Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Banff Film Festival et al

So Tom and I had this dream of ice climbing the weekend of Nov 4/5 at the same time of the Banff Film Festival. The temperatures warmed up and it was raining in Banff, which rendered the thought of ice climbing a wet and unsafe business. We did check out Cascade just before driving into the townsite and through the binocs we were spying dirty ice and open water - no thanks.

Instead we opted to watch movies of other adventurers in the mountains. But BEFORE that we rolled into the posh Banff Springs. And were treated like we were, uhhhh... Almost important, or at the very least wealthy. I kept getting called Mrs Schnugg which seemed too much of a bother to correct that assumption. Our room was very nice and we were overlooking the main hotel and the mountain vista behind that. It was grand and a real treat to be hanging out there. Of course we took the shampoos, soaps and anything else we could get our grubby climber hands on.

The one purchase that will stand out in my mind is when Tom ordered a specialty Tequila. Which Tom assured me (with the confidence that only a Californian can suavely assert) was THE most premium Tequila. Now... for a gal from little Ol' Prince George, I took a swig of our exclusive Tequila swirling in our marguerita and shrugged my shoulders, my blue collar palette couldn't tell the difference. But I sure as hell could tell the difference in the PRICE. We had billed the meal to our room and the next day when we were going through everything, we found out that our Margueritas cost us $25 EACH. Ya, not combined, but $25 for Lise's and $25 for Tom's which combined totals $50. Woooeeee! We both choked and laughed at that one. That's almost up there with Jason and I inadvertently drinking a $130 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignion that I had brought back from the Beaulieu Vineyard in California. It had gone MIA during my move to my house and then turned up in a box in the garage a year later. (hey it took me a while to empty boxes) I had bought the wine in a 4 bottle deal and didn't realize its value (I checked its cost at a wine store, when I got back from our climbing trip). We drank it in a hottub in Nordegg after attempting Polar Circus. It was the best damn wine I have ever drank, ever, ever. Now back to this Tequila.... I can't think of who better to drink an expensive beverage with than a climbing partner, it adds to the ambiance of the whole adventure.

We spent Friday evening, all day & evening Saturday watching movies from around the world. Nando Parrado is not a climber, he is a survivor. He spent 72days trapped on a glacier in the Andes Mountains. He was part of the infamous group of young soccer players trapped after a plane crash. The world prefers to remember the sensationalism created when it dawned on everyone that they had no food up there so how did they survive....? Most of us know that answer. Nando's talk was honest, had virtually no hype to it. He talked about how the mind quickly shifts to a primal nature that cares about staying alive. He lost most of his friends, his mother and his sister in that crash. After 72 days and spring came, him and another guy decided they must cross the mountains, they knew via their radio that the search for them had been called off. They thought they were in Chile and had one mountain to cross to reach civilization. They actually had an entire mountain range to cross. Two 19yr guys who had never experienced snow before the crash and new nothing of the mountains. It took them 11 days, this is without a tent, without gortex, without any of the equipment we would deem essential in the mountains. They got help for the 14 other survivors still at the crash site. Out of 45 people, 16 survived. His story of his will to survive and some insight into the mind of a survivor will leave a lasting impression on me.

We also watched a movie about crazy French Climbers. A buzzword I think some of us in the extreme sports field could be hearing more of is "para-alpinism" No longer can one simply climb and descend. Providing you have the expertise and kahunas big enough you should be climbing and basejumping rather than rappelling. Ya.... sure, I'll get right on it.

Another movie I enjoyed was a film on the Kazak Eagle Hunters of western Mongolia, right where I traveled through this summer. It was so cool to see the sweeping vistas of Mongolia again. I have to admit, when I was there, seeing the eagle guy with his eagle was one of my least favorite parts of my trip. The eagle was in training and looked like an animal in the process of being broken into submission. I hated it. However in this movie the eagles were treated with much more respect and reverence by their captors. The end of the movie culminated in a wolf hunt, again, not my cup o tea to be watching but overall the movie brought me back to that wonderful place.

One thing I noticed with the movies I watched was the absence of the female adventurer telling her story. Definitely there are less women than men who are scaling big peaks, traversing endless miles of tundra or climbing ice, but we ARE here in smaller numbers.

Michele and I have been hatching some hair-brained schemes, if they pan out we might want to think about getting it documented. Something for her and I to discuss while I'm there in Dec for the Livermore wine festival and maybe I can pick up another horrendously expensive bottle of wine... (but I'll pass on the tequila) muhahahahahaaaaaaaaaa.

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