Banff Mountain Film Festival 2006
Friday Evening Presentation — November 3

Simone Moro — Eight Thousand Metres of Life

8 p.m., Eric Harvie Theatre (simulcast in the Margaret Greenham Theatre)
Tickets $32 (included in Film Festival Weekend Pass)
Sponsored by Mountain Equipment Co-op

Italian mountaineer Simone Moro is one of the world’s most technically skilled alpinists. His 25-year courtship with the mountains began while climbing in the Dolomites at the age of 13. He has always dreamed of reaching the highest points on earth, and began by honing his technical skills as a sport climber, succeeding on routes up to 8b+ (5.14a).

His dedication to alpinism and passion for exploration have since taken him to some of the most remote corners of the globe, including the Himalayas, the Karakoram, the Tien Shan, the Pamirs, the Andes, Patagonia, and Antarctica. He has, among many other feats, summited Everest, climbed Shishapangma in winter, opened a new route on Nanga Parbat, and speed-ascended Lhotse in 13 hours and Broad Peak in 29 hours. His expeditions, he says, “combine the concepts of altitude, difficulty, solitude, uncertainty, adventure, and the unknown into a unique mountaineering project”.

An extreme rescue on Lhotse in 2001, during which he carried an injured British alpinist to safety, earned him several awards, including the Pierre de Coubertin International Fair Play Trophy and the David A. Sowles Memorial Award from the American Alpine Club.

Moro recently published his first book, Cometa sull’Annapurna, which recounts a fateful winter expedition to Annapurna in 1997 when only he survived a horrific avalanche that claimed the lives of his climbing partners Anatoli Boukreev and Dimitri Sobolev.

In his presentation, entitled Eight Thousand Metres of Life, Moro journeys through his mountaineering and life-defining experiences. He recounts his own personal journey following the 1997 tragedy, the ensuing struggle to regain a peace of mind, and the vertical pilgrimage that followed.