Those of you who decided not to motivate and get down to the second annual Lake Tahoe Adventure Film Festival last weekend missed a real treat. Aside from six progressive film clips of outdoor adventure ranging from Sweden to South Lake Tahoe's Super 8 Motel, you also missed a collection of photos from Galen Rowell's Mountain Light Studio in Bishop, and an inspiring slide show by Royal Robbins, a pioneer of North American rock climbing.
From the looks of it, a lot of people worked hard to put together a successful festival. The overall quality of the weekend showed Tahoe is maturing as an outdoor Mecca. This festival is a great thing for us. The place was chock full of familiar faces from Tahoe's outdoor scene. Without naming names, the people who made it all happen are the same folks who over the years have helped create Tahoe's adventure world by: teaching classes, organizing trips, setting up climbing areas, writing guide books and outdoor columns, pointing us to the correct gear, giving the lowdown on the weather and conditions, snapping photos of our outdoor playground and just plain living here following their adrenaline like hounds.
Royal Robbins
On Friday, Robbins preached the spirit of adventure to a full theater at Lake Tahoe Community College. The audience devoured his insights with eagerness. He talked about how the Boy Scouts saved him from reckless train hopping, recounted first ascents in climbing and kayaking, and joked about the stigma of his relationship with the late Warren Harding, whom he called a good friend. Robbins has a reputation as a climbing ethicist, with a pet peeve against using permanent bolts. He said Harding, a bolt lover himself, would refer to him as "the Valley Christian."
I ran into him a couple of years ago at the top of Nutcracker, a classic moderate climb in Yosemite Valley, which Robbins set up. It was the first climb using only removable nuts as protection. That day, while my partner and I stuttered in awe of his presence, his only concern was finding out from us whether or not the bolted anchor below the last pitch – added long after his first ascent - was still there. When we told him no, he said, "Good, didn't need it."
Robbins was lighthearted on Friday night. He recounted a challenging solo ascent of El Capitan, and how he had to reach into "the rucksack of his soul" throughout for courage and strength to keep going. When he was 3/4 done, he found his "rucksack was nearly empty," and he wanted badly to retreat. A small voice in his head told him, "If you just climb 5 feet higher, it won't be that much more trouble if you decide to go down." Of course, he got to the top of that climb, and many more. In his talk, he reiterated a theme: Balance prudence and passion, and don't let your fear be your failure. It stoked the fire in all of us.
Six Unique Films
On Saturday, six 15-minute films reflected not only the direction of adventure filming, but also the direction of Tahoe as a home for the adventurous. The clips included sports from skiing and boarding to mountain biking and rock climbing.
Then, there was the film that defied categorization. The festival's winner, Matchstick Production's "Yearbook" went to the cutting edge, and then launched off of it. The film features daredevil ski BASE jumper Shane McConkey skiing off the edge of anything tall enough to pop a parachute under. That includes Switzerland's daunting 13,000-foot Eiger. Suffice it to say the man has no fear. And he started doing this at Tahoe's own Lover's Leap. The word "extreme" is on its way out, I hear, and it's getting its butt kicked by this stuff. Who knows, maybe a few years down the road, everyone will be ski basing off the Eiger??!! I'd put that in all caps if I could.
The other films gave me what I've craved at other festivals: in-depth story telling and character development, unique camera angles, shots of big blue bruises and gnarly bloopers, and cinematography that captured the beauty of adventure as well as its high. Having Robbins and Rowell's photo show were perfect additions, and made for a full meal. But I'm still waiting for one thing: the ultimate adventure chick flick. I know women are out there kicking butt. Where are their storytellers? Hmm ... how about Lynn Hill as guest speaker for next year?
The Closest Thing ...
The catch phrase for the festival was "the next best thing to doing it," but for a lot of us, it's the closest we'll ever get to doing it.
I lost my competitive edge somewhere between swimming thousands of yards a day in college and realizing that hiking thousands of yards in search of fresh powder was more fun. A weekend like this brings back that "go out and get it" passion. I'm sure many would agree, it's motivation and fuel for a whole season of fun.
- Amanda Fehd is a reporter for the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
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