BY KAREN BOSSICK
Ben Page was nearing his goal of bicycling over the frozen Arctic Sea 15 months after he had begun pedaling his bicycle at the bottom of South America.
He had a steed suitable for the snowy conditions, thanks to the folks at Fatback who provided him a Corvus fat bike. And he had a route mapped out for him by the paw prints of the Yukon Quest International Dog Sledding Race, which followed historic trade routes through the Yukon.
The first few days were straightforward, breathtaking. Then he crossed the Arctic Circle into whiteout conditions in Hurricane Alley--without enough food should he have to hunker down for days or even weeks. And he could hear the howl of wolves over the flapping of his tent.
What more could go wrong?
Find out for yourself this coming weekend when the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour brings “The Frozen Road” to Ketchum. The Festival will offer 27 films spotlighting mountain culture, travel and human interest over three nights Friday and Saturday, Feb. 2-3 and Monday, Feb. 5.
“The Banff Mountain Film Festival is an inspiring international film competition featuring the world’s best footage on mountain subjects,” said Michael Boge, who has brought the festival to Sun Valley since 1999. “Mountain culture, humor, life, sport—it’s all captured in this year’s array of films.”
This year’s festival will be held at Ketchum’s year-old Limelight Hotel since its traditional venue—the nexStage Theatre—has been razed to make way for a new performing arts center. Doors open at 6 p.m. each night with films starting at 7 p.m.
As usual, a portion of the proceeds will go to support the Friends of the Sawtooth Avalanche Center and The Satipo Kids Project, which educates poor children living in Satipo, Peru, some of whom are now attending college. The Friends of the Avalanche Center will offer its raffle featuring countless prizes of outdoor gear and more.
Tickets are $19 in advance and $24 at the door. They’re available at The Elephant’s Perch, Backwoods Mountain Sports, Sturtevants, Ski Tek and Chapter One Bookstore in Ketchum.
This year’s lineup includes “The Last Honey Hunter,” which features the last man in the remote Nepal village of Saadi to risk dangling off a 300-foot bamboo rope ladder to harvest psychotropic “mad honey” that provides himself and his village a means of living.
“Surf the Line” features the crazy Flying Frenchies, who combine BASE jumping with its unlikely cousin surfing, even though they must thread a line atop their surf board that should strike abject terror into most sane breathing mortals.
“Denali’s Rave” features the story of a woman who learned to fly in the Alaska wilderness to balance her adventurous spirit with the demands of being a parent.”
And “Johanna Under the Ice” follows freediver Johanna Nordblad as she dives under the ice in a film that was shot in Finland in temperatures of minus-14 degrees.
Nordblad, who began cold water diving after breaking her leg in a downhill mountain biking crash, braves the elements in just a swimsuit and mask. And, in the process, she reveals an unspeakably magical place.
“This year the films are once again being driven by many women filmmakers,” said Boge. “It used to be a common question as to why there weren’t more female leads and filmmakers. Not an issue anymore as they are well represented.”
Boge, a Sandpoint resident who lived in Sun Valley during the late 1970s, originally brought the tour to Sun Valley on a dare, believing Sun Valley audiences would be mesmerized by the films. The nexStage Theatre had never shown a movie before, but Kathy Wygle was willing to give it a try. And both nights ended up selling out, even though Boge had worried that tickets then were too pricey.
“One of the things I’m going to work on for next year is to add an additional night,” he said. “Even after all the work we put into picking films, there are still films that I would really like to share with the Ketchum/Sun Valley audience.”
Here’s a lineup of each night’s films, which vary in length from a few minutes to more:
FRIDAY, FEB. 2:
ICE CALL - BACKYARDS PROJECT – Try to keep up to freerider Sam Favret as he gives a new perspective of the mythical Mer de Glace at the heart of Mont-Blanc in this French film.
DREAMWALKERS – THE FAROES PROJECT – Four friends set out on an adventure to be the first to highline in one of the most unlikely of places--the Faroe Islands—in this Australian film.
DENALI’S RAVEN – For climber, skier, and guide Leighan Falley, the mere sight of the Alaskan wilderness elicits an insatiable wanderlust. To reconcile her adventurous spirit with the demands of parenthood, she would need to learn to fly.
DUGOUT – Ben and James decide to travel to the Ecuadorian Amazon, live with an indigenous community, learn from them how to build a canoe from scratch, then take that canoe on a journey… What could go wrong?
INTERSECTION: MICAYLA GATTO – Mountain biker Micayla Gatto takes the viewer into her world as a painter and as an athlete, riding through beautifully created masterpieces where colors come to life and reality blends with art.
KILIAN – Kilian Jornet, considered the greatest mountain runner ever, attempts to ski and run the Seven Summits of Romsdalen, Norway, in a single day. Never mind that it entails 77 kilometers with 9,000 meters of elevation gain.
JOHANNA UNDER THE ICE – Freediver Johanna Nordblad finds that diving under the ice provides a surreal, calming environment that helps heal her injuries.
ABOVE THE SEA – Chris Sharma takes it to the next level while deep-water soloing on the island of Mallorca.
THE FROZEN ROAD – Ben Page sought an adventure of perfect solitude in the Canadian Arctic. Yet the harsh truths of travelling in such a formidable environment were a long way from the romanticisms of a Jack London book.
SATURDAY, FEB. 3:
WHERE THE WILD THINGS PLAY – This is a homage to adventurous ladies in big mountain skiing, climbing and whitewater kayaking who are out there BASE jumping from high desert cliffs, performing tricks on slacklines, climbing granite routes and shredding single track.
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ASCEND – Jon Wilson gets back in life via mountain biking after losing his leg to cancer.
2.5 MILLION -- American skier Aaron Rice sets out to ski 2.5 million, human-powered, vertical feet in the backcountry and set a new world record.
WHY – French kayakers tackle a cold, rugged and forbidding Icelandic landscape where powerful rivers plunge through bedrock gorges, over massive waterfalls toward the sea.
THE LAST HONEY HUNTER – Maule Dhan Rai is the last man in the remote Nepal village of Saadi who's been visited in a dream by a wrathful forest spirit called Rongkemi. If no one else in the village has the dream, a generations-old tradition may die.
PLANET EARTH II – MOUNTAIN IBEX -- Only a few pioneering animals have what it takes to survive in the world's highest mountain ranges and they tend to be some of the most elusive and mysterious animals on the planet.
THE SPACE WITHIN – This film takes you on a journey of imagination into a space filled with beautiful, soft, Japanese powder snow.
PEDAL – Starting out from her rural Dutch village, Hera van Willick has ridden her bicycle through 43 countries and she shows no sign of stopping.
SAFETY THIRD – Brad Gobright recovers from a backbreaking fall to attempt some of the hardest ascents of his career.
IMAGINATION: TOM WALLISCH – This film has its genesis in that little kid sitting in the back seat of his parents’ car, wishing he was somewhere else, as he begins commanding back flips, improbable rail slides and huge airs on skis with his fingers.
MONDAY, FEB. 5:
SURF THE LINE – Thinking out of the box isn’t a choice for the Flying Frenchies– it’s a way of life as they combine BASE jumping with surfing.
EDGES – Celebrate a life lived well through the eyes of Yvonne Dowlen who at age 90 has been ice skating for as long as she can remember.
DREAMRIDE 2 – This film is a poetic, artistic, inspiring ride through volcanic fields, hidden lava caves and down rivers of ice.
INTO TWIN GALAXIES – A GREENLAND EPIC – Three National Geographic “Adventurers of the Year” embark on an insane kayaking mission in Greenland, using kite skis to tow their whitewater kayaks over a thousand kilometers of the Greenland Ice Cap to reach the most northern river ever paddled.
LA CASITA WIP – Two girls from Ecuador have a dream of building their own dirt jumping track in their backyard.
SKY MIGRATIONS –Ecologist and filmmaker Charles Post shines a light on the network of backcountry scientists and sentinels at the front lines of raptor conservation in a film that chronicles migrating raptors who depend on two hemispheres of wild and healthy ecosystems.
MY IRNIK –This film focuses on a young father passing on the native traditions and ancestral culture of the Canadian Arctic to his son, as he learns them himself.
STUMPED – Maureen Beck has never let the fact that she is missing her lower left arm hold her back from climbing.