 |
|
New
Article from the Tahoe Daily Tribune about Todd Offenbacher, the Inspiration
and Enthusiasm behind TAFF:
 
And you can Read The Article
Here too:
TV Personality Lives Life
on the Edge
Amanda
Fehd
December 9, 2005
When he was
a kid, Todd Offenbacher loved exploring the woods near his home in Potomac,
Md., wandering for hours and wishing he was born 200 years earlier so
he could join an expedition with Lewis and Clark.
Two decades later, he satisfied that thirst for exploration when he discovered
mountaineering, rock climbing and skiing.
Most of us know Offenbacher, 43, as the guy on our TV sets, but to him,
hosting Resort Sports Network is just a job that fits him well.
In fact, he's dared some of the most remote and challenging terrain in
the world, charting new routes with several big names in the climbing
world and scaling peaks in Mexico, Peru, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam and
Europe.
Adventure photographer Corey Rich met Offenbacher five years ago at a
climbing area off Highway 88.
"Within the first 10 seconds, I realized his enthusiasm for the adventure
world was contagious and you couldn't help but get excited if you are
within 50 feet of the guy," Rich said.
In person, he's the same cheery guy he is on TV, but a bit more intense.
"I have an absolute passion to live in, play in, and work in the
mountains," Offenbacher said.
Why take the inherent risk of these sports?
"It's a metaphor for life. You have to manage your fear. You have
to calculate. You have to push yourself. To me, it's a primal thing that's
in people. You either have it or you don't."
Three years ago, he tore his quadriceps muscle almost completely off his
patella during a misadventure in the rocks at Kirkwood and was out for
the rest of the ski season.
Laid up in bed, grumpy and bored, and watching ski movie after ski movie,
the idea of a film festival entered his head and never left.
Now in its third year and coinciding with Heavenly's 50th anniversary
celebrations Dec. 16 and 17, the Lake Tahoe Adventure Film Festival takes
up Offenbacher's every spare minute.
What he really wanted was a festival that's exciting on and off screen.
It's really got to be "the next best thing to doing it," he
thought as he propped his lame leg on his couch three years ago.
And so a slogan was born.
South Shore is a diamond in the rough, Rich said, that has much more to
offer than full-fledged resort towns like Aspen. Offenbacher's enthusiasm
makes him a great person to organize a festival that draws attention to
that, he said.
"Todd believes in this community and he believes in adventure,"
Rich said. "Events like the film festival make this place more desirable.
It's what will put us on the map and provide a sense of community."
With breathtaking mountains, casino nightlife and three large metropolitan
areas within short driving distance, organizers believe the festival has
potential to grow to be bigger and better than competing events.
In the last three years, the event has expanded its sponsors, films and
audience.
This is the first year Offenbacher's had to turn down film submissions.
Next spring, he hopes to take it on tour to several other cities.
The whole process has taught him a lot about life.
"Rupturing my quadriceps, here was this horrible, excruciatingly
painful thing. You have to find something positive in it, because that's
how you live life," he said. "Life is shorter than you think.
Don't take anything too seriously."
He learned that lesson once already.
In the '90s Offenbacher discovered Yosemite Valley and the monolith of
rock climbers' dreams, El Capitan.
He took several long trips from Maryland, but when he would head back
to the airport in Reno, he'd always get this sinking feeling driving through
the gorgeous expanse of Washoe Valley, like he was heading in the wrong
direction.
All his family and friends lived in Maryland, where he owned a successful
physical fitness center. Yes, it's true, he was once a body builder, and
once a runner up in Mr. USA.
But that's way in the past, Offenbacher says.
When he moved to South Lake Tahoe nine years ago, he never looked back.
"I genuinely love this place," he said. Of all the mountain
ranges he's played in - the Alps, Rockies, Appalachians, Himalayas - nothing
beats the Sierra Nevada.
To see the
article in its original format and with included pictures follow this
link
to the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Article
From
the Tahoe Daily Tribune about last years Festival:
Adventure Film Festival was Fuel for a
Season of Fun
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.
|
|
