|
BANFF
MOUNTAIN BOOK FESTIVAL 2004
Thursday Evening, November 4, 8 pm
Eric Harvie Theatre
ARON RALSTON - Between a Rock and a Hard Place
For Aron Ralston, a 27-year-old mountaineer and outdoorsman, a
walk into the remote Blue John Canyon in the Utah canyonlands
was going to be a relaxing break from a winter of soloing
Colorado’s highest peaks. Eight miles from his truck, however,
in a deep and narrow slot canyon, Ralston’s life took a drastic
turn. With scant water and little food, no jacket for the
painfully cold nights, and the terrible knowledge that he’d told
no one where he was headed, he found himself facing a lingering
demise - pinned by an 800-pound boulder that had fallen on his
arm. What does one do in the face of almost certain death? Using
the video camera from his pack, Ralston began recording his
grateful goodbyes to his family and friends, thinking back over
a life filled with adventure, and documenting his will in the
hope that someone would find the footage. As family and friends
initiated a major search for him, Ralston had to find a way to
solve the riddle of the boulder. He was forced to do the
unthinkable in order to save his life: cut off his own arm below
the elbow.
BOOK AWARDS: Announcement of the
winners of the 2004 Banff Mountain
Book competition.
|
 |
RICK
RIDGEWAY, and CONRAD ANKER - Across the Big Open: On Foot with
the Endangered Tibetan Chiru
Braving the challenges of nature in order to save a piece of it,
four mountaineers embarked on a 450-kilometre quest through
Tibet’s remote Chang Tang region to follow the mysterious
migration of the Tibetan chiru - an endangered species of
antelope whose daily existence is threatened by weather,
predators and poachers. In 15 years of study, George Schaller of
the Wildlife Conservation Society has been unable to gather
information on the chiru’s calving grounds, the most important
element of its survival. Inspired by Schaller’s work, climber,
photographer and award-winning filmmaker Rick Ridgeway led a
group of accomplished mountaineers - Conrad Anker, Galen Rowell
and Jimmy Chin - through the remote area in a search for the
elusive calving grounds. As Ridgeway describes in his recent
book The Big Open, they hope that the protection of this key
area will ensure the future of the chiru. This presentation was
supported in part by Patagonia and The North Face.
|
 |
