Soaring Madness
For many years, Kraków has welcomed crowds of fans of mountains, climbing and films about outdoor pursuits to a celebration of extreme sports. Between 1 and 3 December, the University of Economics hosts the 15th Kraków Mountain Festival.
The event remains centred around two competitions for Polish and international films. This year, twelve documentaries compete for the International Film Competition Grand Prix. They include the premiere of the biopic Bonington – Mountaineer (dir. Brian Hall and Keith Partidge) about Chris Bonington, one of the finest climbers of the 20th century, and Psycho Vertical (dir. Jen Rendall) introducing Andy Kirkpatrick – the British mountaineer famous for his solo traverse of one of the most difficult routes on the infamous El Capitan formation, soaring over a kilometre over the Yosemite Valley. In Magic Mountain, the mountaineer and filmmaker Steve Wakeford ponders the reasons why people risk their lives for the sake of climbing.
The programme also features meetings with stars of alpinism and extreme sports. Kraków is visited by the four-time world champion in ice climbing Ines Papert, the seasoned skier and mountaineer Davo Karničar from Slovenia and the Czech alpinist Marek Holeček. The festival audience also meets Ermanno Salvaterra, the 62-year-old Italian climber who has completed many difficult routes and marked new trails in Patagonia.
The programme also includes traditional presentations and meetings with fell runners, climbers and alpinists who discuss their achievements and roads to success, frequently paved with obstacles. And of course there will be numerous workshops, training courses and a fair of books, equipment and outdoor kit.
(Justyna Skalska, "Karnet" magazine)
