Programme - Friday (15 October 2021 - Evening)

A few days before the Corona lockdown in March 2020, the Mountain Tribe Crew set out towards the Ötztal Alps. Their destination is an old border hut on the Timmelsjoch Pass. There, they want to explore the limits of friendship while tackling some ski touring and big lines. But the undertaking turns into a border crossing of a different kind. On Friday, March 13th, the international situation suddenly changes drastically. Initially, the gang jokes around and strums the Corona blues on a guitar, a few days later an awful sense of emergency descends upon them.

Daniel Anker is one of the quiet greats of Swiss alpinism. His first ascent of the taxing route “La vida es silbar” on the Eiger was a milestone. Now, 20 years later, Daniel wants to repeat the climb. Feelings from the present and the past mix with sequences from the Cuban film “La vida es silbar” (Life is to Whistle) after which he initially named the route. How can we cope with the past in order to be free for the future? A story that puts viewers into a thoughtful, philosophical mood.

The rocks of Emery County, Utah, offer everything a bouldering freak might dream of. But the Salt Lake City “punk climbers” who descend upon this valley in the 1990s look like aliens to the local Mormons. A massive chasm divides the “scumbag climbers” from traditional ranchers and miners. “Honestly, we thought we were going to be invaded by a bunch of stoners,” the sheriff remembers. Then a festival is put together: the settlers start bouldering and the climbers try their hand at bull riding.
Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen have received numerous awards.

A well-heeled mountaineer’s hobby is to “collect” the highest peaks. He is still missing one: the ascent of this one inaccessible mountain. He wants to reach its summit, no matter the cost. A wife is fed up with waiting at home for her husband to return from his mountain adventures. She sets out on her own, choosing an easier route. But as a woman, she has to face completely different obstacles. The two fates interlink en route during this unique animated film set in the early days of mountaineering.

The Everest region, dream destination and place of longing for many, is also a vast refuse dump. The national park counts around 75 open landfills, which receive about 400 tons of refuse every year. In a small village near Mount Everest, smoke rises between trees. Surrounded by pristine nature, snow-capped peaks and waterfalls, rubbish is being burned: plastic bottles together with beer cans, paper and tin. After all these years, no suitable waste management exists.

A surprising tradition persisting in the ethnic Lama communities of the Nepalese Himalayas looks strange to our eyes: polyandry. Not only do the Lamas share life and work, but they also have a wife in common with whom they live in a community, whom they all love – and who loves them all back.

It seems like a fairy tale, but it isn’t. Rita, a shy and anxious girl, develops into a strong personality thanks to sport climbing. She trains and achieves good results in competitions and sends remarkable routes. But what’s on her mind? Through the challenges of climbing, Rita learns that the greatest victory is not the podium. The real conquests are higher values, which cannot be seen or assessed.

“Erding 3000” – is the title of a veritable adventure for 13 students of the Korbinian Aigner Grammar School in Erding, Bavaria. Following the example of their great-grandfathers, they set out for the mountains. They cycle from their school gates to the High Tauern mountain range. Hiking boots come on at the Krimmler Tauernhaus Hut. Their goal: the summit of Mount Richterspitze, their first three-thusander. Two mountain-loving teachers plan this unusual week of classes to give their students an experience they will remember for a lifetime.)

Four friends travel to Baffin Island for 40 days, where they only permit themselves unmotorised movement. Left completely to their own company, they achieve first ascents on impressive big walls, they paddle their kayaks through foaming whitewater and watch wild arctic flamingos.

Henry’s job is to guard a menacing glacier that could completely bury the valley’s town. He receives an unexpected visit from his brother Viktor, who has been hoping to reunite for a long time. However, Viktor had pictured his older brother’s work somewhat differently.

On the narrow shoreline of the Upper Italian lakes, humans and nature have lived closely together for thousands of years. Haunted by rough weather, Lake Iseo displays its proverbial thousand faces in late autumn. The seasonal alternation between sun, rain and cold caters fantastic light effects and attracts the last migratory birds. But the stopover is dangerous because bird hunting is still in full swing here. Moreover, climate change is already making its mark.

Edwin Drummond was known for his poetic texts – and for his climbing achievements. He opened difficult routes and protest-climbed various city buildings. In 1978 he climbed the Nelson Column in London to demonstrate against apartheid. Archival material and recreated scenes make possible a journey through the mind of this climbing philosopher, who died in 2019 at the age of 74. He was one of the greatest characters on the English climbing scene and famous for always doing things his own way.

A teacher accompanies a nomad family through the Zagros Mountains in southwest Iran. Their dangerous route leads through narrow gorges, over steep mountain ridges and snow-covered passes: a constant battle against cold and wind. On the way and at summer camp, he teaches the children in the evenings and gives them the schooling they need to be able to live and work in the city later on. It will be the last time the family walks this route on foot. It is the end of a millennial tradition.

The bearded vulture is the largest bird capable of flying in Europe – and one of the rarest. Its huge wings span almost three meters, making it a natural-born sailor. Bearded vultures feed on bones and thus cleanse nature of carcasses. Efforts to reintroduce the birds in the Alps began in the 1980s. In various countries, scientists like Franziska Lörcher look after the released young vultures.

Almost 16 miles of Labyrinthian tunnels wind their way through the underworld of the Untersberg Massif in the Berchtesgaden Alps. According to legend, Charlemagne and Barbarossa are waiting for their resurrection here. What feels like a journey to the center of the earth is in fact one of the world’s most difficult cave tours. But does this mega-cave actually come to an end? Speleologists are still on the lookout.