Banff Mountain Festival World Tour Magazine 2013-14

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BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 2013–14 WORLD TOUR

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“Athletes, artists – the line between the two is gone now” PAGE 10

CONTENTS BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 13/14

FEATURES 10 Camp 4 Collective 15 Ready To Fly The Passionate Eyes

“I feel like my future is in the hands of a bunch of old dudes.”

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Where Are They Now? Catching up on Crossing the Ice, Lily Shreds Trailside, Ernest, 1st Afghan Ski Challenge and other film hits from past festivals

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In the Footsteps of Nomads

33

Transgressions

36

Tim Cope follows his heart, and Genghis Khan

DEPARTMENTS 8 39 40 42

Welcome Film Festival Awards Contest Last Words

Cover photo: Ski Touring, Mt. Shuksan © Grant Gunderson Top: From Camp 4 Collective, Alex Honnold in Yosemite. © Jimmy Chin Right: Aleks Gamme, the unexpected hero of Crossing the Ice. Image courtesy Aleks Gamme.

An excerpt from Rock Paper Fire: the Best in Mountain and Wilderness Writing

Radical Reels Faster. Steeper. Higher. Deeper.

Banff Ban nfff M Mountain Mo Mou ou oun ntta nta tain in Fil FFilm iillm lm FFestival esttiva ivval vvaal 2201 20 2013 013 / 2014 01 2014 20 14

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WELCOME

TO THE BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL WORLD TOUR!

THANK YOU for supporting the filmmakers and host organizations by believing in them and the organizations they represent, and for having faith in us – the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour organizers – to select the very best mountain and adventure stories from the over three hundred film submissions we receive annually. Trust us, it isn’t easy!

Each year we’re honoured by filmmakers and athletes who entrust us with their creative works and feats of passion – and we are extremely grateful! Still, every year we’re asked over and over, “where are the women?”. It appears many of you folks who make up our audiences at over 750 screenings around the world are missing women’s stories, missing role models for your daughters, missing the women’s perspective. The stories are out there, that we know. Take just the last couple of years of live presentations during the annual Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival: Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Dervla Murphy, Lynsey Dyer, Pat Deavoll, Edurne Pasaban, Sarah McNair-Landry, and Maria Coffey have all graced our stages and shared their adventures. As this magazine goes to press, final arrangements are being made for adventurer Cecilie Skog and big wall climber Silvia Vidal to travel with their tales to Banff.

If you’re asking the question, “where are the women?”, we urge you to join us in supporting these women in their adventures, and all filmmakers in their creative ventures, through reputable online funding platforms, such as Indiegogo, Kickstarter. and RallyMe. If you don’t know where to start looking for projects to support, watch the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival’s Facebook page, Twitter account... or write to us at info@banffmountainfestival.ca. Breathe life into the stories you’d like to see!

You might also want to donate to artist support at The Banff Centre, through programs such as the Banff Mountain Festival’s Adventure Filmmakers’ Workshop and Mountain and Wilderness Writing program. Thanks to our supporters and partners – and people like you – scholarship funding for these programs is available. As well, anyone looking to advance a film project is welcome to apply for a Film and Media residency at any point throughout the year. Details are available at banffmountainfestival.ca and banffcentre.ca.

Finally, we invite you to consider coming to Banff yourself. Experience the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival and all The Banff Centre has to offer right here in Banff, Alberta! The Festival’s celebration of mountain culture and mountain life reflects who we are as a community. Our reverence for the mountains inspires our day-to-day lives and our vision for the future. And, each year through the Festival, we are able to share the joy that is Banff with the rest of the world.

The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival is proud to be a founding member of the

Joni Cooper Programming Director Banff Mountain Festival

Kerry Stauffer Executive Director Film & Media

A program of

BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL WORLD TOUR Magazine Editor Debra Hornsby Executive Director, Film & Media Kerry Stauffer Programming Director Joni Cooper World Tour Manager Jim Baker Senior Producer, Film & Media Woody MacPhail Strategic Partnership Manager Laurie Harvey World Tour Coordinator Seana Strain World Tour Program Coordinators Cécile Neff, Meagan Stewart, Brenda Williams Technical Producer, Film & Media Leanne Allison World Tour Onsite Coordinators Kristi Beetch, Michelle de Camp, Holly Elliott, Nancy Hansen, Heather Hendrie, Paul Price, Ray Schmidt, Charla Sharp Tomlinson Festival Manager Deb Smythe Programming & Event Producer Joanna Croston Festival Coordinator Christine Thél Film Coordinator Karin Stubenvoll Festival Coordinator, Guest Relations Monica Meneghetti Film & Media Coordinator Patsy Murphy Production Admin. Coordinator Lana Hettinga Technical Assistants Mark Tierney, Doug Latimer, Willi Schmidt, Graham King MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Marketing Officers Nicky Lynch, Amelie Goulet-Boucher Media Relations Jill Sawyer Festival Design and Artwork Kelly Stauffer We wish to express our gratitude to Banff Mountain Film Festival founder John Amatt, and to former director Bernadette McDonald, whose visionary leadership elevated the Festival to the world stage.

Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival Film & Media, The Banff Centre Box 1020, Banff, AB, Canada T1L 1H5 1-800-298-1229 email banffmountainfestival@banffcentre.ca Website banffmountainfestival.ca Banff Mountain Festival Box Office 1-800-413-8368 Published by Cottage Life Media 54 St. Patrick Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1V1, (416) 599-2000 Publisher Al Zikovitz Associate Publisher Randy Craig Art Director Michael Zikovitz Production Manager Jodi Brooks Assistant Production Manager Denise Gray email adsales@cottagelife.com © 2013 Cottage Life Media No part of the publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher and The Banff Centre.

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

FEATURE FILM

CAMP 4 COLLECTIVE: THE PASSIONATE EYES

BY DEBRA HORNSBY

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

Camp 4 Collective founder Jimmy Chin on a typical morning commute

“A

THLETES, ARTISTS – the line between the two is gone now.” Those words, which conclude Camp 4 Collective’s Cascada, featured at the 2013 Banff Mountain Film Festival, might serve as an unofficial Camp 4 slogan. The partners who form the Collective – Jimmy Chin, Anson Fogel, Tim Kemple, and Renan Ozturk – make a living merging their love of outdoor pursuits with cinematic artistry.

Their films need no introduction to Banff audiences: Cold (2011 Grand Prize winner), The Denali Experiment, On Assignment: Jimmy Chin, Living the Dream, Khumbu Climbing School, WildWater, the list goes on. According to Chin, Camp 4’s guiding principle is simple “We want to tell a great story with beautiful imagery, and to do work we are passionate about.”

Chin formed Camp 4 with Kemple and Ozturk in 2010. “The North Face approached us about creating more media for the digital space. I thought it made sense to form an independent production company to take on projects as needed, and to keep that creative objectivity. I was initially a bit reluctant about the idea of setting up a company. I knew how insane it was.

At one point, I said I would never do it, but Tim and Renan and I talked, and it just made sense.”

Chin says Camp 4’s first love is adventure filmmaking. “Our heritage is in the outdoor space, because that is the space that we know intimately. Renan and I are athletes. We all spent a lot of time in Yosemite, hence the name Camp 4. We know big mountain climbing and skiing, and remote expedition shooting, and also the technical side of shooting in those environments.”

“We want to tell a great story with beautiful imagery, and to do work we are passionate about” In recent years, Camp 4 has expanded their portfolio into commercial work (including a 2012 Pirelli Tire spot involving BASE-jumping an SUV off a Baffin Island wall that has to be seen to be believed.) Chin says the team’s adventure film chops allow them to expand into other spaces. “The work we do comes from a deep understanding of a space, which teaches you how to open your eyes and understand other genres. You know there is more depth there, and how to film it.”

Each Camp 4 partner brings a unique skillset to the table, says Chin. “Tim has an incredible

Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

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FEATURE FILM

What goes up: Sage Cattabriga-Alosa on Denali

eye and sensibility for commercial shoots, very calm and understated, and he knows a good story. He is also an incredible climber, though very modest about it.”

“Renan is hyper creative. He is all over the board, the hardest working director of photography I know. He comes at shoots from such a different direction, you just never know what he is capturing, but the results are amazing.

“Besides being an amazing filmmaker, Anson brought a great business sensibility to the company. He ran his own production company for a long time, so he knows how to do everything; he brings it all to the table. He was just a perfect fourth. He sets the bar in a lot of ways.

“I bring a mix of things. I started as a photographer but was lucky to have Rick Ridgeway and David Breashears mentor me as a filmmaker. That really helped me to think about narrative and see the big picture. Part of my job is to keep an eye on moving stories forward.”

Pressed to name which film from the Camp 4 portfolio brought him the most personal satisfaction, Chin settles on The Denali Experiment. “We made a 15-minute film with some of the world’s top free skiers and snowboarders, with less than a minute of skiing in the final product. It meant a lot to me that the film generated a very positive response from the outdoor community, and from athletes themselves. It tells me people are more interested in a good story than pure ski porn, and that gives me hope.”

Chin is currently working on his, and Camp 4’s, first featurelength film about a climbing expedition to India’s Mt Meru.

“I’m learning a ton through the process, working with some of the best in the industry. It’s my first long-form film, and it is a challenge to try to reach outside the outdoor genre to share a story with universal truths to a broader audience.”

He laughs. “At the end of the day, the Camp 4 concept is pretty simple. We all love to shoot, we all love to explore new terrain, and we all want to tell great stories.”

Anson Fogel and Renan Ozturk are alumni of The Banff Centre’s Adventure Filmmakers’ Workshop, and Jimmy Chin has been a frequent Festival guest. Catch up with Camp 4 Collective at camp4collective.com.

The joy of big water: kayakers in Cascasda Cory Richards in Cold

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

PREVIOUS PAGE: DAVE HAHN / JIMMY CHIN COLLECTION CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ADAM CL ARK; JIMMY CHIN; TIM KEMPLE; CORY RICHARDS

Big air, bigger mountain: Sage Cattabriga-Alosa in The Denali Experiment

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FEATURE FILM

READY TO FLY

BY DEBRA HORNSBY

THIS PAGE: DAN CAMPBELL, WOMEN’S SKI JUMPING USA NEXT PAGE: COURTESY GET T Y IMAGES.

“I feel like my future is in the hands of a bunch of old dudes.” – Lindsey Van, world champion ski jumper.

Ready To Fly tells the story of how Lindsey Van, and her women’s ski jumping teammates, overcame the odds – and the old dudes – to make history.

Director Bill Kerig follows their battle to make women’s ski jumping an Olympic sport. It also tells the very human tale of how one determined little girl grew into a sports hero. Thanks to Van, and her supporters, the 2014 Olympics in Sochi are the first Games to include women’s ski jumping.

Ready to Fly won the Best Feature-length Mountain Film Award at the 2012 Banff Festival, and a tour version is part of the World Tour in 2013–14.

We talked with Bill Kerig about making Ready To Fly.

What prompted you to make this film?

I had a very positive experience with my first film, The Edge of Never, and I was looking for another story. I was interested in making a film about a strong woman, because my daughter was going through some challenges and I thought, ‘Who are the sports heroes little girls look up to?’ And I found the perfect story right in my own backyard here in Salt Lake City – Lindsey Van. I didn’t set out to make a cause story. I wanted a story about overcoming overwhelming obstacles. And Lindsey was doing that.

How did you first meet Lindsey?

I met Lindsey in a coffee shop. She was really down about things at that point, and it was a terrible meeting. She didn’t want to make a movie. But we went skiing together and we had a fantastic time. I saw this joy come out of her, and this wonderful spirit.

How did Lindsey – and your daughter – react to the film?

Lindsey has a hard time seeing herself on the screen. She is enthusiastic about the positive response to the film, but she is a reluctant hero.

But, thanks to attending screenings, she has become quite an accomplished public speaker!

Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

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FEATURE FILM

“Ultimately though, the real ending is those women walking into the Olympic opening ceremonies in 2014” And my daughter loves the film. She is one of the kids Lindsey teaches in the film, and as a result of my involvement with Ready to Fly, both my daughter and my son have started ski jumping.

The film takes us up to 2011, three years before Sochi. Why end there?

It took a little over two years to make the film.

I do regret that we wrapped it up before the Sochi Games. But on the other hand, when you are making films for a living, there is a time when it is done, and we had an ending. They won their battle with the IOC [International Olympic Committee]. Ultimately though, the real ending is those women walking into the Olympic opening ceremonies in 2014.

What is your next project?

Making films like Ready To Fly is really a great life, but it is a really horrible living, so you had better love it. Unlike other sports films, we don’t get corporate sponsors of any kind. It allows us to tell a honest story.

I invested my own money to get Ready To Fly rolling. At that point, a new thing had just come out called crowd funding. So, we built a simple crowd funding platform and raised money for Ready To Fly. While I was making the film, I realized there was a crying need for athlete-centric crowd funding. Athletes like Lindsey spend half their time trying to raise money for their sport. So, along with some partners, I founded RallyMe.com. Lindsey was our first “rally.” She set a goal of raising $13,000 and ended up raising $21,000, which means she has been able to quit her $10-an-hour job, and focus on training.

CREDIT: CRED CRE C RED R EED D IT: T: ALL T: L CAPS C P CA CAP

As this magazine went to press in September 2013, Lindsey Van was pursuing her dream of competing at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and her U.S. teammate, Sarah Hendrickson – also featured in Ready To Fly – was the reigning women’s ski jumping world champion.

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? CATCHING UP WITH FILMMAKERS AND CHARACTERS FROM PAST BANFF MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL FILMS

CREDIT: ALL CAPS

by Debra Hornsby

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

“When I jumped off the mountain, looked up, and found the wing above me, just as planned…

I was the happiest person on earth!”

THE BOY WHO FLIES Filmmaker: Benjamin Jordan Paraglider: Godfrey Masauli

N

DIZOTHEKA/The Boy Who Flies tells the story of a leap of faith.

Literally. In the film, which was a hit on the 2012-13 World Tour, Canadian director and paraglider pilot Benjamin Jordan helps Malawian Godfrey Masauli achieve his lifelong dream of flying by paragliding from Mount Mulanje, Malawi’s highest peak. During their journey, the two men inspire hundreds of school children to believe Ndizotheka (It is possible.)

Since the film was completed, Masauli has founded the School of Dreams, Malawi’s first paragliding school. We caught up with Jordan and Masauli as they set off on a North American tour to raise awareness about the School.

What was your most memorable moment during filming?

GM: My most memorable moment was the day I jumped off the mountain!

Due to the challenges I faced when learning to control the wing on the ground, I thought that I was not going to fly. People said I was stupid and attempting something impossible. When I jumped off the mountain, looked up, and found the wing above me, just as planned, I couldn’t believe it! I was the happiest person on earth!

CREDIT: ALL CAPS

Are you surprised at how the film has evolved into a movement?

BJ: Almost all of my dreams to date, have taken on a life of their own. A course I took long ago laid out seven steps in order to achieve your dream, and the last step, perhaps the most important one, was to let go, to give it away, to allow it to grow bigger than you. This is ultimately what I’m always driving towards, within each project, and with life in general.

GM: I had no idea that the footage we were taking would be put together as a DVD and that people would watch it in different parts of the world.

After all, we were taking videos of the Malawian life that I’m used to, so I didn’t imagine that this would be of interest to other people. Today, when I receive messages on the Internet from people who say they watched the film and were inspired, I get inspired more than them. It’s an incredible feeling!

What is the main message you are trying to convey with the School of Dreams?

GM: My message has remained the same – Ndizotheka (It is possible) to realize your dreams. It is not easy to realize a dream in Malawi, due to many challenges. The school dropout rate is very high, partly because children are not encouraged. They don’t have role models they can look up to, and this is what has led to the School of Dreams, my country’s first paragliding school. Aside from producing great pilots, my goal is to help my fellow Malawians identify their dreams, track their progress, and encourage their pursuit, thereby helping to reduce school dropout rates.

Beyond everything, I think I’m most proud of seeing the School of Dreams slowly coming together because of the support that I’m getting from well-wishers around the world.

BJ: We want to encourage youth, and adults alike, to take time to acknowledge the fire burning inside them, and to find creative ways to feed it, no matter their circumstances. We want to dissect fear, judgment, and doubt and provide tools to transform these feelings into beauty, love, and excitement. We want to provide working examples of how designing a community around your dreams can ignite an inferno of possibility beyond anything you could dream.

Masauli and Jordan’s first stop on their North American tour was at the Boone, North Carolina Banff Mountain Film Festival screening. Many of the personal sponsors for the School of Dreams are Banff audience members. You can learn more, and contribute to the dream, at TheBoyWhoFlies.com. Catch up with Jordan’s latest film project at aboveandbeyonddocumentary.com. Benjamin Jordan is an alumnus of the Banff Centre’s Adventure Filmmakers’ Workshop.

Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

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06 . 4 5 h r s S ou th A fr ica

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

CROSSING THE ICE Adventurer: Aleks Gamme

PREVIOUS PAGE: IMAGES FROM THE BOY WHO FLIES © BENJAMIN JORDAN.

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OU COULD CALL Aleks Gamme the unexpected guest in Crossing the Ice. Or possibly, the potential villain. But as it turns out, Gamme is ultimately the hero of the film – an adventurer who puts sportsmanship and camaraderie above being first.

Crossing the Ice tells the story of Australian adventurers James Castrission and Justin Jones’ quest to be the first to complete an unsupported 2,275-kilometre journey across Antarctica to the South Pole and back. But, in an eerie similarity to Captain Scott’s race to the same pole, the two discover there’s a Norwegian already on the ice. Aleks Gamme is more experienced, he’s aiming for the same record, and he has a head start. Gamme’s noble gesture at the end of the expedition makes history (and the film). He waits so that he, Castrission, and Jones can cross the finish line together.

Turns out Gamme is no stranger to outsized adventures. In addition to his Antarctic journey, he had climbed Everest, ridden a tandem bike across the Sahara, and skied across Norway lengthwise.

Crossing the Ice swept the awards at the 2012 Banff Mountain Film Competition, taking home

the Grand Prize, the Best Film on Exploration and Adventure Award, and the People’s Choice Award.

We caught up with Gamme at home in Norway.

How did you first hear about the awards the film had won?

I woke up and saw several missed calls from Jonesy, and realized there had been a party somewhere. And there had. Crossing the Ice had won the three major prizes and he sent me a small movie with him on stage, thanking a lot of people. And thanking me. That was cool. Love those guys!

I started getting e-mails and Facebookmessages from all around the world from people who loved the fact that we brought some sportsmanship into the expedition world.

Also, Andy Kirkpatrick, the legendary British climber, watched Crossing the Ice last year at Banff. He contacted me and asked if I wanted to climb the Troll Wall [Europe’s tallest vertical rock face] with him. I didn’t know how to climb big walls, so I said yes. We spent 13 cold January days on the wall with our common friend, Norwegian skier Tormod Granheim.

“[Andy Kirkpatrick] contacted me and asked if I wanted to climb the Troll Wall with him.

I didn’t know how to climb big walls, so I said yes.”

You attended a Banff Mountain Film Festival Tour screening in Germany.

What was that like?

Amazing. I was a rock star for a couple of minutes. Surrealistic to watch the movie with 900 or so other people. And to see they loved it.

What have you been up to since?

I work with the national TV in Norway, producing a series called “Dream Trip”. People apply to have a dream fulfilled, and [alpinist/adventurer] Cecilie Skog and me take them out. It’s a fun job.

Otherwise I climb, surf, skate, jump, and play some guitar. And plan new expedition projects.

By the way, if you want to be my guitar mentor or vocal coach, please contact me... I need both desperately!

When he’s not tuning his guitar, Gamme also found time to attend the 2013 Festival in Banff, where he and Jones recounted their adventures in a presentation entitled Antarctic Adversaries. And in yet another serendipitous Festival coincidence, Gamme’s TV partner Cecilie Skog also journeyed to Banff in 2013 to present her story of being the first woman to complete the explorer “grand slam” – reaching both poles and the tallest peaks on all seven continents. Experience the virtual festival by browsing the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival entries on The Banff Centre blog banffcentre.org, or mark your calendars for next year’s event: October 25 to November 2, 2014 banffmountainfestivals.ca. Catch up with the Crossing the Ice threesome at gamme.no and casandjonesy.com.au

From the film: Crossing The Ice (l-r) Castrission, Gamme, and Jones Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

LILY SHREDS TRAILSIDE Athlete: Lily | Filmmaker: Ross Downard

E

VERY SINEW, every fibre, every synapse of Lily’s being is focused. On the tire. On the trail. On her owner Ross Downard.

Lily Shreds Trailside, follows Lily, a two-yearold Jack Russell terrier, as she pursues Downard’s bike down the sharp inclines and hairpin turns of Park City, Utah’s Trailside Bike Park. Diminutive in stature, Lily makes up for it in speed, agility – and joy. You can tell there is nothing she would rather be doing than chasing that bike.

Just three and a half minutes long, Downard’s video captivated fans on the 2012-13 Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour.

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

Lily even put in a guest appearance at the Festival’s Salt Lake City screening. Since Lily is the fast and silent type, Downard picks up the story.

“It was awesome. There were so many people wanting to meet Lily, the line at intermission went all the way to the back of the theater!”

Downard runs MtnRanks.com, an action sports clothing company. Creating a film that has inspired fans around the globe was something of a surprise for him. “It was very rewarding to see the crowd’s response to watching the film. I had no idea when I was making it, it would get so much attention. Lily has

become a little star, she gets recognized almost everywhere she goes. It’s pretty funny watching people get their photos taken with her.”

Stardom hasn’t turned Lily’s head. She is still happiest on the trail. “Lily has become quite the traveller,” says Downard. “She’s been riding trails from Red River Gorge, Kentucky; Moab, Utah; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Steamboat, Colorado; all the way north to Whistler, British Columbia.

She has inspired so many to take their dogs on rides and adventures, as well as provided so many smiles to those that have seen her video.”

Downard reports that Lily’s best adventure

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

You can tell there is nothing she would rather be doing than chasing that bike

IMAGES FROM LILY SHREDS TRAILSIDE © ROSS DOWNARD

Who says dogs can’t fly?

Lily shreds it at Trailside Park

over the past year was a spring bike trip to Moab, Utah. “Lily did 31 miles in four days, as well as an epic sunset ride down the Porcupine Rim Trail.”

Downard is currently working on what he calls a Lily Shreds 2.0 feature, which he hopes to complete in November 2013. “We only hope it is half as good as the first,” he says. “Better filming, more locations, and Lily just going all-out riding with me, sending jumps on the trails with more of her quirky sassy attitude.”

You can catch up on Lily’s (and Downard’s) latest adventures on her Facebook page Lily-PadDownard or her Instagram account lilyshreds.

Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

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Bergans is a result of Norway's beautiful yet challenging nature and climate. The sometimes extreme conditions place tough demands on outdoor equipment and the people using it. bergans.com

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Turn off the computer, get outdoors, breathe the mountain air

ERNEST

Character: Ernest Wilkinson | Filmmaker: Samuel Bricker

ALL IMAGES GRIT AND THISTLE FILM COMPANY, COMPLIMENTS OF ERNIE WILKINSON

E

RNEST WILKINSON is the kind of man we all want to be when we grow up. At age 93 (or is it 94 or 95?), he was still able to show filmmakers Samuel Bricker and Nathan Ward how to dig a snow cave, and to propose a simple cure for the ills of modern life – spend more time outdoors.

Director Bricker’s Ernest gave film festival fans a glimpse into the spirit of this remarkable mountain man. Increasingly frail, Wilkinson nevertheless forges a trail through the Colorado snow, wields a shovel, and builds a snow shelter, all the while espousing his philosophy of life – turn off the computer, get outdoors, breathe the mountain air.

A pioneering outdoor guide, trapper, and taxidermist, Wilkinson has lived in the Monte Vista, Colorado area since his birth in the 1920s.

His books Snow Caves for Fun and Survival (1992), Colorado Outdoor Living, Eighty-Plus Years (2008), and Outdoor Tips and Tales (2013) are a chronicle of nine decades of living well off the land.

Bricker reports that, sadly, Wilkinson was forced to move into a nursing home shortly after the film was completed.

“Ernest has certainly seen better days,” Bricker says. “After we shot his last foray into the winter wilds, he broke his hip. He is now back in the nursing home, and while his spirit remains as youthful and inspirational as ever, his body is in bad shape. It’s no surprise – he is 93 years old.

Or maybe 94 or 95. No one really seems to know his exact age.

“He just published a new book, an anthology of his outdoor columns from 1984 to 2013. And he just had a float in the Monte Vista Sky High Stampede – a float covered with the furs and hides of coyote, mountain lions, beaver, and other animals he had trapped and stuffed during his nine decades in the wilds.”

Ernest screened around the world with the 2012-13 Banff Festival Tour, but Bricker reports that Wilkinson was unimpressed with his newfound stardom.

“We asked Ernest what he thought about his film being shown all over the world and it was pretty much a non-event for him. Despite his wilderness prowess, he is a quiet fellow who has lived without fame or fuss. As he says in the film, he just “keeps going!”

Bricker says he and producer Nathan Ward of the Grit and Thistle Film Company are proud of the story they told in Ernest, but they wish they had begun the project a few years earlier.

“Ernest remains a bittersweet film for us. We are thrilled that we were able to film his last journey into the wild, but we wish we could have made a more in-depth film about Ernie when he was still able to travel well. He possesses a unique spirit …. I mean, it takes a man with a free and wild mind to raise mountain lions and bears in his living room, while they roll around and wrestle with his young children!”

Grit and Thistle’s next film is The Rider and the Wolf. Learn more at gritandthistle.com.

Ernest shows off a hand-built snow shelter

Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

1ST AFGHAN SKI CHALLENGE Filmmaker: Hans-Urs Bachmann | Characters: Bamyan skiers

A

ALL IMAGES COURTESY THE AFGHAN SKI CHALLENGE

FGHANISTAN isn’t exactly synonymous with downhill skiing. But the warravaged country’s Bamyan province possesses the ideal attributes for snowhounds: champagne powder and open hillsides. Skiers and snowboarders from abroad who venture into the region drool over its undiscovered bowls. But concerns about security have, until recently, kept the valleys surrounding the Koh-e-Baba mountains free of tracks.

In March 2011, skiing enthusiasts from Afghanistan and Switzerland created the Afghan Ski Challenge, an annual backcountry ski race, with the aim of inspiring locals to take up the sport and to promote tourism in the region. Hans-Urs Bachmann’s documentary about the race, 1st Afghan Ski Challenge, captured the Best Film on Mountain Sports Award at the 2012 Banff Mountain Film Competition.

The race inspired Bamyan teenagers to take to the hills with homemade skis, made by nailing flattened tin cans to the bottom of wood planks and tying them to their feet with twine. As the race grew in 2012 and 2013, Afghan competitors were able to access gear and training from Western ski instructors and mountain guides. The 2013 race included 15 participants from Afghanistan, and 15 international competitors from the US, Australia, Norway, Slovenia, New Zealand, France, and the UK. Well-conditioned to the air and altitude of their homeland, the Afghan competitors skinned-up

the initial 1,500-foot climb and hit the downhill portion well ahead of their far more experienced Western rivals, crossing the finish line one after another, and sweeping the awards. For the first time, women also competed, and again, locals ruled the day taking first, second, and third place.

As interest in the race, and Bamyan as a ski destination, continues to grow, a nascent ski industry has begun to emerge, providing jobs and hope for future. For the latest updates, and the opportunity to purchase Afghan Ski Challenge gear in support of the race, visit afghanskichallenge.com.

The race inspired Bamyan teenagers to take to the hills with homemade skis, made by nailing flattened tin cans to the bottom of wood planks.

Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF NOMADS IMAGES BY TIM COPE STORY BY JOANNA CROSTON

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

CREDIT: ALL CAPS

I

T SEEMS THAT the tale of Australian Tim Cope’s epic three-year 10,000-kilometre journey on horseback from Mongolia to Hungary cannot be contained within a single medium. Instead, Cope has chosen to tell his story in film, in words, and in images. His film, On the Trail of Genghis Khan won the People’s Choice Award at the 2011 Banff Mountain Film Competition, and was a favourite at Festival Tour screenings. That same year, The Banff Centre offered Cope a Paul D. Fleck Fellowship to support his book about the trek. The result, On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads, was published in September 2013. Cope brought

CREDIT: ALL CAPS

Tim Cope takes in the view in the Kharkhiraa region of Altai Mountains, Mongolia

Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

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Best buds: Moiykum Desert, Kazakhstan

Cope crosses the Capathian Mountains near the border of Ukraine and Hungary

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

these remote places as they are today. Many people he met during his journey still cling to their nomadic heritage, a reminder, perhaps, that faster is not always better, and that having more doesn’t always guarantee happiness. While the nomads Cope met may be forced to adapt to a modern world as urbanism encroaches on their landscape, their connection to the earth

will be harder for them to relinquish, just as it was for Cope when he was reabsorbed back into “normal” life. These images, and Cope’s book, grant us a glimpse into a world still connected to a time when Genghis Khan roamed the steppe.

To learn more about Tim Cope, and how to purchase the book visit timcopejourneys.com

ALL IMAGES © TIM COPE

both the book, and a photo exhibition of the same name, to the 2013 Festival in Banff.

Not only have I had the immense pleasure of meeting Cope in person, I’ve also had the opportunity to read his book and I can tell you, Cope is an outstanding writer and observer.

There are emotional details in the book that simply couldn’t be captured in moving images and are best expressed in words. To complement what is sure to be an adventure travel bestseller, the stunning images on these pages reveal a nomadic people’s way of life many thought was long lost to technology and the hustle and bustle of urban living.

At an intersection of tradition and modernity, Cope’s photographs capture all the glory of

On the move: Kharkhiraa region of Altai Mountains, Mongolia

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BOOK EXERPT

TRANSGRESSIONS An excerpt from Rock Paper Fire: the Best in Mountain and Wilderness Writing

BY KATIE IVES

The Canadian Rockies have always spoken to the adventurous spirit, drawing wilderness seekers and artists from all over the world. Since 2005, The Banff Centre’s Mountain and Wilderness Writing program has brought together writers to explore in that same spirit. In October 2013, The Banff Centre Press released an anthology of stories, essays, and poems produced during the program – ranging from an account of a half-mad solo ascent of Norway’s Troll Wall, to a hair-raising Himalayan climb with Ueli Steck, to a series of poems inspired by the characters (both animal and human) who animate the mountain landscape.

The following excerpt from Katie Ives’ essay “Transgressions” provides a glimpse of the richness of the creative expression achieved by the writers in this program.

W

HEN I WAS TEN or eleven years old, my father and I stood at the edge of a sea cliff, watching the waves strike the rocks below us in starbursts of white foam. On impulse, I asked for permission to leave the path and climb partway down by myself, past steep and broken ledges to a small alcove. I thought he’d refuse. I don’t remember whether I was surprised when he allowed me to go – or whether I was afraid. I only remember the sudden solitude as I began to descend, the way the world seemed to crack between each handhold and the next. When at last I reached the alcove, I sat there, still and quiet, enfolded by air and stone. And then I scrambled back up toward the sounds of tourist voices and the fading of the day. For a moment, the sunlight dazzled and the dried sea salt sparkled in all the crevices around me. Each crystal was as bright and luminous as frost. ··· In my mid-twenties, I finally asked my father why he’d let me climb down that cliff. He said, “I was watching you.” At first, I thought his answer made no sense: my father had been standing too far above me; there was no way he could

have caught me if I’d fallen. Later, he added that he thought it was important for children to have a sense of independence, to explore their surroundings, to take minor, controlled risks. Although he had a Ph.D. in educational psychology, his theories might not have accounted for the realities of height, gravity, and a child’s body.

I was a graduate student, by then, at the University of Iowa. Soon after that conversation,

sandy and flat. I can’t say for certain, anymore, how high the cliff actually was.

Around the time I tried to put that memory into words, I’d already started learning to climb with traditional gear on the limestone bluffs near my school. There, as I searched for holds, my fingertips traced the relics of long-extinct sea creatures, the smooth arcs of shells encrusted with frost-white crystals, the intricate hollows of lost exoskeletons. Reflections of rivers flashed

“He thought it was important for children to have a sense of independence, to explore their surroundings, to take minor, controlled risks…his theories might not have accounted for the realities of height, gravity, and a child’s body.“ I transformed the scene into a story for a fiction class. In that version, I described the stone as red. And when I try to recall it now, I imagine a rust-colored precipice above sharp, black rocks.

But I could be wrong. We’d spent so many days at different places along the New England coast.

Over time, the separate landscapes blurred: the stone might have been ashen yellow, the beach

across the cliffs like the ghosts of ancient oceans. With each route, new layers of sensation accumulated between me and that original experience, until the sea cliff became more and more faint – the flicker of a distant shoreline beneath the edges of a dark fog.

“Her fear subsided,” I wrote about this child who was no longer myself, “and she felt something Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

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BOOK EXERPT

K ATIE IVES “DAMNATION GULLY, MT. WASHINGTON” PHOTO BY AL AN CAT TABRIGA; PORTR AIT BY DAVID SWIFT

between pain and joy in the light on the waves and the rock, the water and the ledge reflecting and absorbing the warmth of the sun, a feeling of all-encompassing and incongruous safety.” ··· Whatever really happened that day, these fragments of memory have lingered in my mind: inexplicable, ominous, radiant. When I began working on the fiction story, I wasn’t planning to climb ropeless again. Lead climbing seemed dangerous enough: I was still a novice, struggling to place protection in the rippling cracks and rain-filled holes of Iowa’s brittle limestone. One late-autumn morning, I put my writing aside and hiked with a friend through dry, yellow fields into the leafless woods of Indian Bluffs. At the base of a cliff, he opened his pack and realized he’d forgotten to bring any gear. We sat for a while, sharing a single cup of warm, sweet tea.

“Some light seemed to explode within me, shattering everything that was not itself” He asked me if I’d ever wanted to “free solo” – to climb without a rope. His face trembled a little as he smiled. He didn’t know that I already had. The sunlight spilled, pale and almost silver, across the fallen leaves. The rock shimmered in the still, cold air. In retrospect, I think he expected me to say no. By the time we finished the tea, however, it seemed inevitable that we’d both solo the route, one by one. I went first. Stone features separated into disjointed images: a dusty overhang; a narrow ledge.

Dead plants crackled under my hands. Dirt filled the empty spaces in the rock. Fear descended and then drew back. Blue sky rushed down a stone chimney like a tide. Some light seemed to explode within me, shattering everything that was not itself. At the top, I held on to a tree, waiting for my friend, while the forest reeled.

Back in Iowa City, I walked downtown alone, staring at the ginkgo leaves that swept like yellow paper fans across the sidewalks, forming and unforming tessellated patterns as wind and feet displaced them. It was like learning to see again. Shapes and colours lost their dulled, familiar meanings. Sunlight paled across the storefronts. Brick walls shone like the backs of oak leaves. Through the windows of restaurants and bars, the hunched forms of other people wavered, dim and luminous, as if underwater. I felt an expanding tenderness toward everyone and everything. It was as though I’d broken through into some secret, more essential and more beautiful world.

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

KATIE IVES is the editor-in-chief of Alpinist Magazine. In 2004, she won the Mammut/ Rock & Ice Writing Contest and in 2005 she attended The Banff Centre’s Mountain and Wilderness Writing Program. Her writing and translations have appeared in various publications, including Alpinist, The American Alpine Journal, Mountain Gazette, Urban Climber, She Sends, Circumference, 91st Meridian, Outside Magazine and Patagonia Field Reports.

Rock, Paper, Fire: The Best of Mountain and Wilderness Writing is edited by Marni Jackson and Tony Whittome and published by The Banff Centre Press. It is available at book stores or online at banffcentrepress.ca, Kobo, Amazon, and iTunes.

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

with projects they hope will motivate others to get outside, and even make the world a better place. These days, when not working on Higher with Teton Gravity Research, Jones is immersed in a project for the environmental organization he founded, Protect Our Winters. These are the types of passion projects Jones says he can let “consume me, challenge me, and evolve me as a person.”

Paddler Rush Sturges has similar goals.

Sturges’s prolific work includes tour favourites Frontier and Dream Result, best remembered for their high-impact ‘eye candy’ shots, smartly choreographed to a catchy soundtrack. While the style has brought success for Sturges, ten years in, he too is aiming higher and wider, reaching beyond the kayaking world to a general audience. “As a filmmaker the best compliment I ever receive is when someone tells me that my movies are what inspired them to learn to kayak.

Getting more people in the outdoors is the ultimate goal in my opinion. To do that, we need to paint better pictures of our characters [and] illuminate the spirit of adventure.”

“Getting more people in the outdoors is the ultimate goal in my opinion” Director Eric Crosland of Sherpas Cinemas (A Fine Line, All.I.Can, Into the Mind), is quick to point out that while technology itself can’t create better stories, it has had a direct impact on diversity in the genre. Just a decade ago, the barrier to entry into the action sports filmmaking world was much steeper than it is today, and Crosland credits the digital revolution for a surge in creativity, noting that “when digital cameras that looked better than film came along, it opened up the playing field, which in turn gave birth to a new wave of ideas.” That diversity, he says, is something the Sherpas also try to mirror

PHOTO: JORDAN MANLEY

A

CTION SPORT filmmaking is experiencing a renaissance. Just ask Jeremy Jones, whose trilogy Deeper, Further, and Higher (in production) has shaken up the snowboard documentary formula. For audiences accustomed to an annual crop of shred flicks featuring ubiquitous helicopter, snowmobile, and lift shots, Jones’s self-propelled backcountry adventures are undeniably fresh. And while Jones says there will always be room for traditional documentaries that rely on the latest technology and the biggest athletes, he cautions that “there doesn’t need to be thirty of those a year.”

Jones believes the most compelling content being made today conveys an emotional experience, not just an adrenalin rush. “I value a shaky cam shot of a person experiencing the ultimate high or low on the side of a mountain as much as a slick boom shot at 200fps. The mix of raw – put the viewer on the mountain with you – and dreamy fantasy shots is what we strive for.”

Meanwhile, athlete/artists like Jones are setting their sights beyond pure entertainment,

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in their own work, incorporating variety in everything from colour palette to subject matter.

These industry leaders agree that the pace of change is faster than ever, making it difficult to predict what action sport films of the future will look like. “The formula today is not set in stone,” according to Crosland. “It’s changing as fast as ideas and technology are.”

For a multi-sport immersion into the world of action sport filmmaking, make your way to a Banff Mountain Film Festival Radical Reels Tour show near you. For insider scoops about films and filmmakers, and the 2014 Radical Reels dates and locations, check radicalreels.com or visit facebook.com/RadReels.

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BANFF MTN. FILM & BOOK FESTIVAL FILM COMPETITION AWARDS Grand Prize $4000 Sponsored by MEC Award for Creative Excellence $2000 Sponsored by Sole

People’s Choice Award for Radical Reels $2000 Sponsored by Bergans of Norway Dolby Audio Award $10,000 value Sponsored by Dolby

Best Film: Exploration and Adventure $2000 Sponsored by Nemo

Summit of Excellence Award Sponsored by CMH Heli-Skiing & Summer Adventures

Best Film: Mountain Culture $2000 Sponsored by National Geographic

Mountain Idol Award Sponsored by Devonian Properties and The North Face

Best Film: Climbing $2000 Sponsored by the Alpine Club of Canada Best Film: Mountain Sports $2000 Sponsored by Live Out There

BOOK COMPETITION AWARDS Grand Prize: Phyllis and Don Munday Award – $4000 Sponsored by the Alpine Club of Canada Mountain & Wilderness Literature– Non-Fiction; The Jon Whyte Award $2000 Sponsored by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies Adventure Travel Award – $2000 Sponsored by The Juniper Hotel and Bistro and the Wild Flour Bakery & Café Mountain Image Award $2000 Sponsored by Helly Hansen Mountain Guidebook Award $2000 Sponsored by the American Alpine Club Mountain Fiction and Poetry Award Sponsored by Imaginary Mountain Surveyors Mountaineering History – The James Monroe Thorington Award Sponsored by the UIAA and William Putnam

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Best Film: Mountain Environment and Natural History $2000 Sponsored by Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative Best Film: Mountain Wildlife $2000 Sponsored by ExOfficio Best Short Mountain Film $2000 Sponsored by The North Face Best Feature-Length Mountain Film $2000 Sponsored by the Town of Banff People’s Choice Award $2000 Sponsored by Treksta

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Larapinta Trek is one of the best walks in Australia. Enter to win online and join World Expeditions for an adventure of a lifetime.

OTHER CONTEST PRIZES INCLUDE: Head-to-toe gear for your next adventure from The North Face; Deuter backpacks; Black Diamond Skis; OR gloves; Kicking Horse Coffee; an MSR tent, snowshoes and poles; Cushe Footwear; a CLIF Bar Adventure Travel Pack; Petzl ice axe; a $1000 gift certificate from Mountain Equipment Co-op; a ski-and-stay with The Great Divide Lodge and The Lake Louise Ski Area; a subscription to National Geographic; and other great prizes from Festival partners.

Enter to win at banffmountainfestival.ca/contest Contest closes October 15, 2014

WORKSHOPS Calling all adventure filmmakers and mountain and wilderness photographers and writers! Develop your skills by working with extraordinary faculty in a creative and inspiring environment at The Banff Centre in Banff National Park.

Banff Wilderness Photography Workshop Banff Adventure Filmmakers’ Workshop Banff Mountain and Wilderness Writing Program Fall 2014 For more information visit banffmountainfestival.ca

© Jochen Schmoll

LAST WORDS YOUR FESTIVAL FEEDBACK

I go to the film tour to be inspired and reminded of why I need to get off my ass.

Please blow my mind!

As an active ‘senior’, more than ever I appreciate being inspired by those who simply acknowledge their limitations and do it anyway.

I have been inspired by every world tour event.

I tend to most appreciate the films that, instead of showing off ego-based sports achievements, showcase the true inner grit and human experience – often in relation to the natural environment – that are the essence of any great achievement.

This is honestly the best film festival I have ever attended. I laugh, I cry, I immediately go home and plan BIG trips. Last year after attending the World Tour, I planned a one-month hiking excursion in Patagonia!

Grandpa saw the #BanffFilmFestival, now thinks I should solo the Triple. Yes! #bestgrandpaever Brought boyfriend. Told him if he didn’t like it, I’d find a new boyfriend. He loved it; I will keep him.

The filmmakers are incredible; the athletes are hilariously human and super-human at the same time. Thank you for my annual dose of inspiration!

I have been stressed out about school for weeks, but this made it all better!

YOU LOVE ALEX Went to your recent screening in Stockport, UK. It was amazing – especially Alex Honnold!

Again! Makes you think about human psychology and how amazing we can all be.

Head still giddy after watching no-rope Alex Honnold cling to a Yosemite rock face 1000-plus feet up with just three fingers and two toes!

YOU’RE PEEVED This was my fourth year watching in Victoria.

This year, I took a friend who is ten years old.

When we left, I said I was a little disappointed with the lack of women in the movies. She said it was because girls don’t do those sorts of things. Sad that her thoughts were reinforced by tonight’s show. I’ll be back, but where are the gals doing amazing things?”

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Banff Mountain Film Festival 2013 / 2014

Enjoyed the film fest last night in the beautiful Blue Mountains, Australia! Only criticism! More chick flicks pleeeese! I just love watching the guys, don’t get me wrong, BUT what about the gals!

No women in the films other than spectators.

Hmmm. Mind you, most of the characters were suicidal, self-centered egomaniacs, so maybe not a bad thing.

YOU BRING THE FAMILY I have gone the last 16 years. I can always remember how many years, because the first year I nursed my newborn son in the back row, and now he’s 16!

I just love how the festival feels like a family night in, even though you’re sitting in a theatre far from home, and beside someone you just met, but can’t quite remember their name.

I have been attending the Banff Film Festival for as long as I can remember, cliché but true.

My father began to take me to the shows at the age of three.

I brought my nine-year old and I think he will never forget the films, especially Gimp Monkeys.

Inspiring is an understatement.

Banff Film Festival tonight. Three hours of adventure sports vids with my girl and two great friends from climbing Aconcagua.

#EWWW! @RebeccaMercia Heading to The Banff Mountain Film Festival tonight! Today is soaked in awesome sauce. @BanffMtnFests @rebeccamercia Mmmmmmm. Awesome sauce! Yummy! @RebeccaMercia @BanffMtnFests It was indeed tasty awesome sauce!!! Except for the part with @casandjonesy and the needle and the toe. #Ewww @casandjonesy @RebeccaMercia @BanffMtnFests The toe was that bad was it? #shockedindignation @RebeccaMercia @casandjonesy @BanffMtnFests There may have been a little vom as I just thought about it again. #EpicOuch

Join the Conversation • @BanffMtnFests • @thebanffcentre • facebook.com/ BanffMountainFilmFestival • facebook.com/RadReels • facebook.com/thebanffcentre • youtube.com/thebanffcentre • worldtourinfo@banffcentre.ca • Give us your feedback and enter to win a trip to Australia at banffmountainfestival.ca/contest • Got a question? Check our FAQs at banffmountainfestival.ca/tour/faq

IMAGES FROM FESTIVAL TOUR STOPS IN (TOP) DOWNIEVILLE, CA, USA, (CENTRE) BUDAPEST HUNGARY, (BOT TOM) TR AVERSE CIT Y, MI, USA.

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