Programme - Friday 19 October 2018 - during the day

We’ve all been that kid in the back of their parents’ car, wishing dearly to be somewhere completely different. Dreams grow wings and during a drive through the snow-laden cities of British Columbia they actually come to life: Isn’t that Tom Wallisch beside the car, one of the world’s best free skiers, jumping across rooftops and sliding down railings?

They have to get out at 5 am every morning, in any kind of weather. They have to be swift and reliable. Because it is the Bavarian avalanche warning team’s job to transmit their daily report at 7.30 am exactly. This is where skiers, ski tourers, communities, road maintenance, ski lift operators and mountain inn keepers get their information about the current avalanche risk. It’s not an easy job and there is no room for mistakes – as they could be fatal.

11-year-old Vincent often is the only boy on his favourite mountain, the Feuerkogel. His tomcat Socke and his parents replace friends his own age. In any kind of winter weather he skis down steep mogul pistes to his school in Ebensee, together with his father. Vincent worries about climate change because he knows: no snow means no guests. Later in life, Vincent would like to take over his parents’ mountain inn.

Zozooloi and her family live in a yurt in the Altai mountains of Mongolia. She labours like a man, carrying water, hacking dung and milking the cows. She tells her story of a foreign, fascinating and endangered world. She goes to school in Tsengel, which is 75 miles away, where she also manages her grandmother’s household. Finally, she gets Internet access. But which of these two worlds holds her future?

Marcel and Andrezj are very different characters. Marcel likes to hog the limelight, while Andrezj always caters the support act. Yet, together, they form a strong team and were the first to storm the highest peaks of their animated world. Presently, the two likeable cartoon heroes face their greatest challenge, and their path is riddled with obstacles. Even worse, Andrezj is fed up with his existence in Marcel’s shadow.

Remote islands with many sheep and dubious weather: New Zealand and the Faroe Islands have a lot in common, but also couldn’t be more different. Three kiwi climbers from New Zealand, together with their friends, plan to open a new route on Trollfinger, a 300 m (984 ft) cliff shrouded in myth and surrounded by rough seas. After innumerable attempts the climbers reach their limit – physically and psychologically. But one chance remains.

Seraplana is a rich village: of its 42 inhabitants 14 are younger than 19 years. That was in 2006. Now, even the youngest are at least eleven years or older. What has become of this bunch of kids? With this question in mind, Isabelle Jaeger took off to Seraplana a second time. A new film resulted from past and current encounters.

Summer, sunshine and the Mediterranean Sea – are not on the menu for these boys from the Allgäu. They spend their entire holidays as “modest shepherds” on the mountain, on a pasture directly beneath the Allgäu’s Matterhorn, Mt. Trettachspitze, south of Oberstdorf. This experience is a far cry from the bucolic romance some might imagine. In all weather conditions, Roman und Vinzenz brave steep grassy slopes at elevations of up to 2,000 m (6,562 ft).

In Switzerland yaks are utilised for landscape conservation and in Western China they are probably the most important of all animals. Only they are able to provide the people of the Tibetan Plateau with meat, milk and wool. However, domestic yaks destroy the already barren highland ground – unlike wild yaks. To open up new perspectives, Chinese scientists now try to cross-breed domestic and wild yaks.

Since 1968 the Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road has been connecting the Northern Tyrolean Ötztal Valley to the South Tyrolean Passeier Valley. This road bears immense significance for adjacent residents. The history of its construction across the highest passable frontier pass between Austria and Italy is lengthy and characterised by change.

Almost the entire world has been measured and explored. What remains in Patagonia is the wild, remote limestone island of Madre de Dios. For the eighth time Bernard Tourtes is travelling there, together with his team of explorers from the Centre Terre. They defy the teaming ocean as well as storms and discover traces of the Kawesqars, an almost forgotten people. They hope to achieve lasting protection for this territory as world heritage.

To whom does nature belong? To animals? Or to humans? This documentary’s spectacular footage reminds us of the responsibility each one of us bears towards himself and his environment. One thing is obvious: Humans have changed life on earth, especially over the past 200 years, in irreversible ways. The planet’s biosphere is finite. Earth can survive us – but we cannot survive earth.

Just to go off to the mountains for two weeks – to work at a mountain inn as its keeper. Mountaineer, author and film maker Georg Bayerle sets out with his ice ax and his camera towards the Rauhekopf Hut in the Ötztal Alps. In summer, the inn is managed by a different volunteer every two weeks. It is an exposed place that offers shelter and homeliness. But it is also a space for special atmospheres and experiences.

With breathtaking images and strong testimonials this documentary comprehensively renders the mountains’ fascination on the silver screen. It shows their powerful impact on our life and our dreams. The film was created thanks to a unique cinematic and musical collaboration between the Australian Chamber Orchestra and award-winning film maker Jennifer Peedom.

After a 70 m (230 ft) fall from the north wall of the Petites Jorasses, Steve Wakeford struggles to find his feet again. His severe injuries even tie him to a wheelchair for a while. But he is happy to be alive at all. Each ascent involves a descent – also into the depths of the human soul. Which, despite everything, makes this already award-winning story a declaration of love.

Two young freeriders intend to climb Mont Blanc, Mt. Matterhorn, Monte Rosa and Gran Paradiso on skis from the Aosta Valley. Their tour through a lonesome and untouched winter landscape lasts 20 days and grants views of the Alps’ highest peaks. Their own adventure gradually becomes entangled with a story that took place over 40 years ago.

Steph Davis has opted for climbing. In her early twenties she dropped out of law school, let go of a career as a solicitor and lived in her car instead for a few years. After major climbing achievements and expeditions she discovered BASE jumping. Even if fate often pushed her towards her limits, even though she lost her husband during a BASE jump, she regrets nothing, but continues to live her dream.

Nowadays, hikers and mountain bikers meet on the most remote peaks and the narrowest trails. These encounters do not always remain peaceful. Is the solution a strict separation of trails? In the interest of tourism – and of course keeping conservation in mind – neither group should be scared off altogether.

Alpinist Michi Wohlleben’s ambition is hard to contain. He performs at the top of his game and is completely enthralled by mountaineering. Until his body flags up his limits after a banal training unit. From one moment to the next his world becomes unhinged. It remains doubtful whether he will ever climb mountains again. What is the impact of mountain addiction on a young, highly motivated individual?

In August 1950 the blossoming South Tyrol village of Graun drowns in floods from the Reschen Reservoir. Almost overnight, inhabitants are driven from their farms. Even today, many contemporary witnesses continue to mourn their lost homeland. The lake remains alien to them. A younger generation only knows this story through oral culture. Freshly confident, they free themselves from the crippling hold of the power station company and use their fraught heritage towards their own purposes.

No other place in Germany demonstrates climate change as drastically as the Alps: here, the rise in temperature is almost double the national average, with dramatic consequences for the Alpine environment. Award-winning film maker Jürgen Eichinger conveys this much with the help of spectacular footage shot at and on Mt. Zugspitze. The impact affects animals, plants, people – everybody has to adjust. However, the greatest danger lurks inside the mountain.

He is at home in the Lienz Dolomites, but he has never actually seen his local mountains. The world’s peaks magically attract him. Even though he is blind. Andy Holzer is an extreme mountaineer who has already mastered six of the highest peaks across all continents. Only the world’s highest, Mt. Everest is missing. Twice he had to turn back. But Andy Holzer is not the kind of guy to give up.

In June 2014 cave explorer Johann Westhauser is badly injured by a rock fall. He lies lifelessly a thousand metres below ground inside Riesending, Germany’s biggest cave system, in Untersberg near Salzburg. It seems impossible to rescue him from the dark. But an international rescue teams succeeds in bringing two medics to the severely injured man and to return him to daylight during a complex multi-day operation.