When I saw that the Brit Rock film tour would visit Bethesda, I was interested. And I figured I may not be the only one! I alerted Charlotte to it, both as a friend and as the chair of the climbing club. And she was up for it too! And two more ladies from the club joined.
We met in the foyer of Neuadd Ogwen. We had some time for a chat before the films would start.
The program comprised three films. It started spectacular, with Sea to Summit: a film about a small group of adventurers who wanted to climb a wall on a remote Greenland island (Qaarsorsuaq). That meant trekking an enormous distance from the last infrastructure by inflatable kayak and on foot to even get near. And imagine all their kit!
When they got near, the logistic challenge wasn’t over; the wall rises up straight from the sea. So they would have to kayak over, get straight onto the wall from the kayak, then install anchors, hoist the kayaks out of the sea and onto the wall, and then they could start some proper climbing. And were the weather to turn hostile while they were at the wall, they had to just wait it out on portaledges, as getting back over the water in foul weather could be seriously dangerous.
As I suppose everybody in the audience already guessed, they made it in the end! But what an expedition. I think they were at it for two months. Maybe more. Not my idea of fun but what an adventure!
The second movie, Queen Lines, was a bit more puzzling. It was about in American girl who had come to Britain for some climbing, and found a man to climb with. And they were targeting routes in Dinorwic quarry and in Devon. Why we were following them was not entirely clear; it looked a bit like a love story, but at no point was the relationship between the two discussed. And they did some serious climbing, but how special that was was not really clear. In the end, suddenly the announcement came that the big climb she had done in Devon constituted a first female ascent ever. That is quite special! So maybe that had been why we had been watching it. But altogether it seemed a bit of an aimless film. The blurb suggests the girl is entertaining and compelling, but that didn't really come through to any of us.
And then there was the last: Ephemeral. This was a film about making climbing films. It was very entertaining! A man had decided he wanted to make a film about Scottish winter climbing, and he had a particular wall and a particular climber in mind. And then he had to make it work! It turned out that that wasn't necessarily easy. There was some interesting footage of him having got himself into position, and the climber vanishing from sight within 30 seconds. Or him trying to walk around to the top of the climb, to film the climber from above, and completely failing to spot him. And getting really cold and covered in snow. And all sorts of such misery! But in the end he got the footage he wanted. And the winter climbers got some spectacular routes in.
When it was done we didn't linger but went home. We are all that kind of age! But I was glad we had gone. It was nice to watch some spectacular and uncomfortable climbing from the comfort of a seat in Neuadd Ogwen! In good company. And I hope next season will bring some climbing for myself as well…
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| 'Ephemeral' on the screen in Neuadd Ogwen |
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