Today I joined some of my hiking friends to watch over 3 hours of
gripping yet beautiful films of the annual Banff Mountain Film
Festival. The festival travels the world so we watched the films in
Edmonton (although going to see them in Banff would have been nice!).
This is something we do every year to inspire us to greater hiking
achievements, to see what other and mostly much younger and more daring
people are doing, to be awestruck by beautiful images of the amazing
geography and topography of the world.
This year more than any many of the films spoke to the global
environmental changes that are affecting the ecosystems that allow them
to do the activities. As we experienced record breaking temperatures of 80 C today with little snow this message hit home.
We watched artistic and exciting films that were shot in Alaska,
Chad, the Congo, Fernie, Vernon, Trail, Utah and Pakistan. We witnessed
people kayak, ski, climb, leap, base jump, and even slackline, a
relatively new form of tightrope walking between rock and mountain
peaks. While my hands were dripping wet during most of the movies the
daredevils on screen were in no way cavalier about their sport. We heard
people reveal on camera their innermost fears and worries, their
humaness and emotion bared for all to see and hear. I was especially
surprised by an accomplished climber whose self talk was about how
stupid he was for getting himself in an avalanche area. Many spoke
about how the experience, good or bad, changed them for the better. We
may see some of these people as crazy yet they were extremely thoughtful
and in most cases spiritual about their experience and what it taught
them about facing death and life.
I am only going to Australia, not kayaking down the south Nile where
if the Class 5 rapids don't kill me a hippo, crocodile or the local
militia might!
I highly recommend this experience: www.banffmountainfestival.ca
You can get a taste at: http://blueobsessionfilm.com/
Cynthia
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