The annual Banff Mountain Film Festival UK & Ireland tour kicks off next month, with more screenings and action than ever before.
The 2018 Tour features two different collections of the latest and best climbing and adventure films, featuring some of the world's top explorers and athletes challenging themselves in remote destinations.
This year's UK premiere is scheduled for Edinburgh on Saturday 13 January with two screenings in front of epic audiences. It then hits the road with 105 shows at more than 60 locations and then eventually wraps up in Northern Ireland on Saturday 19 May.
The Tour is part of the wider Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, which travels the globe each year, visiting almost 50 countries and reaching more than 400,000 people worldwide.
FILMS
14 films will feature across the two film programmes this year. This year's line-up features paraclimber Maureen Beck and free-soloist Brad Gobright, as well as highlining in the Faroe Islands, kitesurfing and kayaking across Greenland, cycling through Canada's frozen north to the Arctic Sea, mountain biking, skiing, and much more. Film highlights from the upcoming Tour include:
INTO TWIN GALAXIES – A GREENLAND EPIC
Top adventurers Ben Stookesberry, Sarah McNair-Landry and Erik Boomer are on an extreme mission in Greenland. Using kite skis, the trio tow their white-water kayaks 1,000km over the Greenland Ice Cap to reach the northernmost river ever paddled – and then the challenge gets even tougher. With spectacular cinematography, remote wilderness and a large amount of suffering, this film shows what it's like to be far out of your comfort zone.
SAFETY THIRD
For most climbers, it's safety first. But Brad Gobright is definitely not most climbers. Fuelled by day-old doughnuts and unhindered by a fear of falling, this young talent is pushing the limits of scary trad and free solo ropeless climbing in his backyard playground of Eldorado Canyon, Colorado. Having survived a few big scares, Brad is determined to make his boldest ascent yet – a first-ever free solo of one of Eldo's most exposed and difficult routes.
THE FROZEN ROAD
Yorkshireman Ben Page is embarking on a solo bikepacking journey in the Canadian Arctic. He starts with romantic visions of perfect solitude, but as the latitude increases and the mercury falls below
-30C, he discovers what it truly means to travel alone in this great emptiness.
STUMPED
Maureen Beck may have been born missing her lower left arm, but that hasn't stopped her from going hard. She pushes her 'stump' to the limit, takes whippers on 5.12, and crushes overhanging boulders, while sinking beers between burns. She isn't making excuses for herself though. "I don't want to just be a good one-armed climber," says Maureen. "I want to be a good climber."
For the full film line-up, to check out the trailer and buy tickets, see www.banff-uk.com
Each show will also feature the tour's legendary prize giveaways during the interval, with goodies up for grabs from sponsors including Keen, Cotswold Outdoors, Osprey, Rab, Buff, Clif Bar and SueMe.
TOUR DATES & LOCATIONS
The UK and Ireland 2018 tour dates are:
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