MountainSummit:Mountainfilm In Aspen

FREE Events at The Ute Mountaineer
210 S Galena St

August 24 & 25, 2012
 

Get your visual buzz on at The Ute Mountaineer!

Friday August 24, 2011
8:30pm - 10pm

Program One

1. The Man Who Lived on His Bike - What can you do on a bicycle? For Guillaume Blanchet, the question is what can’t you do? In this two-minute homage to bikes and the bike obsessed, Blanchet eats, sleeps, showers, shaves, works, cooks and even dates – all from atop his man-powered machine.
    
2. Ice Revolutions - Climbers Will Gadd & Tim Emmett pioneer a new & radical form of ice climbing in a cave, dodging massive exploding icicles, finding incredible routes & having a blast on the hardest pure ice climb in the world.
    
3. Outside the Box - In 2011, climbers Anna Stohr and Juliane Wurm came to the U.S. to prepare for the Boulder World Cup. Part of their training included climbing with Lynn Hill, one of the world’s greatest climbers. While the two young women are at the top of their sport, they realize they still have a lot to learn from Hill, the first person to free climb the Nose, which is universally considered to be one of the most impressive climbing feats in the twentieth century. Hill introduces Stohr and Wurm to crack climbing in Utah. As they head up Castleton Tower, this short film by Stephanie Brockhaus documents how Hill shares her wisdom and experience with these two young women. 
    
4. Tent Bound in Devil's Bay - It was a good idea in theory. Climbers Hazel Findlay, Alex Honnold, James Pearson and Mark Synnott struck out for a remote bay in Newfoundland to establish new trad routes on a massive granite wall that juts 1,200 feet out of the ocean. After who knows how much planning and an arduous five-day journey, they arrived to find spectacular scenery, but climbing was swiftly shut down by relentless, cold rainfall. They were so close. And then they were stuck in their cell-like tents to wait out the rain and wonder whether it was all worth it. Tent Bound in Devil’s Bay, a short film by Camp 4 Collective, highlights what happens when a trip challenges expectations and spirit — until the clouds break.
    
5. Silvia - Ian McKillick - Mountain biker Ian Killick is featured in this flawless short by Karl Heldt & Matt Miles of Silvia Films.
    
6. Treeverse - Two climbers choose an ambitious line to tackle. It’s long, logistically challenging and comes with plenty of unknowns. It also happens to be in a grove of trees. Directed by John Waller (who brought us Into Darkness in 2011), Treeverse features Brian French and Will Koomjian as they  attempt a 1-kilometer transect through a grove of oak trees in northwest Oregon. The tree climbers eat, sleep and live among the branches as they move through the canopy — facing nasty weather, technical challenges and large gaps in the line as they pioneer a new method of getting from point A to B.
    
7. I Believe I Can Fly - Count on the French for the latest invention in the realm of high-lining, speed-flying and, er, line jumping? Whatever you call this cross between high lining, bungee jumping and BASE jumping that filmmaker Seb Montaz-Rosset highlights in this teaser of I BELIEVE I CAN FLY, it certainly is crazy and entertaining. As their girlfriends watch in terror, the Frenchmen have us convinced, if only for a moment, that they can truly fly.      

Saturday August 26, 2011
8:30pm - 10pm

Program One

1. Moonwalk - Dean Potter is nothing if not creative. In this short piece, he highlines across a desert landscape with a massive full moon as his backdrop.
    
2. The Denali Experiment - In 2011, the North Face assembled an eclectic team of athletes for a ski expedition up Denali, the hulking 20,320-foot mountain that rises from a snow-clad range in Alaska's interior. This film brings together an unexpected mix of new-school talent and mountaineering veterans. The result? The young guns are pushed beyond their comfort zones as they learn what it's like to suffer for their turns, and the old hands learn a thing or two about jibbing at 14,000 feet. 
    
3. Blue Obsession - Climber Alan Gordon has been exploring the
   Mendenhall Glacier for years, watching as old features melt away, scenery before it disappears forever. Blue Obsession, a film about his mission, offers a short & gorgeous portrait of a landscape in flux.
    
4. Into Thick Air - The Seven Summits are a legendary accomplishment for alpinists. So how did a motley crew of Midwesterners achieve them — and over a weekend, no less? They redefined the summits, making them the highest points of seven Midwestern U.S. states. These men don’t need climbing rope or crampons — a passenger van and a designated driver is the key to them bagging their goal. Directed by David Story and featuring his identical twin brother, Telluride local Rob Story, Into Thick Air chronicles a group of adventurers who live up to the moniker that the legendary Yvon Chouinard once applied to himself and his brethren: Conquerors of the Useless.
    
5. Race for the Nose - the boys from Sender Films know how to make climbing films - and this is  a fine example of their work as Dean Potter and Hans Florine ascend the Nose at El Capitan in an attempt to set a new speed record - again.
    
6. Last Light - Shot entirely during what's called the "magic hour," cinematographer and editor Ben Sturgulewski of Sweetgrass Productions takes us on a self-powered, all-you-can-shred spine buffet in Haines, Alaska, with skiers Stephan Drake, Forrest Shearer and Johan Jonsson.