Film Review: Odyssey

After the huge success of The Long Hope, there has been a great deal of hype about the latest film from Hot Aches Productions. Thankfully, Odyssey - A Climbing Road Movie, more than lives up to the attention.

The film documents a group climbers at the top of their game, as they make their way around England and Wales, ticking off some of the UK's hardest trad routes. The group includes Hansjorg Auer, Hazel Findlay, Caroline Ciavaldini and James Pearson. We begin in Northumberland with some very impressive on sights of a number of E6s and E7s. James, a personal hero of mine, talks a bit about how he has progressed in his climbing career over the years and how important the history and the style of British trad climbing to him. Hazel speaks about how it is important to get over the fear of falling in order to push your grade on trad - there is plenty of footage that features her taking some particularly large falls!

As the trip heads to Llanberis, the group set their sights on some impressive goals. The highlight surely has to be their attempts to on sight Strawberries E7 6b**. So many great climbers have come unstuck by this amazing crack-line and over the years it has seen only a handful of successful on sights. Hansjorg, however, makes it look rather smooth and effortless - very impressive stuff.
James then comes into his own as he has a very successful day at Nesscliffe - E8 flash, E8 onsight and E9 headpoint... not a bad day's work!
The film is beautifully shot throughout and has a very polished feel to the final edit. All of the characters are extremely down-to-earth and very inspiring as well as being rather modest and humble. If you are looking for inspiration to visit amazing crags and attempt hard trad routes, then this is definitely it. It's a close-run thing to decide which is the best climbing film I have seen this year - The Long Hope or this masterpiece. Overall, I think I prefer this film, but only slightly. I think the main reason for this is that I can relate more to the climbers and the routes in this film, and there is not much stopping anyone from getting out there and heading to these crags if they are motivated enough to do so. A very inspiring and excellent film - hats off to Paul Diffley once more.

EMFF 2012 - Sunday Evening

THE FILMS

EYE OF THE STORM

A reflective ski film with some amazing footage of heli-drops in the mountains. Very nice shot and put together.

DAVE

A lovely short film by Lukasz Warzecha that looks at Dave MacLeod and his attitude to climbing and hard projects. The film features Dave climbing in Averstal (AKA: Magic Wood), Switzerland and repeating New Base Line F8b+**. One of the best short films so far.

COLD
A brilliant film by Cory Richards that documents his suffering in the bitterly cold winter with fellow mountaineers Simone Moro and Denis Urubko as they successfully climb Gasherbrum II. Some stunning footage and a lucky escape from a devastating avalanche on their descent.

MY OWN HANDS
A short artistic-style film about climbing trees. Not really my thing but very nicely put together.

THE LECTURE

ALAN HINKES - SURVIVING THE DEATH ZONE

Alan was a very interesting and funny chap. He had great videos and pictures from his ascents of all the 8000m peaks (although he didn't touch on the dispute about his summit of Cho Oyu). It's fair to say that Alan is certainly a true Yorkshireman - a very interesting guy.

A great end to EMFF 2012 and what a weekend it's been. Herbie certainly enjoyed it and said it was well worth the trip over from the Isle of Man. Many thanks to Stevie Christie and the rest of the volunteers for organising and running a great weekend - roll on next year!

EMFF 2012 - Sunday Afternoon

THE FILMS

WHY

This beautifully-shot film by Corey Rich was one of my favourite short films that I have seen this year. It features climber Alex Honnold, kayaker Dane Jackson and biker Rebecca Rusch talking about why they continue to push the boundaries and do what they love the most. A brilliant short film.

DOUGIE DOWN THE PET

This film follows the journey of a father taking his 4-year-old son on a canoe trip down the Petawawa river in Canada. Dougie is certainly the star of the show and the film is full of cute and funny moments - certainly a feel-good film.

IN SEARCH OF SNOW - HELEN RENNIE'S STORY
This rather short film tells the brief story of Helen Rennie's quest to ski on snow for 25 consecutive months. A truly amazing achievement... if not a tat mental!

OF WET AND WILDNESS
Another chance to see this fine artistic piece from Paul Diffley.

FEEL THE HILL
The longest film of the day followed a group of French long boarders and their pursuit of bigger, faster hills and pushing the limits of what you can do with a skateboard. A very nice piece indeed. 

THE LECTURE

SIMON WILLIS - THE ACCIDENTAL SEA KAYAKER

I didn't know much about Simon Willis but I had read that he was the author of the Scottish Sea Kayak Trail guidebook so I was quite interested to hear about his tails from the Western Isles. Emily and I have visited many of the Western Isles of Scotland but we still have many to explore and I've always fancied a sea kayaking trip around some of them. Unfortunately, Simon's main focus of his lecture was talking about how he and Gordon Brown had made their instructional sea kayaking films. I felt that this lasted a little too long and may not have suited the audience that was present. However, he finished with some amazing tales, pictures and footage of a trip he made to St. Kilda a few years ago that was very inspiring - the highlight for me.

EMFF 2012 - Saturday Evening

THE FILMS

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

A nice short film about mountain biking featuring the world cup from Fort William. Some great footage  of the downhill and good interviews with various pro riders.

SMITTEN

Believe it or not, this film follows Australian climber/BASE-jumper Lucky Chance (yes, that is his real name!) and some of his crazy stunts. The film is very very funny and Lucky comes across as a real character - especially when he talks about his narrow escape on a jump where his canopy fails to open! A must see.

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS
A very artistic short film featuring surf photographer Mickey Smith and what he puts himself through to get the perfect shot. Not much surfing in this one, but a very nice poetic short film by Mickey.

SKETCHY ANDY
I had seen this excellent short film about the 'Slacklife' of Andy Lewis once before but I was really looking forward to seeing it again. Andy has, almost singlehandedly, pushed the development of slack lining and trick lining. Andy is an amazing character and this film really captures his personality. The film was just as enjoyable as the first time I saw it and I'd encourage everyone to check it out - even if you're not into BASE-jumping or slack lining, you can't help but appreciate Andy's talents... and his craziness! Randomly I remember seeing Andy performing with Madonna at the Superbowl 2012 halftime show - what a guy!

ALL I CAN
Emily and I had already seen this short skiing film but we didn't mind watching it again, as it is very different from any other skiing films we've seen. It focuses on uban skiing tricks and is beautifully shot and edited. A must see. 

THE LECTURE

LEO HOLDING - AUTANA - THE YOPO WALL

This is what I had been looking forward to the most in the EMFF line-up. Leo is a climber who I have been following for a number of years now and I have been extremely inspired by his adventures and achievements. Leo started off his talk by talking about his early like in The Lakes and his early climbing achievements on the Hold Man of Hoy and El Capitan amongst many other things! He then talked a bit about his climbing accident in Patagonia and his recovery. Leo then talked briefly about his expedition to Everest and The Asgard Project before moving on to the main event: Cerro Autana. Recently, Leo had led an expedition to Venezuela to climb the East Face of Cerro Autana (along with Stanley Leary, Jason Pickles and Alastair Lee). He told some amazing tales of the tribes, the jungle, the journey, the climb, and the logistics involved in such an expedition. It was quite fascinating to hear about all the logistics involved in adventure film-making and all the political obstacles that had to be overcome to make such a trip possible. Can't wait for the full film!

EMFF 2012 - Saturday Afternoon

THE FILMS

PUSH IT

A film by Jen Randall about female climbers pushing their limits. This film had a couple of interviews with elite female climbers, including Natalie Berry, talking about their climbing projects and achievements. However, the film's main focus seemed to tell the story of Jen's attempt, and success, to climb El Capitan with her friend. There were some amusing moments in their practice attempts, particularly involving hauling. I was hoping for more of an insight into the top female climbers, but this seemed to be the secondary point of the film. Nevertheless, very well done to Jen for putting together a great short film... and for climbing El Cap!

BONGO BAR

This short film documented a unique and privileged opportunity to a couple of competition winners run by Gore. Two lucky women travelled to Norway to climb a new route on a (mini) big-wall with Dave MacLeod. A very well put together short film by Paul Diffley and what an amazing prize!

ICE REVOLUTION
I've been lucky enough to see this excellent short film about Tim Emmett and Will Gadd's quest to climb the overhanging ice of Helmcken Falls once before. Even if you're not that into ice climbing, you can't help but be touched by the enthusiasm and entertainment value provided by Tim Emmett - what a guy!

THE LECTURE

ZOE HART - THE ALPINE PRINCESS

I must be honest here and admit that I hadn't heard of Zoe before, but I had Googled her before the show and was quite looking forward to hearing what she had to say. She didn't disappoint and told her story about how she became a guide in the Alps. She had some good video clips of some of the situations and epics that she and her husband had been involved in. It certainly looked like she is living the dream, guiding from Chamonix and getting to grips with motherhood.

EMFF 2012 - Saturday Morning

THE FILMS

THE LONG HOPE

I have seen this epic film once before in Sheffield, and I couldn't pass up the chance to see it again. Another great film made by Paul Diffley that tells the story of Dave MacLeod's quest to free the Longhope Route. The film portrays the great history of the huge adventure in Hoy that was first climbed in 1970 by Ed Drummond and Oliver Hill. There are also interviews with Dave Turnbull & John Arran who talk about the route, the history and their first free-ascent in 1997. Dave's goal was to free the headwall crack that Turnbull and Arran avoided - he thought a more direct line was possible. The film and the story is fantastic and features some amazing climbing by Dave and Andy Turner to complete the climb in only 10 hours! There is also a very emotional journey that sees Ed Drummond return to St. John's Head to the route. Well worth the DVD purchase, I would say.

BEN

I have had the pleasure of seeing this short film online prior to this screening. A lovely piece by Kate Owen that looks at a few individuals who make use of Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis everyday. It features a local farmer, fell-runner, photographer and climbers Dave MacLeod and Kevin Shields.

WHITE SILK ROAD
This film followed a group of Australian snowboarders to the slightly unusual ski destination of Afghanistan. I found the film, journey and story very enjoyable and quite different to many of the other snowboarding/skiing films I have seen over the years. There was a huge contrast between the war-torn city and the poor villagers who live in the snowy mountains. Some great footage of first descents and of the group teaching the locals to snowboard and build jumps.

Reel Rock Film Tour, Dunfermline

Tonight, Emily and I headed to Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline for the 2012 Reel Rock Film Tour. The event was great value for money and seemed to be well supported. The lineup of films was extremely strong, as you can see below.

THE FILMS

THE DURA DURA

This film follows the battle between Adam Ondra and Chris Sharma to climb the world's first 5.15c near Sharma's Spanish home. The film is very funny and has a very interesting comparison between the two athletes - both with very contrasting styles of climbing. The film hypes it up as a bit of a battle, but in reality I think they have a very sound friendship and both have the simple desire to see the other succeed. Very entertaining and well worth a watch.

THE SHARK'S FIN

A very moving film that tells a great story of a team's second attempt to climb Mt. Meru. Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk return and succeed in conquering the iconic Indian peak. The feat is all the more remarkable due to Renan's serious skiing accident only a few months before the attempt. Anker's will-power and character really come through in this fantastic short film.

WIDE BOYS

A short film that follows Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker and their quest to climb the world's hardest off-width: Century Crack. It's a very inspiring story and features some amazing footage of the lads training in Tom's basement. There are also some amusing american characters, as the film also features some of the tough off-width climbers across the Atlantic. My favourite film of the night and I can't wait to see the full-length version.

HONNOLD 3.0

This guy is even more crazy than when I saw him last in: Alone on the Wall. This time he attempts to climb all three Yosemite's big walls: Mt. Watkins, El Cap, and Half Dome... in under 19 hours... free solo! Ridiculous - but he pulls it off and makes it look very easy... even at night with a headtorch! The film also features Alex attempting a VERY highball boulder problem. A must see film, even if you're not into climbing.

A great evening that was well supported and excellent value for money - highly recommended!