Film & Book Reviews
Posted 11 weeks 5 days ago by
Andre Caron
Danny MacAskill is a professional street trials rider for Inspired Bicycles Ltd, born and raised in Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Check out this short clip titled Industrial Revolutions for some truely remarkable riding.
Enjoy!!!
Posted 26 weeks 20 hours ago by
Chris O'Grady
If you've ever tried to get yourself climbing fit, you'll have already worked out that there's only one way to do it right, go climbing ... and often!
I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, a city a long way from the nearest vertical rockface. I started climbing before the first climbing gym hit the Melbourne climbing scene. The climbing in Mt.Arapiles, the Grampians, Mt Buffalo and the Cathederal Range is world class, but more than a few hours drive from town, so you either quit your day job to climb full-time, become a weekend warrior, or go buildering. Yep...
Posted 27 weeks 4 days ago by
Chris O'Grady
It is a commonly held belief that we in the west often think too short-term. We deal with the immediate issues and problems on which we can quickly slap on a band-aid solution, often passing on the real cost to future generations.
I recently discovered this video describing how a mountain community in Meghalaya, northern India, has traditionally solved the problem of building strong, sustainable and durable bridges in a mountainous environment. Their region receives anything up to 25m of rain, that's nearly 1000 inches, over the summer monsoon. Building...
Posted 27 weeks 5 days ago by
Andre Caron
I had the privilege of watching a great film today called, "Blue Obsession" at the Banff Film Festival which director/producer Alan Gordon climbs and captures the beautiful glaciers from the Juneau Icefield in Alaska. In the film, he describes his awareness that the routes he climbs do not last forever and so during each climb he must be fully involved every time in order to be successful. I feel this message is both true for the routes he climbs but also as a reflection of how people can shape their own lives. Overall, this film had fantastic ice climbs and great look into to the...
Posted 29 weeks 2 days ago by
Mike Schauch
Nice work to Bernadette McDonald on her latest work "Freedom Climbers". I'm excited to read it, especially since I just learned that it received the Grand Prize in this year's Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival. I've copied the press release below. Also, copied below the trailer (first book trailer I've seen - but it's pretty cool!). Thanks Bernadette for sharing these inspiring stories with us!
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CANADIAN WRITER WINS GRAND PRIZE AT INTERNATIONALLY-RENOWNED BANFF MOUNTAIN BOOK AND FILM FESTIVAL
For Immediate Release
(...
Posted 32 weeks 3 days ago by
Chris O'Grady
Climber Alex Honnold seems to defy gravity, scaling sheer, steep rock faces with no rope and apparently no fear. If you can hold your patience through the couple of advertisements, this video gives you some real insights into a world of total commitment climbing.
Read more on cbsnews.com
If you're hungry for more footage of Alex Honnold free soloing in Yosemite, here is another video clip from National Geographic of him free soloing Half Dome and El Capitan.
Alex featured in the TV series from Sender Films, First Ascent: The Series in 2010, titled "Alone on the Wall...
Posted 37 weeks 1 day ago by
Mike Schauch
Looks like renowned author Bernadette McDonald has written another masterpiece with her latest book, the story of a resilient group of mountaineers climbing their biggest challenge yet - they climb for their freedom. Check it out
"Between 1980 and 1989, Polish climbers were giant, worldwide leaders as high-altitude climbers, especially in the Himalayas. This volume documents those charismatic leaders and their iconic climbs in a defining chapter of Himalayan climbing history."
—Reinhold Messner, world-renowned climber, explorer and author of 40 books on...
Posted 38 weeks 6 days ago by
Andre Caron
prAna is presenting a film by creator and producer Chuck Fryberger called, The Scene. It is a fast-paced ride through the centers of the climbing universe. Chuck infiltrates the biggest scenes in the climbing world including: Moab, Utah - Boulder, Colorado - Innsbruck, Austria - Catulunya, Spain - and Northern Spain, the home to climbing's largest population of elite climbers. Featured climbers Chris Sharma and Steph Davis will be at the premier signing items and answering questions. Trailer looks awesome and I can't wait for the film.
http://www.carlsbadvillagetheatre.com/...
Posted 46 weeks 4 days ago by
Chris O'Grady
Earlier in the year, Mike Schauch reported on Dani Arnold's recent speed ascent of the Eiger. Dani Arnold broke Ueli Steck's 2008 Eiger ascent time of 2 hours 47 minutes by nearly twenty minutes, creating a new speed ascent record of 2 hours and 28 minutes.
It should be noted that Ueli Steck free soloed the classic Heckmair route, whereas Dani Arnold used fixed ropes on the Hinterstoisser traverse. I'm not mentioning this to downplay Arnold's obviously incredible ascent, but rather to introduce, to those who have not already seen it, this exerpt from the...
Posted 1 year 26 weeks ago by
Chris O'Grady
Coming sometime this fall is Sherpas Cinema's new powder epic "All I Can". These award winning film makers from British Columbia, Canada, have been working on "All I Can" for two years now, and have recently snuck out a trailer to their soon to be released film.
Shot in Chile, Morocco, Haines (Alaska) and British Columbia and the Rockies, Sherpas Cinema have sewn a bit of their ethos of balance and sustainability into the film, in a style reminiscent of Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi films from the 80's, seamlessly splice with ski...
