Wednesday 19th February
Festival Launch Night – The festival kicks off in action packed style at Nevis Range Mountain Experience, near Fort William. The evening will begin with a torchlight descent spectacular as a range of local outdoor athletes on skis, bike and foot weave their way down Aonach Mor. This will be followed by a locally sourced and inspired four course meal, a preview screening of the festival competition films and live musical entertainment.
Thursday 20th
Red Bull Media House Presents
Top level action films presented by Red Bull Media House, giving wings to people and ideas. We’ll enjoy some of the best and most recent films including "Tracing Skylines" which follows six skiers on several incredible ski adventures around the world.
Every skier knows what it’s like to call a few friends, pack up, and head out for a trip. Rather than spend another winter chasing storms, six of the top pros and their closest pals embark on their own interpretations of a “trip of a lifetime,” taking them deep into new and uncharted territory.
New Scottish winter routes in out of the way places – Simon Yearsley
Simon describes his passion for putting up new winter routes in Scotland, and talks about partners, research, effort, and dealing with failure… all key components in his love for new route adventures. This talk will include some choice stories from our very own Glencoe and will be presented in The Clachaig, the warmest welcome in the heart of Glen Coe.
Friday 21st February
Hill Running Highs
Findlay Wild, current record holder of the Cuillin Ridge Traverse and four times winner of the Ben Nevis Race opens the night with a short film. “The Dragons Back” by Shane Ohly will then be shown with a talk by legendary runner Manny Gorman who completed the Corbetts in a continuous round. Plus, a ridge running Question and Answer session, with an amazing panel of elite athletes; Shane Ohly, Manny Gorman, Findlay Wild and Guy Steven.
Saturday 22nd February
Climbing Night with Piolet d’Or Winners Sandy Allan and Mick Fowler
The complete Mazeno Ridge of Nanga Parbat was undoubtedly one of the most famous unclimbed lines on the great peaks of the Karakorak/Himalaya, having been attempted many times, and by some of the world’s greatest mountaineers … Sandy Allan and Rick Allen with a small team crossed all eight Mazeno summits, and from a bivouac at 7,200m made an unsuccessful attempt on the unclimbed continuation of the ridge direct to the top. At this point all but Allan and Allen gave up and made a difficult descent to the south. The British pair eventually traversed the north flank to the summit and made a difficult descent of the Normal Route on the north flank, reaching the bottom after a traverse lasting 18 days. Sandy Allan will be joining us to share his experience of this fantastic mountaineering expedition.
Elegance summarises the traverse of Shiva (6142m India) by Mick Fowler and Paul Ramsden, climbed via the arrow-like northeast ridge, dubbed the Prow of Shiva. It was the fifth known ascent of the mountain. Mick Fowler and Paul Ramsden, 2003 recipients of a Piolet d’Or, completed a traverse in a nine-day round trip from base camp, finding sustained climbing on the Prow, which ranged from the numerous pitches up icy cracks in Chamonix-type granite to long, protectionless leads on thinly-iced slabs reminiscent of winter climbing on Ben Nevis. Mick is renowned as an excellent speaker and is sure to entertain with his recollections of this and other climbs.
Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture
Andy Nisbet will become the 7th recipient of the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture when the formal presentation is made on Saturday 22nd February.
Sunday 23rd February
The Dynamic Image – Nadir Khan
A multi media presentation for those that love photography and creativity in the outdoors. The presentation is a visual feast for a photography or outdoor enthusiast; with music, video, time lapse and stills. Nadir talks about his techniques for photographing adventure sports from trail running, to ice climbing to snowkiting.
The Best of Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour Film Night
Always a sell-out, this is your chance to see the best in award winning mountain films from around the world - extreme expeditions and challenges, remote cultures and the world's last great wild places. Don’t miss it!
Get Involved
Come along and join in or spectate as top level mountain athletes compete in events throughout the weekend. The Scottish Enduro Series Round One mountain bike event will take place at Nevis Range; Skimo Scotland will hold their ski mountaineering races at Glencoe Mountain and Nevis Range; Lochaber Athletics Club will hold a special hill race on Saturday 22nd February.
Mountain Skills Workshops
There will be plenty of opportunity for both novices and experts to hone their mountain skills through a series of workshops in avalanche awareness and winter walking with Abacus Mountain Guides. There will be wildlife photography workshops with Nevispix and an adventure photography workshop with acclaimed photographer Nadir Khan. Indoor climbing and ice climbing skills workshops will also be on offer at Kinlochleven's Ice Factor Indoor Climbing Centre plus understanding our mountains through the Gaelic language workshop.
Mike Pescod added: “Celebrating the landscape that surrounds us in Fort William is the inspiration behind the Mountain Festival. Whether it is the beauty of the landscape, our engagement with it or the opportunities we find in it, celebrating our natural capital is the vision of The Outdoor Capital of the UK, which is our presenting sponsor once again.”
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