Inge Wegge and Jorn Ranum out side their home before the sun heads south for winter.
Photo North of the Sun
In typical Colorado fashion the winds changed overnight and there was a hint of spring in the air for the second night of The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. The weather and lineup of films made one pause and encouraged you to look inside yourself, to evaluate the pathways extending before oneself. The slate of films showcased humanity’s ability to overcome obstacles while maintaining a smile.
As the lights darkened and the projector fired up you were introduced into the heart of the Tlapocayan jungle of Mexico in the film Cascada. In the film extreme kayakers Erik Boomer, Tyler Bradt and Galen Volkhausen along with a hearty group of filmmakers spend nine days running rapids, hucking waterfalls and trying not to succumb to tropical maladies. Into the Mind by Sherpa Cinemas was not your typical ski porn; the film aimed for an otherworldly view of the mountains. With Indian chants floating in the background skiers attempted some massive lines that would make most people weak in the knees.
The highlight of the night was the forty-six minute film North of the Sun the Grand Prize and Peoples Choice award winner at this years Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. The film follows two young Norwegian men Inge Wegge age 25 and Jorn Ranum age 22 as they spend nine months on a remote beach north of the artic circle to ski, surf and live off the land. They construct a hobbit style house from nothing but items washed up on the beach its actually quite impressive what these men build. While the sun still visits before the extended winter they regularly clean their beach eventually gathering over three tons of waste they get helicoptered out at journeys end. The adventures these guys get into and surmount with humor and wit was highly inspiring. In todays consumer driven culture this film will lift your sprits and inspire you to reach for new challenges.
The second half of the night began with local filmmaker Cedar Wright’s highly humorous film Sufferfest. In the film Alex Honnold and Cedar embark on a questionable endeavor, they are going to climb all of California’s 14,000-foot peaks in one push linking them by bike. These guys might be professional climbers but cyclists they are not. Sea of Rock tracks Harald Philipp and Tom Oehler as they attempt to mountain bike mountaineer Mont Simmerstein in the Austrian Alps. As the film opens with the guys packing their bikes for the summit one is struck with the thought” Why would these guys ever try to ride this”? The decent is a harrowing thrill ride and the culmination of a fifteen-year journey for Harald. Return to the Tepuis follows Dr Bruce Means a seventy one year old biologist chasing toads in Guyana, South America. Bruce must free rappel two hundred feet into a gorge and has never even seen a climbing rig before, if he can conquer this fear one wonders what fears might be holding you back.
The Questions We Ask documents adventurer Bruce Kirby’s crossing of the Pacific from Vancouver to Victoria, British Columbia. The message of the short film is why do we challenge ourselves in life, it was a thought provoking piece. Push It a thirty-one minute film is the story of filmmaker Jen Randall and Jackie Sequeria preparing for their first big wall, El Capitan. The ladies need plenty of inspiration since they have never climbed any large walls and seek inspiration by visiting several notable female climbers on the way. The ladies find out when they reach Yosemite that they might be the worst big wall team ever, I wont tell you if they succeed you will have to watch it to get that answer. Wrapping up the night was Valhalla the only holdover form the first night. The film is a clip from the feature length film of the same name and is nothing but three and a half minutes of naked people skiing, nothing wrong there.
If you did not catch Banff you can find all films from the festival online search them out you won’t be sorry. See you next year!
