’s why I’m a hiker.)

The Polish climbers are the world’s best (most would say, craziest) at Himalayan Winter Ascents.

A contemporary of Reinhold Messner, Wielicki’s controversial. And very entertaining.

wielicki_190.jpgPolish mountaineer Krzysztof Wielicki’s accomplishments place him among the world’s greatest mountaineers. In more than three decades of climbing, he has concentrated his efforts on difficult new routes and Himalayan winter climbs.

Wielicki became the fifth person in the world to climb all fourteen 8000 metre peaks and the manner in which he accomplished this astonished the climbing community: almost half of them were solo expeditions and Everest, Lhotse, and Kangchenjunga were first winter ascents. He has since led two Polish winter expeditions including an attempt of K2 via the North Pillar in 2003 and of Nanga Parbat via the Schell Route in 2007.

Banff Mountain Festivals 2007

Wielicki and the interviewer finished off most of a bottle of “Rescue Drink” (Vodka) during the performance where he screened some never before seen footage of classic winter climbs. (The “official photographers” rarely ever made it even to Base Camp.)

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Ed Viesturs – No Shortcuts to the Top

Just walked out of Ed’s presentation. His is the first book (of many) from the Banff Mountain Book Festival I’ll be buying. (As an audio book, actually, on Audible.com)

Viesturs decided to write his autobiography after finishing the 14 8000m peaks, on Annapurna.

Growing up in the flatlands of Rockford, Illinois, where the highest objects on the horizon were water towers, Viesturs became interested in climbing only after reading and being captivated by Annapurna, French climber Maurice Herzog’s famous account of the 1950 first ascent of an 8,000-meter peak. “What I liked was that these guys had a goal and they just wouldn’t give up. They spent months and months finding the mountain; then they climbed it. So simple, so basic. I’m a very goal-oriented person, and I like things that take a tremendous effort and time to accomplish,” explains Viesturs.

When taking on these remarkable feats, Viesturs prefers to experience the mountain without reducing it to his level — climbing without the aid of supplemental oxygen. On May 12, 2005, he realized an 18-year goal to climb all 14 of the world’s 8000-metre peaks under these conditions. He is one of only a handful of international climbers to complete this goal, and the only American in history to climb the world’s six highest peaks without supplemental oxygen.

Viesturs’s success can be directly linked to his technique. He is known for his sensible approach to dangerous undertakings, and remains true to his motto, “Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” With the belief that the mountain determines his success, Viesturs will turn around if the conditions do not meet his exacting standards, as he did in 1988, 180 metres from the top of Everest.

Viesturs has documented his journeys in Himalayan Quest: Ed Viesturs on the 8,000-Meter Giants, co-written with Peter Potterfield, and in his autobiography No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks, co-written with David Roberts and released in 2006.

Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

Banff Mountain Festivals 2007

No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks

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Ian McAllister – wildlife photographer

At the Banff Mountain Book Festival we were treated to one of the most amazing slideshows I’ve ever seen.

Ian McAllister gave an overview of his life story vis-a-vis bears and wolves.

He’s very angry about big game trophy hunting. (And Ian’s a hunter who kills deer to feed his family.) There’s no reason to tag bear or wolf.

Ghosts of the Rain Forest

bears.jpg

Ian McAllister is a nature photographer, writer, and conservationist who has dedicated his life to exploring the remote wilds of the British Columbia coast. Born in Vancouver, his exploration and adventures in the province’s rugged West Coast began at a young age, and inspired in him a passion for conservation which led him to become one of Canada’s leading advocates for rainforest protection.

With a keen interest in wildlife behaviour, ecology, and sailing, McAllister has spent much of the last 20 years travelling along the north coastline of British Columbia, observing the behaviour of coastal wolves and grizzly bears. For the last 17 years, McAllister has lived in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the last places on earth where wolves live relatively undisturbed by humans. In his latest book, The Last Wild Wolves, he documents the behaviour of two packs, one in the extreme outer coastal islands and another farther inland.

McAllister’s first book, The Great Bear Rainforest (1997), was instrumental in helping Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, Ian and Karen McAllister’s Raincoast Preservation Society, and other environmental groups to successfully lobby British Columbia’s provincial government to impose a moratorium on grizzly bear hunting and to designate a large portion of the province’s mainland coast as parkland in 2001.

McAllister is a founding member of the Raincoast Conservation Society, and his images have appeared in numerous publications including International Wildlife, BBC Wildlife, Audubon, Sierra, and Beautiful British Columbia. Also a filmmaker, his footage has been used by National Geographic TV, Discovery Channel, and the BBC.

Mountain Festivals at The Banff Centre

His two books:

The Great Bear Rainforest: Canada’s Forgotten Coast

The Last Wild Wolves: Ghosts of the Rain Forest

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Banff Festival – Where are the Women?

hmmm

The “Women’s Panel” was scheduled very first thing in the morning — not exactly prime time.

Female athletes are still second class citizens in elite adventure sport, so far as I can see.

Yet their accomplishments speak for themselves. Mrs. Dean Potter:

davis-wall_190.jpg

Steph Davis is a record-setting free climber. She has made first ascents in Patagonia, Baffin Island, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan. In 2001, Davis became the first U.S. woman to summit 3,375-metre Fitz Roy in Patagonia. In 2004, she made the fastest female free ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite, and returned to El Cap the following year to become the first woman to free climb its Salathé Wall (VI 5.13b/c). For Davis, it was the dream of a lifetime.

…

Mountain Festivals at The Banff Centre

The athletes (including climbers Steph Davis, Nancy Hansen, Araceli Segarra, and Kira Salak) debated whether even appearing on a “Women’s Panel” was somehow offensive. Part of the problem.

They debated whether “first female ascent” was a backhanded compliment. Or valid.

None had primary role models as young women. They had to be very independent. Trail breakers.

We still have a long way to go until we achieve parity.

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new hiking record – CDT Yo-Yo

The cyberhobo tipped me to an unprecedented feat on the CDT:

Francis Tapon has finished the first documented yo-yo (through-hike in both directions, in one season) of the Continental Divide Trail, with Garret The Onion finishing soon after. Congrats to them both for an amazing and inspiring feat!

hobolinks :: CDT Yo-Yo Done :: October :: 2007

My first thought was, “both should be credited with the CDT Yo-Yo”. The Onion certainly should not feel he came in “second”.

cdt.jpg

There is so much variation in route on the CDT that the two adventures cannot be compared.

Francis Tapon trip website.

For the Onion, check his amusing LAST post on the trail: Can I Mex? Mex I Can.

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John Harlin III – Eiger Obsession

At the 2007 Banff Mountain Book Festival John Harlin III (the son) gave us the background for his new book, The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father.

It’s a moving story. John was very emotional while telling it.

In 1966, when John Harlin II set out to climb a new route straight up the North Face of the Eiger, he was 30 years old, with a wife and two young children. Six hundred metres from the top, Harlin’s rope broke and he fell 1200 metres to his death. His son, John Harlin III, who was only nine years old at the time, and who had completed his first alpine climb at the age of seven, vowed to his mother that he would never climb another mountain. However, his passion for the mountains led him to break that vow.

Throughout his life John Harlin has honed his skills as an adventurer, editor, and writer. He has made first telemark and ski descents, has climbed new routes and made first river descents in Peru, Bolivia, Tibet, Alaska, Canada, the U.S. and the Alps. He is the author of a series of guidebooks, The Climber’s Guide to North America, and has worked as the editor of Backpacker and Summit magazines.

guests_f05.jpgIn 2005, Harlin decided to return to the Alps and face the Eiger. Like his father, he left behind a nine-year old child when he went to climb the 1800-metre wall. His book, The The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father, is a memoir of his family and his lifelong obsession with the Eiger, culminating with the thrilling account of his ascent.

Harlin is now editor of the prestigious American Alpine Journal, a frequent contributor to numerous publications including Outside magazine, and appears as the main character in the latest IMAX film, The Alps: Large Format, a film about his emotional quest to climb the mountain where his father died. Harlin lives in Oregon with his wife Adele and daughter Siena.

This is an unforgettable story about fathers and sons, climbers and mountains, and dreamers who dare to challenge the earth. The Eiger Obsession is more than just the story of one man’s climb, it’s a memoir of loss, survival and choosing to face your biggest fears head-on.

— Simon & Schuster

Banff Mountain Festivals 2007

Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father

The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father