E.O.F.T. Magazine 16/17

no. 04

dAvId LAmA cLImBer And ALpInIst

It’s ALL In the FLow eXpLorInG the moUntAIn BIKe mIndset

2 EuR | 2 GBP | 2,50 SFr

down to nothInG on the edGe oF deFeAt

dAvId LAmA BAcK to hIs roots the wILd BUnch serenAdInG the BIG wALLs oF BAFFIn IsLAnd

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contents

E.O.F.T. 16/17 This is real The European Outdoor Film Tour is Europe’s biggest film festival for outdoor sports and adventure films. The new programme is packed with real life stories, authentic characters and breathtaking action. In this magazine we talk to E.O.F.T. athletes, go the behind the scenes with filmmakers and bring you the latest product news from our partners. Happy reading and we hope to see you at one of our 300 shows all over Europe. Best wishes, E.O.F.T. Team

Cover photo: © Martin Hanslmayr / Red Bull Content Pool; Photo credits for the pictures on this page will be found next to the corresponding articles

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L u n ag Ri David Lama and Conrad Anker in Nepal

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Locked in Kayaking in the heart of Papua New Guinea

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when we were k n ig h t s Homage to a friendship

20 PRO TRE K The watch for adventurers and mountaineers

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Flow In search of a state of mind

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L a li s t e Jérémie Heitz challenging gravity

32 G ORE TE X Celebrating 40 years of innovation 34 Z E I SS B I NOC U L A RS Stefan Glowacz on Baffin Island 47 I n t e r n a t i o n al OCE A N F I L M TO U R : First films announced

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down to nothing An Alpine expedition on the verge of disaster

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the adventures of the dodo Big wall climbing on Baffin Island

48 J A M SESS I ON What do you really need in your backpack?

I m p r i n t The European Outdoor Film Tour is a partnership between Mammut Sports Group, the W.L. Gore & Associates GmbH and Moving Adventures Media GmbH | Editors: Paula Flach, Angela Lieber, Daniela Schmitt and Lissa Cook | Art Director: Birthe Steinbeck | Layout: Claudia Wolff | V.i.S.d.P. Daniela Schmitt | © 2016 | Moving Adventures Medien GmbH, 80337 Munich, Germany

All details at www.eoft.eu

European Outdoor Film Tour 16/17

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L u n ag Ri

BACK TO his ROOTS About David Lama …

David Lama is known as one of the best climbers and all-round alpinists in the world. At the age of five, he was dis­ covered by the alpinist and Himalayan legend Peter Habeler and became known as the “wunderkind of climbing”. Since 2010 the multiple World and European bouldering and climbing champion has upped his game with alpine first ascents.

Now David is drawn to Nepal­—and not just to conquer mountains …

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All details at www.eoft.eu

L u n ag Ri

One mountain —two generations: Conrad Anker and David Lama attempt the first ascent of Lunag Ri.

All details at www.eoft.eu

How did the idea of climbing Lunag Ri (6,907 m) in Nepal come about?

To be honest, I don’t exactly remember what came first: The urge to travel to Nepal with my parents or the alpine project. In any case a mountaineer friend of mine, who had tried to climb the mountain himself, sent me some info and imagery of Lunag Ri, and pretty soon it was obvious to me: This is my mountain and I need to get there!

What makes this mountain so special for you?

On the one hand, the unique thing about Lunag Ri is, of course, that it’s an unclimbed peak. On the other, it isn’t just a high, snow-covered mountain that nobody’s been motivated enough to trudge up —it’s really challenging terrain.

How come you joined forces with Conrad Anker for this expedition? You’re from different climbing generations.

Conrad has done first ascents all over the world and I once got in touch with him for a couple of images of summits in Patagonia. And we both thought back then: “Hey! It would be great to do a tour together at some point!” In spring 2015 we travelled to Zion National Park and really got along right from the start. When you’re climbing with Conrad especially, you don’t really notice the difference in age.

Describe the moment, just below the summit of Lunag Ri, when you realized that you wouldn’t be able to make it all the way to the top, because time was running out.

It was a big mix of emotions. As a mountaineer you need to make your decisions as rationally as possible. But naturally there’s a certain amount of frustration when you fail. Nonetheless I believe that, all things considered, failure helps you mature. In retrospect you recognize the mistakes you made. For instance, we shouldn’t have left our bivouac gear behind when we went for a one-day push to the summit. We should’ve planned for one bivi on the way. I believe failure teaches you useful lessons for future adventures!

All in all, Lunag Ri was just one part of your trip to Nepal. The other part was closely linked to your family’s history. In what way did the time spent with your parents make up for the “failure” on the mountain?

(Laughs) I don’t think you can compare the two.

But it was definitely a very important experience to travel to Nepal with my parents.

Did you have a strong connection to Nepal as a kid?

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No, not really. The first time I was in Nepal was in 1993, when I was just three years old. The second time was in 1995 and the last time when I was nine.

After that, school got more intense and of course the climbing progressed as well with championships and so on. Climbing really defined my journey.

I always knew: This is what I want to be doing. In 1999 I did my first competitions and the climbing became a bigger part of my life­—not only in my heart but also time-wise!

Did your father tell you a lot about his home country Nepal?

Of course he told me various stories—stuff like the perilous path he walked to school every day, but I was really focused on competition climbing. And besides that, I felt the “I’m engaging in need to distance myself a something which bit from his past to find means I have to my own path in life. Over the past few years I’ve completely let go started to feel drawn to of the reins!”

Nepal—not only to climb David Lama mountains but also to spend time with my parents and get to know the Nepalese part of my family.

You probably didn’t get a chance to get to know that part of the family before?

That’s true! Not speaking Nepali is part of that.

As a kid, I was never too interested in learning the language and my parents didn’t force it upon me either. Back in those days no one could foresee that I would one day have good use for it. But the last time I was in Nepal, after Lunag Ri, I went back to Nepal to try another mountain—I got to know other members of my Nepalese family and it worked out quite well—especially because one of my cousins lived in Austria for a while and speaks German very well.

You can still learn the language. It’s never too late, right?

(Laughs) It’s never too late!

What can we Westerners learn from the Nepalese people?

How we treat each other in everyday life! To not feel so stressed all the time … We all have a watch on our wrists, but in Nepal—at least in the countryside—they hardly ever check the time. You get up as the sun rises, or even a bit before that, and you go

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do your work. And ‘specially with the long distances between villages, which people walk day by day, there really is no rush and stress. Furthermore there’s this incredible hospitality. Despite having very little, next to nothing by our standards, the Nepalese happily share everything with you— that really is very inspirational!

It’s often stated that your incredible climbing skills partly derive from your heritage. Did that annoy you when you were starting out?

I wouldn’t say it annoyed me. But I think, my achievements are something I worked for very hard. And you mustn’t forget how incredibly supportive my parents have been. Once they drove from the South of France to Slovenia in one weekend to let me climb. They travelled a lot with me.

When it comes to my mentality and attitude, they played an important part as well. As far as my genes go, I’m sure that one thing or another comes into play. For instance, I handle altitude extremely well and I can imagine that my Nepalese roots have a certain influence on that.

How important is the prospect of a first ascent for you and what makes it especially appealing to you?

The unknown! When you are somewhere on the wall as an alpinist, you always imagine yourself making your way up the wall and which line your route produces on the wall. The fewer lines there are on the wall, the less you fell encumbered and limited, and you feel free to choose your line. If someone has climbed it before you, you already know: Okay, this is possible and the person who came before me has made it anyway. There’s much less to explore!

Exploring and discovering is something we all know from childhood. How did you manage to hold on to this childlike passion for exploration growing up?

I don’t think that the wish to explore necessarily fades with age. I think it’s part of human nature and within each and every one of us—it just comes out in different ways. You don’t need to live this on the mountain. You can do it just as well in the city or in completely different aspects of life. I think it’s much more a matter of having the courage to live out that urge to explore at all.

Isn’t it hard to endure the cold, solitude and low oxygen time after time? Don’t you need a lot of capacity to suffer?

To me suffering is very much part of mountaineering, even a defining element of it. The urge to explore is just one side of it. But venturing into more

All details at www.eoft.eu

Photo page 4/5: Martin Hanslmayr/ Red Bull Content Pool

L u n ag Ri

L u n ag Ri

Da v i d L a m a

Photo above: Manuel Ferrigato / Red Bull Content Pool

Born in Innsbruck to an Austrian mother and Nepalese father, the acclaimed climbing champion is drawn back to his roots in Nepal. The 26 year old plans new expeditions to Nepal, not just to face new alpine challenges but also to get to know his Nepalese family better.

extreme territory always raises the question: are you capable of enduring the hardship? I personally believe that you get to know yourself better by suffering than staying in your comfort zone.

Do you deal with the risk of an accident or injury consciously or do you avoid thinking about those things?

No, I really think about it long and hard! But you “Until now Nepal needn’t really talk about it with your climbing was more a story partners. You might talk I was told than about what to take along a story I lived.” in the first aid kit with David Lama your partner, but in the end that’s usually the same stuff anyway. I can say for myself—and I think that’s what my partners do as well—that I think through very thoroughly what would happen if my partner broke a hand or a foot, fell off or fell unconscious on this or that section of the wall.

All details at www.eoft.eu

Could you even cope chilling out on a beach holiday, laying in the sun or would you go insane by day two?

(Laughs) I’ve started to surf a bit over the past few years—just because it’s the complete opposite of mountaineering. Every now and again it’s a great way to recharge my motivation for suffering on some distant mountain. But just slacking off on the beach—I don’t think I could stand it for two days, no.

Do you have a big dream for the future, a true passion project?

There is a project, that I’ve tried twice already and that still is a big dream of mine. It might be a bit less present at the moment than the other projects I’m doing next year. But it’s still the hardest thing I can imagine—the northeast face of Masherbrum in Pakistan.

Will you return to Lunag Ri? Yes, of course! Conrad and I want to return to Lunag Ri around the same time next autumn. We haven’t put the final touches to our plans yet, but it’s definitely our plan.

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Flow

Pushing the limits in the Dolomites Harald Philipp loves extra difficult terrain. Right there, where there are no established trails, he carves his own path.

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All details at www.eoft.eu

FLow

everYthInG FLows easy come, easy go. Flow is a very temporary state of being: everything seems to be perfect, time seems to stand still. mountain biker harald philipp knows how to find it. But he also knows that you have to keep chasing it.

FLow

comFort Zone

FeAr

the BUBBLe whAt Is FLow? Harald Philipp has developed his own concept of flow: the bubble where flow is the borderline between your comfort zone and fear. “Everything inside the bubble is what I’m familiar with, it’s what I know and what I can do. But, if I’m too scared to push my limits, the bubble will eventually shrink and I lose freedom. That means I must follow my curiosity until I reach the point where I wonder: Can I do this? what can I do anyhow? And if you manage to touch the very edge of this bubble, that’s when you find flow.”

All details at www.EOFT.Eu

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Flow

„I think, if you’re training for a long time to get into the flow—some day you’ll manage to build up a lot of contrasting experiences in your life and you can also cope better. Your personality will combine more contrasts.

And you’ll develop preferences for slow and stressful things at the same time.”

When Harald Philipp talks about flow, he talks about contrasts. You can’t do without them. Because the flow—how light, fluff and easy-going this state of mind might feel—is situated in a border area. A border zone between fear and comfort, between under and overload, between freedom and security.

None of this is new.

In fact, the term “flow” has been around since “If you’re feeling the the 1970s, when the fear, you’ve already Hungarian-born Profesgone too far.” sor of Psychology, Mihaly Harald Philipp Csikszentmihályi, started to research the phenomenon.

If you want to feel the flow you have to be prepared for a certain amount of risk. Or as Harald would say: to be and to stay curious. But that is one of those abilities that we lose as we grow up.

“Children who play have the purest feeling of flow.

They are totally absorbed in whatever it is they are doing—without any distractions. In their world everything is new and great all the time.

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We live in a society that appreciates peak performance, that values the result more than the effort.

What you did is more important than how you achieved it. This way of thinking makes it impossible to experience flow.

It would be wrong to believe that flow is the key to achieving more. It’s true, when you are in the flow it is easier to perform at your peak. But flow and rational thinking, which we usually use for solving problems and improving performance, are on opposites site of the spectrum.

“When you’re in the flow you are totally relying on your guts, your intuition. You have access to all kinds of experiences that you have collected through your life.

You don’t have to think about solving a problem in a long and complicated way. Everything just happens on its own. You see it. You do it.”

And what you are doing is not actually that important.

“When I’m in there, then I’m becoming one with my bike. It feels like I am in touch with the ground.

The bike, the trail and I, we are not separated anymore.

Everything is one and that’s incredible.”

That feeling Harald gets on his mountain bike, anyone can achieve it. You just have to connect with your personal passion. For a pianist the 88 keys of the instrument become an extension of his fingers. A dancer will lose himself in the music with his entire body, an author merges with his pen—words and structure come naturally.

All details at www.eoft.eu

Photos: Sebastian Doerk (page 8/9) Manfred Stromberg (page 10), Tom Bause (page 11)

Feels like flying: On his self-built trails in the Ligurian Alps Harald really feels the flow.

Ha r al d P h ili p p Harald Philipp is a mountaineer on a bike.

His trails are mountain tracks and via ferratas.

As a mountain bike professional he doesn’t compete against other bikers, he rides with them. He has written a book—“Flow”— together with sports scientist Dr. Simon Sirch and gives presentations about his bike adventures. www.summitride.com

At this point flow isn’t connected to sports anymore. Sports is just one way of achieving it. But there is one condition that is essential for experiencing flow.

“There are a lot of things that can give you a great experience. But it can’t go on ad infinitum: that’s when the activity itself is too simple. There needs to be a new component, you have to go one step further, give a little more than the last time. You won’t find today’s flow in what you were doing yesterday.”

If you stick to familiar routines, you’ll miss the chance to experience flow. If you don’t go to the edge of your comfort zone from time to time, you’ll begin to notice that your comfort zone actually starts to shrink.

This is deeply personal matter—everyone’s borders are unique. Even Harald knows what this feels like: “For example, I have claustrophobia. It’s a fear that I’m not facing. And that’s why it’s getting bigger and bigger”.

There is not just “fear”. You’ll always find a certain type of fear: of an activity, some kind of condition, an object or even a person. The flow state cannot make fear disappear, but it can push it back, little by little.

If you’re aiming for too much too fast, the bubble will burst, to use Harald’s diagram. When you manage to softly touch the ultra-thin, rainbow-colored layer, you’ve found flow.

“If you’re keeping fear at bay, you’ll gain freedom.

If you’re feeling the fear, you’ve already gone too far.”

All details at www.eoft.eu

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down to nothInG

down to nothInG on the edGe oF deFeAt Failed expeditions, summits unreached, team members falling out with each other—it’s all part and parcel of alpinism and really nothing new. But rarely is it documented as honestly as in down to nothInG, a film about defeat—defeat on the mountain, the failure of a team and quintessentially a film about letting yourself down.

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Alle Infos zur Tour All details at www.EOFT.Eu

Cory Richards on his way to Camp 3: Hkakabo Razi challenges the team not only physically but mentally.

All details at www.eoft.eu Alle Infos zur Tour www.eoft.eu

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down to nothing

M A R K J EN K I NS is an author and adventurer (43 expeditions).

The 58-year old writes for National Geographic and has published several books.

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Hila r e e O ’ N e ill 43-year-old Hilaree O’Neill is a seasoned professional alpinist and has been on more than 35 expeditions—leading many of them to success.

jungle, getting enough porters to carry the team’s equipment to basecamp proved impossible. The climbers had to leave a large amount of their sorely needed equipment and food supply behind. “It was at that point we all had to admit that this undertaking was spiralling out of control”, Hilaree says.

What followed are two nerve-wrecking weeks, trekking the endless ups and downs of the Himalayan foothills with heavy packs along overgrown jungle paths.

“When we reached basecamp, we were completely exhausted—very hungry, depleted and pretty insecure.”

For expedition leader Hilaree the situation was particularly challenging. Despite having led many successful expeditions, Hkakabo Razi posed an extraordinary stepping stone in her career as a team leader. To see her dreams start to crumble with her goal within sight really got to her. The first ripples of self-doubt started to surface. “It was incredibly hard for me to see so many Above base camp the things going awry—’specially landscape gets rougher. The because I had invested hunclimbers fight their way up dreds of hours in the planning through ice and snow. Time and time again they lose their way and you should think: The on the treacherous terrain more time you invest in it, the before reaching high camp at better it works out. But unforaround 5,500 m altitude. tunately that wasn’t the case.

Not at all!”

A few days later, shortly after leaving basecamp, a new fault-line appeared—this time about the choice of route. Hilaree decided to trek up a steep snow face, which Cory deemed way too precarious. In retrospect Hilaree appreciates his fear: “It was Cory’s first expedition since his panic attack on Everest and the avalanche on Gasherbrum II, which he survived by the skin of his teeth. In our team there was a pool of trauma, motivaAll details at www.eoft.eu

Photos: Renan Ozturk

“I’ve been thinking about Hkakabo Razi for more than ten years”, says Hilaree O’Neill, a prolific alpinist with a burning passion for adventure. Although the peak at 5,881 m, situated in the far North of Myanmar, was summited by Japanese and Burmese climbers in 1996, Hilaree had a different route in mind. Besides, she wanted to capture images of the highest peak in Southeast Asia. “Up until then, we hardly had any useful photo material of the peak! That’s part of what made Hkakabo Razi so unique and mysterious to me”, Hilaree says. For years the political situation in Myanmar made any expeditions to the remote Eastern Himalaya impossible.

When Hilaree first met National Geographic reporter Mark Jenkins at Everest in 2012, the dream of Hkakabo Razi was once again within reach. At Everest basecamp the two of them decided to attempt the peak in classic expedition style, by travelling from Yangon in the very south of the country towards the mountain in the north, by any means necessary. Hilaree took the leadership of the expedition and selected a team of top alpinists. Cory Richards, filmmaker Renan Ozturk and climber Emily Harrington joined Mark Jenkins to make up the climbing party.

In the fall of 2014 the expedition team hit the road.

“In the beginning, the team had a great dynamic, we laughed a lot and were a great unit”, Hilaree remembers. But soon the plan to travel from the former Burmese capital, Yangon, turned into a real nightmare.

“The trip was completely insane and mu ch more complicated and extreme than we anticipated!”, Hilaree admits in retrospect. The team travelled a total of 1,300 kilometres by bus, boat, motorbike, air and on sketchy trains. After two weeks of travelling they reached the starting point of the trek, already exhausted. The next challenge awaited them: In the thick of the Burmese

down to nothing

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down to nothing

tion and hopes, bubbling under the surface! I wish I had done a better job observing and dealing with all those things at the time.”

Over the next few days, the climbers fought through ice and snow, going higher and higher. Mark Jenkins was particularly ambitious. “He was driven to reach the peak in a way I’ve never seen in anybody before”, Hilaree says. It was only weeks later that she understood why. Years before, Mark had been to Hkakabo Razi with two of his best friends and wanted to summit the peak to commemorate them, as they had died after their joint trip. “And despite of leading the expedition, I didn’t know about Mark’s story. I only learned about that after returning from the trip.”

After five days of ex“Hkakabo Razi was hausting climbing across a really big deal. glaciers and up rock faces, the team reached high So yes, the pressure camp at 5,500 m to be was immense!” greeted by freezing 100 Hilaree O’Neill mph winds. Ahead lay a steep, thin and technically challenging ridge line, leading to the peak of Hkakabo Razi. A three-person team was chosen for a speed attempt on the summit in the early hours of the following morning. Emily volunteered to stay behind. But the other four quarrelled about who would be part of the summit team.

“You think I cannot do it and that I’m strong and fast—fast enough, so we can make it?” (Hilaree O’Neill).

“You take this personally.” (Mark Jenkins) “Of course I do (...) Fuck you Mark for the vote of confidence!” (Hilaree O’Neill) (excerpt from DOWN TO NOTHING) When Hilaree realised that the three men wanted to make a summit attempt without her, she was furious, deeply hurt and felt overruled as team leader. “They simply told me their decision and did not include me in the discussion.” She felt her skills were being questioned. “Right from the beginning the other saw me more as a ski alpinist than a proper alpine climber. I really worked my ass off and would have been just as strong and able as the other three. I think, Mark had made that decision weeks before.” That’s an assumption which Mark continues to refute. “Hilaree was severely hypothermic the day before and the decision was simply about the strongest team for the summit attempt”, Mark insists.

Heavy winds, excruciating cold and tricky climbing sections forced Mark, Renan and Cory to abandon their attempt just a few hundred metres shy of the summit.

The climbing party set out on the descent depressed 16

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All details at www.eoft.eu

down to nothing

It’s not just Hilaree who’s devastated by the defeat on the mountain: Mark Jenkins (right) and Cory Richards (left) are scarred by the ordeal of the climb.

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D AV I D W I S E Photo by: David Wise

shop

“I have led countless expeditions in remote regions, but hkakabo razi definitely took it to a whole different level.” hilaree o'neill

and disunited. Exhausted and emaciated, Hilaree returned to her family in Telluride and fell into heavy depression. “The Hkakabo Razi expedition almost broke me”, says the woman who was the first to summit two 8,000 m peaks within 24 hours and was part of more than 35 expeditions. “In Myanmar, my self-esteem was constantly challenged: by the travel to the summit, the jungle, the team and the unknown. It left me feeling extremely vulnerable.”

It took months for Hilaree to get back on her feet.

She hasn’t led any expeditions since. “After my return home, I blurred out my passion for the mountains completely and considered giving up expeditions all together.” Only now, two years after Hkakabo Razi, she feels stronger than ever. Her conclusion is this: “Sometimes it’s not so much the mountain but the dynamics of relationships, which decide on an expedition’s success or failure.” Despite it all, she wants to return to Hkakabo Razi—not now, but at some point in the future. “It would be a shame, to not use all the knowledge, that we worked so hard to get, for a future attempt …”

125 miles 80 by foot miles by motorbike

e.o.F.t. shop everything e.o.F.t.: Get the latest goodies in our shop on tour and online www.eoft.eu/shop

Best-oF-e.o.F.t. no. 12 Relive the highlights of last year’s E.O.F.T. programme, including uNBRANDED, TAMARA and the winner of the Audience Award: A LINE ACROSS THE SKY. € 19,-

Hkakabo Razi Jungle

170 miles by plane

Putao

IndIA Mytchina

Best-oF-soUnd no. 4 Put your headphones on and let the tracks on the Best-Of-Sound take you back to those iconic moments of the last three E.O.F.T. programmes. € 15,-

250 miles by train 190 miles by boat

Mandalay

Bagan

mYAnmAr

430 miles by bus thAILAnd Rangoon

the JoUrneY The journey from Rangoon to the base camp of Hkakabo Razi (5,881 m) in the north of the country takes the team a month. They travel 1,100 miles by bus, boat, train, plane and motorbike to Putao. From there the team continues on foot: 125 miles through the thick Burmese jungle. Finally they reach the base of Hkakabo Razi.

All details at www.EOFT.Eu

ABenteUer dvd/BLU-rAY Get the best films from the past 15 years of E.O.F.T.! On ABENTEuER (ADVENTuRE) you’ll find films like KADOMA, THE ROAD FROM KARAKOL and NORTH OF THE SuN. € 19,-

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pro treK

prw-6000Y-1Aer moUnt merU

pro treK multi-function watch for adventurers and mountaineers

Mount Meru is one of the highest peaks in Africa and one of the world’s most popular trekking trips destinations, making it the perfect name for the new PRO TREK radio solar watch (PwR-6000Y-1AER).

Outdoor enthusiasts, trekking aficionados and expeditions members know they can rely on their PRO TREK whatever the conditions. The various models automatically collect data, displaying information on demand. The PRw6000Y’s SMART ACCESS system provides you with quick, intuitive access to all of the watch’s key functions using an electronic crown. when you need to make split-second decisions, the new PRO TREK model responds instantaneously. Simply press and turn

prw-6000Y-1Aer SMART ACCESS – radio signal reception in Europe, uSA, Japan and China – solar power – 10,000 m altimeter – altimeter data memory – barometer – thermometer – digital compass – world time – 1/100 sec-timer – 5 alerts – countdown timer – automatic calendar – water resistant to 10 bar

the crown to configure functions like air pressure, temperature, altitude and compass direction. Forget the cumbersome business of reading different devices. Now everything’s available at glance, right there on your wrist. For outdoor enthusiasts, the PRw-6000Y is simply the most progressive technology housed in timeless design. PRO TREK also offers many other useful features including world time function, a countdown timer, five day alarms as well as an automatic calendar. Tough scratchresist mineral glass and a synthetic resin casing protect the PRO TREK’s sensitive digital sensors. A special feature of the PRw-6000Y is its extra robust and extremely durable carbon-resin wrist strap. more at www.protrek.eu

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All details at www.EOFT.Eu

Photos: Casio Pro Trek

reaching new technological heights with smArt Access

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SMART ACCESS · Radio signal reception in Europe, USA, Japan and China Solar function · Altimeter up to 10,000 m · Height gain · Barometer Thermometer · Digital compass · World time · 1/100 sec. stopwatch 5 alarms · Countdown timer · Automatic calendar Water-resistant up to 10 bar

www.protrek.eu All details at www.EOFT.Eu

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The only way out is through: The Beriman river has carved its way deep into the rock faces in the Nakani mountains of Papua New Guinea.

locked in

Locked In IN THE THICK OF IT The Beriman River is one of the last uncharted wild water rivers on the planet and it really lives up to its nickname—the Grand Canyon of the South Pacific: From its source in the remote Nakani mountains the river carves its way down 1,000 m in altitude, plunging down massive waterfalls and roaring through 13 narrow gorges to the Salomon Sea. In June 2015 four kayakers attempt the impossible and take on the unprecedented challenge of paddling the Beriman.

All details at www.eoft.eu

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Three men stand in the pouring rain on an overhanging rock ledge. The Beriman river thunders beneath them. In a united effort they haul up the rope, to which their paddle buddy Pedro Oliva and his kayak were attached just moments before: The rope is severed and Pedro is gone! The three kayakers look at each other in disbelief, panicking. They peer over the edge where the drama unfolded just a few seconds ago: As Pedro abseiled down to the river, the rope catches a carabiner holding his kayak. Trapped by the currents Pedro capsizes. Pushed against the walls of the narrow gorge and he desperately searches underwater for his knife.

In the nick of time he finds it and cuts the rope loose to save himself.

“This was definitely the most extreme kayak expedition, we have done!”, says kayaker Chris Korbulic in hindsight. “Almost the biggest challenge for me was just getting started. Committing to start the whole thing! The hardest part was just saying YES and not turning around and walking away.” And they almost did turn around around, because upon their arrival in the heart of Papua New Guinea the heavens open—days on end of pouring rain. Their goal to be the first kayakers to paddle the 13 steep gorges of the Beriman to the sea seems out of reach. “If a flood had happened while we were inside one of those gorges, it would have been game over”, Chris states.

After a week, the storms subside and there’s a good weather window. The kayakers take a helicopter to the put-in on the Beriman, high up in the wild Nanani mountains, ready for the adventure of a lifetime. Coming along for the ride are filmmaker Ben Stookesberry, kayakers Chris Korbulic and Pedro Oliva and worldclass paddler Benny Marr. Once on the river, the only way out is through—‘til they “My parents said: reach the sea. Aborting Don’t do anything the mission mid-way in stupid, understand the inaccessible, jagged gorges of the Beriman your limits, know what is impossible. But the you want to do and team’s spirits are lifted take risks to achieve by the confidence and those things.” paddling skills of Benny Chris Korbulic Marr: “He is just a really exceptionally good kayaker. And on the Beriman it was really key to have Benny there just to look at a line in a rapid and say: ‘Yeah, that’s good. It goes and I’ll run it first’.”

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On the Beriman expedition But the days that follow the team face gigantic don’t just challenge the padwaterfalls, dangerous rapids dling skills of the team. They and exhausting jungle were pushed to the limits of portages. After 13 intense days the kayakers reach their energy. Only eight of the 13 the open ocean. gorges are navigable. The team has to circumnavigate five canyons on foot and with heavily loaded kayaks it’s too risky to enter uncontrollable rapids and thundering waterfalls. These traverses—called portages—are the biggest challenge. 1,000 metre high walls rise steeply from the banks of the Beriman, heavily overgrown with thick jungle …

Wheezing up the slippery rocks with their heavy kayaks in tow, Ben and Chris fight through ferns and underbrush. Beneath them and the steep cliffs a particularly wild section of the river roars, just before it drops into an impassable gorge. Above them Benny and Pedro dangle in the midst of a rain-slicked canyon wall, trying to scout out a path ahead. Chris is quite literally barefoot—his feet have shed the upper layers of skin and he’s suffering from severe foot rot which is eating away the soles of his feet, making walking extremely painful. Everything is soaking wet, either from sweat or the humid mist rising from the jungle. A horde of flying foxes darkens the sky. The men are completely exhausted and thirsty. And despite the extremely humid conditions, fresh water sources are nowhere to be found. Ben is also suffering with foot sores and can hardly walk at all …

“The portaging was super extreme—the hardest portaging I have ever done”, Chris remembers. “Dragging our boats up steep rocks, soaking wet about 18 hours a day and just putting on wet shoes and socks again first thing in the morning and spending all day on your feet. And one point later in the trip, I think at the eighth gorge, Ben and I could barely walk, our feet were so bad.”

But the portages aren’t the only price to pay. The river is relentless as well, challenging the team with class V white water: extreme rapids, narrow passages and steep falls of the hardest white water category out there. The narrow gorges are incredibly dangerous and unpredictable. “One of the keys to being able to paddle this river was having flown over it. Aerial scouting meant we knew places where the river was possibly going underground. So we didn’t have to deal with the fear of coming around a corner to see the river disappearing. That would be totally scary, so we made sure we didn’t have to deal with that situation,” Chris says.

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Photos: Red Bull Content Pool (page 20/21, page 23 top & bottom right), Ben Marr (page 23 bottom left)

locked in

locked in

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locked in

Chris Korbulic during one of the many portages in the Beriman Gorge.

The team had to fight through thick jungle, dragging and carrying their kayaks along for days to circumnavigate the most treacherous parts of the river.

But nothing would have the fresh salty air and get emotional reflecting on worked on this expedi- what they have achieved. Deeply moved and incredibly tion without great team happy Chris, Ben, Pedro and Benny paddle from the work. “That was greatest Beriman straight out to sea. They made it. After 13 days thing about our team that full of uncertainty, misery and fear. After many hours of we were all willing to take pure adrenaline, hope and euphoria. The kayakers lean the lead at some point in for a hug and cheer for each other. Chris’s feet feel and to sit back and watch like they’re on fire. It will take a couple of days ‘til he is somebody else take the lead when they were the best able to walk in shoes again. But right now he doesn’t suited for it,” Chris says. “There are definitely egos at care.

“Often on a big trip you get to the end and it’s pretty play among us in the group, but I think in a special way everybody’s ego gets checked pretty hard by the river. anti-climactic and even kind of disappointing because The team dynamic is among all the shared skills. Each this huge thing you have been working on is suddenly over. You don’t really know what to person brings their own expertise do with yourself because it’s been and you just have to be willing to so hard and demanding and you’ve balance those things. I think there been putting everything into it and is something special about the river then suddenly it’s over. But this was that it completely requires a little the most climactic, most extreme, bit more humility and a little bit amazing ending to a trip!” says better teamwork, conceding and Chris. “Being able to pull out into compromising to be successful.” the ocean where the river dumps Before long the jagged rock Pa p ua N e w gui n e a out onto the beach was really really faces along the Beriman have disamazing. And it was a true feeling solved into soft banks of vegetation.

In the middle of the jungle on the island of New Britain lies of satisfaction and success and reJust a couple dozen paddle strokes the “Grand Canyon of the South lief, definitely one I haven’t felt on and then—The Pacific Ocean! The Pacific”. The Beriman River flows any other trip!” kayakers take a deep breath, smell from its source in the Nakani mountains to the Salomon Sea.

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Photo: Ben Marr

“We put-in on the river on my birthday.

It was a perfect way to celebrate.”

Chris Korbulic

䌀䄀一夀伀一䰀䄀一䐀匀 ∠ 䌀䄀倀䤀吀伀䰀 刀䔀䔀䘀 ∠ 娀䤀伀一 ∠ 䄀刀䌀䠀䔀匀 ∠ 䈀刀夀䌀䔀 䌀䄀一夀伀一

䘀䤀嘀䔀 一䄀吀䤀伀一䄀䰀 倀䄀刀䬀匀⸀ 伀一䔀 䔀倀䤀䌀 䔀堀倀䔀刀䤀䔀一䌀䔀⸀ 夀伀唀刀 䈀唀䌀䬀䔀吀 䰀䤀匀吀 䠀䄀匀 䴀䔀吀 䤀吀匀 䴀䄀吀䌀䠀⸀ 倀䰀䄀一 夀伀唀刀 䴀䤀䜀䠀吀夀 㔀글 䄀䐀嘀䔀一吀唀刀䔀 䄀吀 嘀䤀匀䤀吀唀吀䄀䠀⸀䌀伀䴀⸀

la li s t e

Behind the scenes Interview with Guido Perrini Guido Perrini is one of the most renowned filmmakers in the ski and snowboard genre. For LA LISTE the Italianborn director flew over the highest peaks of the Alps to capture freerider Jérémie Heitz’s breathtaking lines from above.

In LA LISTE steep skier Jérémie Heitz takes on the most extreme 4,000 m faces of the Alps.

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All details at www.eoft.eu

la li s t e

What is the main idea behind the film La Liste?

The whole idea of the film is to capture the most aesthetic extreme lines in the Alps and to show the evolution of extreme skiing. It’s really tracing back what the old guys did in the 60s or 70s in steep skiing: coming down a face and making 300 turns. Jérémie’s way of doing it is completely

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different. The sport’s heading in a new direction and he is one of the pioneers. It’s amazing to see and to be part of it.

What was is like shooting in the Alps—basically in your backyard?

Doing a project almost at home where we shot basically everything within two hours from where

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I live has been pretty amazing and really enjoyable.

But the challenge in the Alps is getting the right conditions which happens so rarely. If you go to Alaska, for example, you wait a few days for the weather and then the sun comes out and it’s almost guaranteed to be good, whereas in the Alps you have the whole season and get maybe three descents maximum in perfect conditions.

Jérémie is going down extremely steep slopes extremely quickly. What’s the main challenge for you as a cameraman in capturing those scenes?

Because the weather windows are so short it’s all about being in the right place at the right time.

The stuff Jérémie is skiing is probably not the steepest stuff that’s ever been skied but he does it at high speed! So the real challenge is to capture somebody skiing at 100 km/h down a 50 degree slope or steeper. That’s why we use helicopters a lot. It’s the only way to capture it properly and to do those descents real justice.

How big was the camera team for La Liste and what kind of equipment did you use?

On a normal shoot it’s usually Jérémie, another skier, a guide and then a cameraman and a photographer in the helicopter. So the team is very small, which gives us the opportunity to be quite flexible. Besides me, we had two or three other cameramen working on the project. And we used drones a lot. Even at 4300 metres the drones were flying perfectly.

G U I DO PERR I N I Despite being a passionate freeskier himself, Perrini preferred being behind the camera while shooting LA LISTE. It’s where the director comes into his own.

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I guess if you are scared of heights it’s not the job for you?

Actually I am scared of heights (laughing). It’s very strange. When I’m in the helicopter I have no fear of looking down, but if I’m standing on top of a cliff I get vertigo. It must have something to do with having your feet on the ground.

How important is it for you as a cameraman to share the same passion as the athlete you are filming? Are you a free skier yourself?

Yeah, originally I came to Switzerland just to ski. When I started skiing I was actually not far behind the athletes I was shooting. So I understand exactly what they are doing! But as I get older the young riders scare me a bit. I have a lot of confidence in Jérémie and his skills. But every time you see him doing something you’re thinking about the worst case scenario.

If there’s an accident or a big avalanche when you’re up in the air filming, there’s basically nothing you can do except keep shooting?

While you are shooting you have to stay focused.

The difficult part is more the night before.

That’s when you start thinking: ‘Tomorrow he’s gonna do this run. That’s quite dangerous!’ But so far I’ve been lucky. I haven’t experienced anything bad first hand like a huge avalanche or somebody falling. But of course it’s always on your mind.

The good thing is: we are in a helicopter and if something did happen we’d be on the scene straight away. Speed is essential!

How is your personal relationship with Jérémie?

Are you guys friends or is it more of a working relationship?

We are friends. And that’s also one of the problems! You get attached to the riders you’re shooting. If something happens it’s very hard to deal with.

Do you think the steep skiing has reached its limits or can it keep evolving?

I have talked to a lot of people about this and they all came to more or less the same conclusion.

Thirty years ago when people started extreme skiing you could really imagine a progression.

Now I don’t see how people can progress any further without killing themselves. I don’t know if you can go much faster down any of these peaks.

So I don’t think there’s gonna be a progression from this point onwards, but maybe there is.

You never know …

All details at www.eoft.eu

Photos: page 32: Guido Perrini, page 33: Tero Repo

la li s t e

M A MM U T

IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA JÉRÉMIE HEITZ At the age of 26, Swiss-born Mammut athlete Jérémie Heitz is on his way to revolutionising steep skiing.

Jérémie’s List: Successful descents: L e n z s p i t z e Ob e r gab e l h o r n H o h b e r g h o r n G r a n d - C o m bi n A iguill e d e B lai t i è r e Z i n al r o t h o r n L i s ka m m S t e c k n a d e l h o r n M t R o s a B r e i t h o r n M t B la n c d u Ta c ul

After two years in the international skiing association Jérémie had enough. Instead of Attempts: chasing the ideal line on preD o m d e s Mi s c h ab e l Ma t t e r h o r n pared pistes and following strict race guidelines, making Failed because only mediocre progress, the of bad conditions: Swiss athlete redirected his A iguill e V e r t e W e i s s h o r n talents to freeriding. “I’m glad that I did take part in so many Successful descents races”, he admits, “it’s the that weren’t on the original list: best school.” But even off the B r u n n e gg h o r n grid he could learn from the A iguill e d e l ’ A m o n e best. His stepfather, an expeB i s h o r n W e ll e n ku p p e rienced mountain guide, and brothers Nicolas and Loris Falquet (also known as Huck & Chuck, two of Switzerland’s most renowned free­ skiers) taught him how to handle the challenges of the back-country. The mountains were always right on his

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J É R É M I E HE I T Z The Swiss guy prefers ski-touring over heli-skiing and loves riding at high speed. In 2015 he got second place at the Freeride World Cup.

doorstep. Jérémie grew up in Les Marécottes, a small town in Valais. Not far away from Zinalrothorn and Obergabelhorn—two of fifteen alpine four-thousanders that he wanted to tackle on skis in his film LA LISTE. Of all of his successful descents the enormous icy north face of the Obergabelhorn remains as his most vivid memory: “Getting the timing perfect “I took the brakes was hard. In some seaoff when I started sons the snow doesn’t freeriding.” stick on the slopes making Jérémie Heitz them impossible to ski.

But the peak has the perfect shape, it’s a beauty.

I climbed up and skied down alone. The feeling was incomparable!” Little wonder: on a face like this, with slopes of up to 55 degrees, Jérémie can reach a top speed of 120 kilometres per hour!

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4 0 y e a r s G ORE - TE X ®

Gore 40 Years of Leadership and Innovation

It started with a moment of inspired invention and is now a brand recognised worldwide. For 40 years W.L Gore & Associates has prioritised innovation in its quest to build upon the legacy of the first GORE-TEX® fabric, which transformed the outdoor clothing marketing so long ago.

As new products and fabrics have emerged over the past four decades, the GORE-TEX® name has increasingly grown in status so that, today, its label on an item is seen as an intrinsic mark of quality and durability. GORE-TEX® products are connected with leading names in outdoor and sportswear, and the public trust in the brand has seen the company successfully move from hiking and mountaineer gear into the leisure market and endurance sports such as cycling and running.

Throughout its existThe first Gore-Tex‰ ence there have been jacket was produced several game-changing moments for the brand as in 1976. new fabrics were developed to meet customer needs. From its first commercial order in 1976, the breathable, waterproof and windproof GORE-TEX® fabric found early high profile supporters, including one of the world’s greatest mountaineers, Reinhold Messner.

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What Gore originally did for outdoor jackets, it later achieved for footwear in 1982 when the fabric bootie was invented. This technology was the catalyst for a brand new kind of trekking boot, one that was not only durably waterproof and breathable, but was also spectacularly lighter than others on the market.

As the number of companies incorporating Gore technology into their garments expanded, in 1989, Gore decided to introduce a warranty guaranteeing quality. The GUARANTEED TO KEEP YOU DRY® promise is now applied to all GORE-TEX® products, regardless of manufacturer, with the promise that Gore will repair, replace or refund any GORE-TEX® product that a consumer is unhappy with.

In 1998, the company joined the push for light and packable outerwear with the introduction of GORETEX® PACLITE® fabric. This new material weighed just 100 g per square meter compared with 160 g for the current product, allowing creation of jackets with an overall weight of less than 500 g.

Having sorted the body and the feet, 2003 saw the arrival of GORE-TEX® XCR® gloves. Like all GORE-TEX®

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Photos: GORE-TEX® Archive

Four decades on from its first commercial order, W. L. Gore and Associates continues to spearhead leadership and innovation in the outdoor garments market.

40 YeArs Gore-teX®

one of the first Gore-teX® styles from Berghaus, a longtime client of Gore.

products, these also underwent extensive testing and trialling to ensure they would be as durable and waterproof as other GORE-TEX® garments and, importantly, that they would be comfortable enough to wear for active tasks.

The past decade has been an incredibly fertile period for innovation. In 2006, Gore came up with GORETEX® Pro Shell, created for the most rugged activities. using a multilayer membrane along with Gore Micro Grid Backer technology, it was designed specifically to remain protective and comfortable in even the harshest conditions.

2010 brought GORE-TEX® Active to the market, designed to be lightweight, soft and with excellent next-

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Available since 2015: The GORE-TEX® Active Jacket is the most lightweight and breathable Gore jacket ever.

to-skin comfort. The most breathable GORE-TEX® product ever, it was targeted at increasingly popular high aerobic activities such as running, cycling and crosscountry skiing.

Over the past few years even more products have reached the market. GORE-TEX® SuRROuND™ Footwear is now used by 25 Gore brand partners worldwide, introducing allround breathable and waterproof footwear, including the sole. And anIn 1989, Gore introother innovation for ski duced a warranty touring boots is the first guaranteeing quality. heat mouldable boot linthe GUArAnteed ers. Gore warm technology is making gloves that to Keep YoU drY® keep your hands warmer promise now covers all for longer and the latest Gore-teX® products. version of the GORE-TEX® Active products contain a permanent beading surface which takes away the need for a face fabric—it’s the lightest and most breathable GORE-TEX® product so far.

Throughout the past 40 years, Gore has not stopped seeing how to make its celebrated products even better. Like an elite athlete, the company hones and refines, determined always to be the best.

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ZeIss

hUnter oF the mAGIc moment

Extreme mountaineer and adventurer, Stefan Glowacz, than providing unique views of nature and the landis fascinated by Baffin Island—the largest island in scape, binoculars would also provide clear answers to Canada, most of which lies above the Arctic Circle, lo- questions such as: what’s the safest way to get over cated in the territory of Nunavut, where steep, impos- this frozen river? Is that a polar bear moving towards us? which route is the best and safest way up the wall? ing granite walls rise up a thousand metres to the sky.

In the past, most climbers reached these walls with where might the rock be loose?

In critical situations such as this, Glowacz knew he the help of Inuit snowmobiles across the ice. Others climbers accessed the walls by boat during the short could rely on his TERRA ED Pocket by ZEISS. The TERRA Arctic summer. But nobody has ever dared to do what ED Pocket is extremely lightweight (130 g), and thanks Stefan Glowacz and his fellow adventures did on June to its fiberglass-reinforced, waterproof casing and 2016: taking a human-powered approach across 150 operating temperatures of -20° C to +63° C, it’s suitable kilometres of breaking ice, melting snow and curious for adventures on every continent. with maximum polar bears, from the Clyde River to Sam Ford Fjord, optical precision, a hydrophobic multi-layer coating followed by a successful ascent of one of the island’s and 8x magnification, the binoculars deliver excellent high-contrast and detailed pictures. An extra-large infamous big walls. field of view of 119 metres guaranTo achieve it, the team would tees an unbeatable range of vision. face a whole range of challenges.

The TERRA ED Pocket by ZEISS: Breaking ice and melting snow a pocket-sized, must-have piece of meant they would have to rely on equipment and the ideal addition to their combined experience, power, your adventure team, for the magic endurance and creativity. After moment at the summit or for every choosing the right equipment for magic moment of the ascent. their adventure, they would need to the terrA ed Learn more about the carry it all the way to the wall. BinpocKet BY ZeIss outdoor binoculars from ZeIss: oculars would play a crucial role on www.zeiss.com/outdoor the expedition equipment list. More Lightweight, powerful and tough: with 8x or 10x magnification 34

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All details at www.EOFT.Eu

Photos: Klaus Fengler

the piece of expedition equipment stefan Glowacz wouldn’t want to be without: his terrA ed pocket by ZeIss.

Closer to nature.

ZEISS TERRA ED Pocket

Photos: Klaus Fengler

Stefan Glowacz, Baffin Island Expedition Mountaineer

// INSPIRATION MADE BY ZEISS

ZEISS TERRA ED Pocket Compact, light and rugged.

Every time I go on an expedition, I always experience it: That unique moment that defines the journey and redefines what I’m capable of. This is why I always travel with my TERRA® ED Pocket from ZEISS. It fits into the smallest of pockets, weighs virtually nothing and guarantees an experience that’s as unforgettable as the view. www.zeiss.com/outdoor

All Aboard The Dodo’s Delight Climbing, sailing, making music. Their expedition on the Dodo’s Delight is a dream come true for Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, Ben Ditto and Nicolas and Olivier Favresse. This is the behind the scenes story of how the “Wild Bunch” met Captain Reverend Bob Shepton.

The adventures of the dodo

The climbers jump straight in to the ice cold water. Maybe that’s how they scared away the fish? As it turns out the team can’t catch any on the coast of Baffin Island while back in Greenland their daily catch was enough for a whole meal— for weeks on end.

All details at www.eoft.eu

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The adventures of the dodo

The story begins 20 years ago. Sean and Ben meet for the first time on a climbing trip in the Red River Gorge.

It’s 15 years ‘til their paths cross again when Ben gets to know Nico through mutual friends and Nico introduces him to him climbing partner—who turns out to be Sean.

It becomes obvious quite quickly: Ben, Sean and brothers Nico and Olivier Favresse share the same passion for exceptionally adventurous climbing destinations. Their expeditions lead them to Yosemite Valley, Squamish, Patagonia and eventually to the Arctic. In 2010 Nico wanted to establish new routes on the coast of Greenland. An Italian mountain guide recommended Nico get in touch with Captain Reverend Bob Shepton.

“It’s all about the He had met the skipper on a boat in Greenland and experience. And going knew that he had been on a sailboat trip is the sailing the seas for many ultimate experience.” years, especially his fa-

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vourite waters—the Northern Atlantic and Arctic Ocean.

With his dinghy Bob drops Before Bob got his own Sean, Olivier and Nico at the foot of the wall. He stays boat, the Dodo’s Delight, he on the boat—understandable had made a living as a naval as he’s 81 years old. officer, teacher and minister.

And he had sailed multi-million dollar yachts for wealthy clients in the Mediterranean, too. But now he is reluctant. He doesn’t like sailing with strangers. After exchanging a few e-mails the climbers and the captain agree to go on the expedition together. Ten minutes after meeting in the harbour at Aasiaat (Greenland) it’s clear: everyone is pretty much on the same—yet slightly chaotic—page. While Nico and Olivier grew up on a sailing boat and are both expert sailors and climbers, Ben and Sean have to take a crashcourse in crewing. That year the Dodo’s Delight and the climbers set sail for the first time. They are heading for the big walls on the west coast of Greenland. There they do nine first ascents (e.g. The Devil’s Brew) for which they are awarded a Piolet d’Or. Four years later the dream team is reunited—setting course for Baffin Island.

All details at www.eoft.eu

Photos: Ben Ditto

Small world: How three Belgians, a Scotsman and an American set sail on one boat

In Swiss Bay, near Sam Ford Fjord, Sean is testing the buoyancy of his rubber crocodile.

The adventures of the dodo

All details at www.eoft.eu

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TOUTE L’ACTUALITÉ DE VOS SPORTS PRÉFÉRÉS

Wild Life: How to ward off polar bears En route for Baffin Island, The Dodo’s Delight encounters many loose ice floes and icebergs—as well as polar bears.

The crew spots eight bears on their first day on the boat, but only Olivier and Ben have the privilege to meet one face to face. After six weeks of “bear” calm they are descending from a mountain peak, when they literally bump into a polar bear. The animals must have been tracking them. And the gun, designed for situations like this? It was on the boat. There’s nothing else for it—they stand their ground, shouting and screaming at the tops of their voices. It works—the bear turns tail and flees.

AVEC DES GUIDES MATÉRIELS COMPLETS À DÉCOUVRIR DANS NOS MAGAZINES

Musical intermezzos: How to kill time harmonically An expedition without music would be unthinkable for Sean, Nico and Olivier. Even Ben, who only acquired a taste for it when he met the Belgians, has come to love their jam sessions. He learned to play the harmonica on a trip to South America. On board the Dodo’s Delight Ben, with two spoons, forms the group’s rhythm section, supported by Captain Bob with an egg-shaker—a plastic egg quarter-filled with rice. Together with Olivier’s accordion, Nico’s mandolin and Sean’s tin whistle—a simple flute used in Celtic folk music, the quintet is complete. Of all the band’s songs “Dodo’s Delight” has most earworm potential. Sean had originally started to write it and then shaped and reshaped it together with the rest of the band. There are some minor creative arguments about the music and words, especially about Bob’s part of the song. But, in the end, even the Captain is satisfied.

TABLETTES & SMARTPHONE

Sam Ford Fjord Clyde River

MAIS AUSSI SUR NOS SITES WEB

Baffin Bay

G REEN L A ND

Aasiaat

baffi n i s la n d

Davis Strait

The route Once the ice melts on the coast of Greenland and Baffin Island, the Dodo’s Delight can finally set sail. Captain Bob steers his boat from Aasiaat to Uummannaq to stock up on supplies.

On August 5th 2014 the real adventure begins. It takes only four days to sail through the Davis Strait to the Clyde River and another day to get to Sam Ford Fjord and its impressive Big Walls. After three weeks of climbing there the Dodo’s Delight heads for Gibbs Fjord.

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All details at www.eoft.eu

Gopro

vIdeo edItInG mAde eAsY wIth QUIK And spLIce ABoUt Gopro: GoPro is transforming the way people visually capture and share their lives. what began as an idea to help athletes record themselves doing their sport has become the norm for everyone, whatever their interest. From extreme to mainstream, professional to consumer, GoPro enables the world to capture and share its passion in the form of immersive and engaging content.

For more information, visit www.gopro.com or connect with GoPro on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

It’s really no secret that GoPro cameras enable users to capture memorable moments easily, even on the biggest adventures.

To make sure epic footage doesn’t go to waste on SD cards left gathering dust, GoPro introduced two mobile editing apps this year. with Quik™ and Splice, videos can be created directly on your smartphone in only a few minutes.

Quik™ is the fastest and easiest way to create awesome videos from your GoPro or smartphone footage, offering automated simplicity, while Splice brings desktop editing software power that is perfected for your

Q U I K ™ – In just seconds, you can turn your photos and clips into incredible videos perfectly edited to your chosen soundtrack, as it automatically analyzes your footage to find the best moments, adds beautiful transitions and effects, and syncs it all to the beat of the music.

mobile or tablet. No matter your skill level, Quik™ and Splice enable you to edit like a pro. when your video is just the way you want it, you can post it straight to Instagram, Facebook and more or save it to your phone.

Quik™ is available for iOS® on iTunes and Ans p L I c e – Splice has all the droid™ via Google Play— features of a professional desktop now completely free, with editor at your fingertips, allowing you to choose your favorite mono in-app purchasing. ments and customize your video.

Splice is available free for You can pick your transition style, your iPhone and iPad on trim clips, add filters, show off an iTunes. epic shot in slo-mo, add photos, trim and mix the soundtrack to your video and much more.

All details at www.EOFT.Eu

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w h e n w e w e r e k n ig h t s

WHEN WE WERE KNIGHTS

Ian Flanders & Matt Blank For many years Ian and Matt shared their common passion for BASE jumping and wingsuit flying. They’ll never get to do that last BASE jump without a parachute when they’re old and grey: Ian Flanders died in Turkey on 23rd July 2015.

Life writes the stories. We just have to listen. When We Were Knights —a short film by Anson Fogel—shows why it’s worth it. And that sometimes the best films are the ones you didn’t even set out to make.

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w h e n w e w e r e k n ig h t s

Everybody jumps for themselves: Matt and Ian were living a life on the edge and they knew it.

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European Outdoor Film Tour 16/17

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w h e n w e w e r e k n ig h t s

People mocked the fictional character Don Quixote for tilting at windmills. In in similar vein many people criticised Matt and Ian’s passion for their sport. Was it really pointless?

Only the individual concerned can answer that.

“Well Ian, if you’re reading this, it probably means that I had a bad day. And it probably also means that you had several following that day. But when you’re reading this, it also means that you’re ok …” With these words Matt Blank starts his farewell letter to his best friend Ian Flanders. It’s a letter that was supposed to be read by Ian, in case Matt himself died in a BASE jumping or wingsuit flying accident. But things didn’t work out like that. Ian never got to read that letter. Instead its contents are travelling around the world in the short film When We Were Knights. It’s an odd twist of fate that Matt could never have anticipated, not when he wrote those lines, nor when he read them out loud for the first time in public at Ian’s wake, shortly after his friend died in a BASE jumping accident in Turkey. Among those listening is Anson Fogel, a Anson Fogel commercial and documentary filmmaker and lives with his family in Salt Lake good friend of Ian and City, Utah. As a documentary and commercial filmmaker he works Matt. Touched by Matt’s all around the world—and yet he words, he wants to honstill finds time to spend his time our them in a way that on personal projects like When We seems to most natural to Were Knights.

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him—on film. At this point even he has no notion the letter could become a short that would connect with big audiences. For him it’s just a very personal film project, not an obituary for Ian, rather a tribute to Ian and Matt’s outstanding friendship. Primarily a film for people who had known Ian. And Matt’s letter is the basis for that film.

Looking back, Anson Fogel remembers that it was way harder to find a “I knew that Matt day to shoot the interview had written those than to convince Matt to letters. He’s written read his letter again in one for me, too.” front of a camera: “Matt travels all the time. But he Anson Fogel has no fear of his emotions and expressing himself. So when I asked him he didn’t hesitate.” Finding additional footage for the movie turned out to be more difficult: “Most of the footage that I used in the film was GoPro footage that they took themselves. And the majority of it is from Europe—last summer, when they were in Switzerland, Lauterbrunnen and Chamonix. The best wingsuit lines in the world. Because I’ve also used Matt and Ian on commercial shoots as my main stunt people for the last 3 or 4 years I also had a lot of behind the scenes footage that we had shot on a variety of different projects.

But in addition to that I had to reach out to other people to get footage. And that took a long time. They are

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Photos: Matt Blank /Ian Flanders

all BASE jumpers, not office workers sitting in front of a computer. So sometimes it would be months before I could get them to send me something—some old card on a GoPro.” Having collected a bunch of footage the hard work begins for Anson Fogel. “When I was at Ian’s wake the whole film seemed like very obvious in my head”, he recalls. “The structure became apparent fairly quickly. The edit was sort of complicated, the structure was simple. But it was “A lot of people will more just a matter of time. Just look at what we do finding the time to do it. Beand think: They were tween life and business and chasing windmills. other projects. I still think it’s a But that doesn’t mean little rough. I spent more time on refining the sound than I did we were not knights.” on picture. So it isn’t really finMatt Blank ished and I also didn’t know that it would get like a million views or something. At the very last minute one of my producers sent it to GoPro to see of they would share it.” They did, and that’s how the film found so many fans even before the E.O.F.T. uploaded it to their Vimeo channel.

In the world of sports BASE jumping and wingsuit flying are still niche. But the videos from their daredevil stunts are very popular on social media. In most of these action driven clips—not films!—the people who are actually inviting us to “join the ride” tend to take a back seat. We see the world from their perspective but we never really get to know them. When We Were Knights is different because it works on several levels. It’s not the action footage that makes it stand out—it’s not primarily about the sport. What makes it stand out is the friendship between these two people. When you’re watching the movie for the first time, you might wonder whose voice you’re actually hearing and who doesn’t live to see the end of the film.

And that’s deliberate. Anson Fogel leaves the question unanswered and it’s that uncertainty that holds our attention for ten minutes. Discovering the answer is more interesting than watching the action.

“I would rather tell human stories than make visual poems”, says Anson Fogel. “I wouldn’t make a short that was just pretty. I’m more concerned about humanity and emotions.” With When We Were Knights he has hit the mark. The film tells a story that only life can write. This is real. You bet it is.

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The International OCEAN FILM TOUR combines powerful stories, inspiring characters and stunning visuals on the big screen in one action-packed film programme that takes you into the deep where life on earth began.

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on tour again from march 2017—these are the first films of the program:

the weeKend sAILor

the Accord

Seventeen yachts, seven nations, 27,000 miles at sea: 1973 marks the year a sailing trip around the world turned into a race. But when the first whitbread Round The world Yacht Race sets off from Portsmouth, England, it’s not only the Empire’s most renowned sailing teams on the start line.

There’s a dark horse in the competition: Ramon Carlín, aptly named the weekend Sailor, decides to take part and he’s got company: with a motley crew of friends and family and next to no sailing experience, the 50-year-old Mexican embarks on a voyage to remember. Shunned by the press at first, Carlín turns into the unlikely hot contender of the race. THE wEEKEND SAILOR tells the legendary story of a man the sailing world wasn’t ready for.

If you want to surf in Iceland, you need to know what you’re up against: The forces of nature reign fiercely on this northern island.

The grimmest is the North Atlantic wind. In the mind of surfer Heiðar Logi Elíasson this wind is a red-bearded drunkard, unpredictable and capricious. The rough beauty of Iceland and its inhabitants’ black humour set the stage for THE ACCORD, the tale of a surfer making friends with a force of nature.

This award-winning surf film serves up the swell ice-cold, proving what a paradise Iceland can be when wind and surfer become brothers beneath the tumultuous skies.

An amateur shows the pros how to sail around the world

Photos: Tjerk Romke de Vries (The weekend Sailor), E. Magnusson (The Accord)

Big surprise: the team of amateurs turns into an unlikely hot contender.

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how to handle the north Atlantic wind: surfing in Iceland

The International OCEAN FILM TOUR is on tour from March 2017: Find more infomation on www.oceanfilmtour.com

European Outdoor Film Tour 16/17

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Jam session

Jam session

would be limited. On the other hand, instruments don’t need recharging and that restricted range can be endlessly combined into a variety of tunes. Goodbye boring climbing breaks on the wall. And even if the combination of wild whistling and enthusiastic tapping sounds a bit weird, at least there’s no one to complain.

With adventure equipment becoming increasingly lightweight it may be worth rethinking the useless clutter in your backpack. Could you junk the smartphone?

After all, it doesn’t help you get to the top, though admittedly it can record the journey (including the obligatory summit selfie) and help get you down in an emergency (assuming you’ve got reception and your battery is charged).

Musical instruments definitely aren’t on most expeditions’ essential kit lists. Even if you play out of tune at top volume, the range of this kind of emergency call

Ben Ditto, Nico and Olivier (not in the picture) Favresse and Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll have mastered the art of jamming over the years. If they don’t run out of breath and their sore fingers are still working, there will be music in the tent.

Photos: visualimpact.ch | Ben Ditto

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