Arts and Lectures Series

This past Monday I went to support the Arts and Lecture series by purchasing a ticket to the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour that was showing in Campbell Hall. I wasn't quite sure what the film festival was all about, but since it pertained to the outdoors I figured it would be a delightful evening. And it was a very delightful evening!

Check out the introduction video:


The first film was called "The Sharp End: Eastern Europe". This excerpt was about a group of american climbers who traveled to Germany and the Czech Republic to learn about climbing technique unique to the region. Instead of using traditional climbing methods the climbers in this area of the world use knots of varying sizes to tether themselves to the rock faces. It can be very harrowing and you just hope you have the right sized knot.

The second film was "The Cable Car". This was an animated short film from Switzerland. This film follows an old man loaded with a roll of tape and a perilous journey towards the top of a mountain. As an Athletic Trainer I could relate, because I know just how handy tape can be at times.

The third film was "Red Gold". This film is a documentary about the potential opening of the largest open copper and gold pit mine in the United States in the watershed area of the worlds largest wild salmon fishery system. The parts of the documentary shown at the film festival was fairly one sided, but what do you expect when they are showing this to a bunch of eco-lovers and tree huggers; I do include myself in that group. The documentary was very compelling and makes me want to move and live in Alaska even more. Now if only Sarah Palin wasn't the governor!

After a short intermission we watched our fourth film of the night. "The Red Helmet" was a short six to eight minute film where a group of adventures were given a camera and a challenge. The challenge was to show five outdoor sports in a film six to eight minutes in length. Well, they saw their challenge and countered it with showing eight outdoor sports while telling the story of a young boy overcoming his fears.
Check it out:


Next up was "Mountain Town: The Cowboy and the Park Goddess". This film was an excerpt from a documentary about the people who live in Aspen, CO. The subjects of this film was a snow patrol chief at Half basin and the park manager. Following "Mountain Town" was "Patagonian Winter". This film followed to Scottish climbers who were attempting to summit a rock formation in Paragonia in the winter time; a feat that had never been done. To say the least this film was mostly comical. Although they did not make it to the summit, they had an adventure all the same.

The final film of the night was "Crux": Imagine twelve solid minutes of this type of stuff!

By far the most insane thing was watching Ryan Leech ride his bike the distance of a driveway on a metal chain! I wish had that kind of balance! Shoot, I'm wishing I had a bicycle!

I had a ticket to go to the second night of the film festival as well, but didn't end up making it as I spent the evening in the Emergency Room with one of my athletes. I was fairly bummed about it too, because after Monday nights line up I was really looking forward to Tuesday nights. The film festival spanned two nights with a different line-up airing each evening. If the Banff Mountain Film festival world tour comes to your town don't walk but run and get your tickets, because it is purely amazing!