Programme - Saturday (16 October 2021 - Evening)

Jeff Dufton was born with defective, deteriorating eyesight. By the age of 20 he can no longer read, ten years later he is almost blind. But Jeff has been an avid climber for as long as he can remember. He trains for World Cup competitions and leads on classic climbing routes. The more he loses his eyesight, the better he gets at climbing. He is always looking for a greater challenge. His goal is to be the first to lead-climb the Old Man of Hoy, a legendary rock needle off the coast of Scotland, “non-sight”. A documentary that is no longer just about climbing.
Alastair Lee has already received several awards.

The prospective mountain guide Maria Pilarski has planned a very special route onto Mont Blanc: the Traversée Royale, or Royal Traverse. For four days, the tour takes her across the Mont Blanc Massif, crosses some of the Alps’ most beautiful ridges and grants stops at small huts beyond the hustle and bustle of the regular route. It is also an exhausting tour and a huge challenge for the entire team!

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.

Year after year, our global consumer society produces obscure blossoms during the contemplative, quiet time of the year. Irrational buying and consumerism reach their peak. Five young freeriders wish to escape this hustle and bustle. Immediately after Christmas they set off on their “simple life” road trip to take a break from the buzz, concentrate on essentials and discover the great flavour of jacket potatoes with butter.

German female alpinists Caro North (29) and Ines Papert (46) travel on mountain bikes from eastern to western Switzerland to climb some of the country’s great walls – on routes that are new to both of them. Their ethical stipulations are pretty straight: to master the entire tour solely by leg and hand power.

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 Covid lockdown tempts people to forget about climate change. However, the latter it is a massive threat to alpine ski areas. Millions in investments are hoped to bring salvation. Interestingly, alpine winter tourism is both affected and responsible. There are hardly any concepts for more sustainable winter tourism and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, snow cannons shoot artificial snow onto the slopes as early as autumn. As if that wasn’t ecological insanity in itself …

Bianca and Finn are very different personality types, but they have a goal in common: to become certified mountain and ski guides. To achieve this, they have to demonstrate their capacity in a wide variety of mountain sports, each with its own set of challenges. Renowned mountain guides such as Hanspeter Eisendle, Neil Brodie and Lisi Steurer offer advice – and unusual insights into the world of guides.

The Selvaggio Blu (“Wild Blue”) is a notorious trekking route along the east coast of Sardinia. Here, solely the wild traditional paths of smugglers and shepherds rise and fall through stunning landscapes. Every time South Tyrolean mountain guide Michi Andres treks around this area with his clients, he experiences the same magic: “The triad of ocean, hiking and rock as well as sleeping beneath the starry sky touches something inside people. It’s a return to simplicity, which allows us to become more carefree and childlike again.”

“Let nature be nature” is the Bavarian Forest National Park’s declared philosophy. Despite massive opposition, this vision has become a groundbreaking showcase project. Because humans do not intervene, a primeval forest currently grows out of the former commercial forests, a unique ecosystem and a refuge for biodiversity. People from all over the world come to see why we need more untamed nature and what we can learn from it in order to preserve forests for future generations in times of climate change.

The Aletsch is the largest and longest glacier in the Alps. According to glaciologists, most glaciers will have disappeared by the end of the century and only fragments will be left of the Aletsch. A journey into the interior of the glacier is an exciting and unsettling visual experience that challenges our perception of spatial and temporal scales as well our understanding of what these images reveal.

When a group of Europeans asks a Sherpa family to accompany them on a tour up the never-climbed east face of imposing Mount Kumbhakarna, this causes a moral dilemma. Not only because the summit presents an even greater challenge than Mount Everest. The bigger problem is that according to the family’s religion, this mountain range is sacred and must not be approached. However, the family is also in urgent need of money: this commission is the only way for their son to attend school and become a doctor. Thus, they all set out to ascend to the gods.

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.