EMFF 2007- REVIEW
By Oliver Metherell
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In the mainstream media, climbing in 2006 probably won't be remembered for Dave MacLeod's grade-busting routes on Dumbarton. It was the 2006 issues on the Everest that caught the attention of the worlds press. So, at the 2007 Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival it was fascinating to watch 'Dying for Everest', a portrayal of the 2006 issues on the mountain. On 15 May 2006, double amputee Mark Inglis reached
the summit. But only a few days later he was plunged into controversy
when it was learned that he and his team mates had passed an incapacitated
climber, Englishman David Sharp, leaving him to a lonely death. When
Sir Edmund Hilary publicly said he was appalled that Sharp had been
left to perish, the world's media gave Mark Inglis and his fellow climbers
little opportunity to defend themselves. This controversial film tells
the story from Mark Inglis' point of view. After the film, we heard
Ian Parnell and Barry Blanchard give their views on the film.
Barry Blanchard: 'What happens up there is like a magnifying glass. It reflects the very best and the very worst about us.' Ian Parnell: 'I hope it puts you off… there are a lot better adventures out there. Climbing Everest (by the normal routes) has no currency in the mountaineering world. And it is starting to hold a lot less currency outside the world of climbing. Barry Blanchard: I judge David Sharp for going for the summit by himself in the afternoon. You don't do that. And (with reference to Mark Inglis, who lost both his legs due to frostbite while shut down in a storm on New Zealand's Mt Cooke) I ask: Is it appropriate for a guy who has lost both his legs through mountaineering to be on Everest?' Ian Parnell… 'This story isn't new… it is a whole series of tragedies. People up there know what to expect. They know what they are buying when they pay their $50,000. And just the Himalayas alone has got hundreds and thousands of beautiful mountains. I really think we ought to value that more. I could have gone back last season and made 40k but I chose not to return. Barry Blanchard: And the Sherpas assume all the risk. They fix the Khumbu ice fall. They put up those ladders.' Ian Parnell: And weirdly, the tragedies like this increase the amount of people who want to go. Barry Blanchard: Mark Inglis was wrong when
he said that the NORTH (Kangshung) face is 'sheer'. It has been skied
down. Barry Blanchard: 'If you go with Russell Brice (Mark Inglis's commercial expedition organiser) it costs $50,000. Asian Trekking (David Shap's commercial expedition organiser) - they organise a permit for under $10,000 USD. Perhaps you get what you pay for. Barry Blanchard: Edmund Hilary makes some good points when he criticises the climbers. But things a lot more complicated now. There is no more black and white. It is all shades of grey Click
here to read about the winning films from EMFF 2007 and previous festivals.
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The EMFF is now in its fifth year. To briefly
run through the festival's history in joke form goes something like
this: 'Stevie Christie walks into a pub, says 'I could put on some adventure
films here here'. Five years later he's got 25 films and five world
class speakers over three days. Ok it's not funny but it is mighty impressive.
Having started life in 2003, Edinburgh's Mountain Film marathon has
grown year on year into something that's now truly worthy of national
recognition. It was also great to see the achievements of the
Asiemut cyclists. They came across particularly well, despite the subtitles
and the grainy film. It was one of those films where you watch in awe
thinking… 'How did they do that?' Headlining on the Saturday night was guest speaker
Barry Blanchard, a Native Half American and master story teller. With
attendance perhaps not helped by a mainstream sporting event, nevertheless
the George Square theatre was pretty much full for 'Bubba'. At one point, Barry got divorced and was living in a motel room. It was at this point that his partners would tend to offer him the hard pitches: 'You're going through a divorce. Why don't you have a go at that?' At one point Barry was at the foot of a steep couloir 'I'd been a bad husband and a bad friend. This was the route I had decided to solo. I was going to let the mountain decide'. Barry got to the top, and he made the decision to carry on climbing. He spoke of his dead climbing partner: 'I loved that guy… there was a wildness within him that just couldn't go and work in an office.' Barry now has a tattoo on his arm as a personal reminder to choose the right way - a deeply symbolic interlinking of a heart, the symbolic feather of his tribe, and an ice axe. And his climbing career has continued in the same stellar fashion, combining first ascents on the very steepest peaks with stunt work in Hollywood films, including Cliffhanger and Vertical Limit. One of Barry's expeditions was sponsored by Vaseline Research. 'I had some of my own ideas about a logo for that' said Barry to gales of laughter. 'But they weren't into it'. And now Barry is the father of a three year
old and a three month old. 'I go climbing now, and whenever I have to
make a decision about risk, which you have to hundreds of times a day
in alpine climbing. I just see their faces.'
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Ian Parnell in the Himalayas
Barry Blanchard
