Banff Film Festival: 2025 Mountain Film Programme Blue

This was the second programme of films in the epic pass we brought for £16.  They are available for 7 days once you have brought them and we absolutely made time to watch all of the films.

The first film was 109 Below (14 minutes) and this film was quite extreme and emotional.  It was based on Mount Washington, known for its extreme weather and incredibly difficult conditions.  It followed a group of volunteer rescuers as well as someone who was rescued.  It is not a comfortable film.  Everybody involved has their lives change.  The film though shows that for all the heartbreak, pain and hardship, these events can shape lives in the best of ways.  Tragedy can give people the direction they need to lead a good life.

Ian (8 minutes) is a look at Ian Eliot, a Queenslander rock climber who is still climbing at the age of 72.  Watching him climb is inspiring.  He is not doing safe easy climbs, he is there clinging to overhangs by his finger tips.  It's incredible.  This is one tough man, long may he continue to climb and love his life.

Of a Lifetime (44 minutes) is a lovely film and one I found amusing as much as I found it stunning.  It follows an expedition to Antarctica to ski and snowboard the most extreme slopes.  Mila has her 18th birthday during the trip and is with her father and Uncle, both world champion freeride snowboarders while Mila is a skier.  Mila has learnt fear and it is holding her back.  Her family want to inspire her and help her break through.  They are a fun family and watching the angst and general teenager-ness of Mila within this dynamic was great.

So the film begins with them sailing the infamous Drakes Passage and none of them are sailors.  I felt their pain and as we watched them and laughed, we were not laughing at them but at the memories of our own perilous voyage.  We had a bow cabin on a cruise to Norway during the Beast from the East (infamous snow storm in the UK) and it was like being inside a washing machine, one that was being regularly dropped under the water with an explosive crash.  It was horrific, but, it was good to laugh at those memories....

So on to their escapades in Antarctica....  These people are insanely good at what they do.  They are no snowboarding with poles but ice pics.  They are ice climbing their way up and then somehow snowboarding down something that looks vertical to me.  I don't think I could take a single step without falling to my death and they are skiing and snowboarding with panache.  The Antarctic was as always stunning and awe inspiring.  I can see why it would be the ultimate challenge for people of this skill...

2 Legs is 2 Easy (6 minutes) follows skier Steve Karczewski who skis with one leg.  He used to ski with prosthetics but now finds it easier to ski without.  He used to test prosthetics for companies as well, the ultimate destruction tester.  I always find people like this incredibly inspiring.  They do more than me, with far less.  They unapologetically stand tall and make it clear that different does not mean less.  People do not have to shrink their lives to their disability.

Reel Rock: Jirishanca (31 minutes) was I think a film for purists.  It told the story of two rock climbers who now they have children, have learnt to balance their desire to survive the risks they take with the technical challenges they seek to overcome.  It follows them as they climb Jirishanca, a mountain that is shrinking and changing as it melts with climate change.  Much of what they climbed was much less stable now than the last time it was climbed.  This film talked about technique and challenges and was less about emphasizing danger or stunning landscape shots.  Of course, it still contained both because this was an incredibly difficult climb...

The last film was A Team Sport (16 minutes) followed Courtney Dauwalter, an ultra-runner.  She is an incredible athlete who is almost superhuman and it is likely to be sometime until another person repeats her successes.  The film follows her as she runs three back to back iconic 100 mile races, winning each one.  I am not sure anyone else has even managed to complete all three races in one year, let alone win them.  The team looks at not just her, but her team and how they work with her to support her.

Another lovely and inspiring collection of films!

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