Howdy all.
Hard to believe it’s nearly three months since I got back from the expedition to Kyrgyzstan and even longer since our last newsletter. Forgive me.
The time in Kyrgyzstan was a real breath of fresh air and welcome relief to the ongoing drama of COVID for the team. As you can imagine the attitude towards the pandemic was relaxed over there, and it was in ways, a return to normality.
Unfortunately, the trip did not go to plan with the team climbing only two days out of a planned twelve due to our basecamp being attacked. We did however, summit a virgin peak and put up two new lines. I’ll be writing a full account about the trip shortly.
In November I attended the Kendal Mountain Festival for the first time where I met some fantastic folk and saw some inspiring films. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area next year.
I also FINALLY received notice of my redundancy from the financial firm I currently work for leaving me free to pursue my winter projects in Scotland this coming season. Watch this space.
What I’m Reading
Rise of the Filmtrenpeur
I was recommended ‘Rise of the Filmtrenpeur’ by Matt Green from Summit Fever Media who I recently met at Kendal Mountain Festival.
In the book, Alex Ferrari explains how it’s harder today than ever before for independent filmmakers to make money with their films. From predatory film distributors ripping them off to huckster film aggregators who prey upon them, the odds are stacked against the independent filmmaker.
The old distribution model for making money with your film is broken. The future of independent filmmaking is the entrepreneurial filmmaker, or Filmtrepreneur.
Music I’m Diggin
Larkin Poe
I came across Larkin Poe on one of those lazy Sunday days surfing Spotify.
The band are an American roots rock band fronted by sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell. Featuring strong southern harmonies, heavy electric guitar riffs, and slide guitar, they are often touted as "the little sisters of the Allman Brothers".
The above song was a particular favourite.
Who I’m Following
Grahman Zimmerman
The first I heard of Graham was at the showing of his latest film Link Sar at the Kendal Mountain Festival.
Standing at 7041m, Link Sar is said to be the last great unclimbed mountain of the Karakoram range in Pakistan. The Mountain has seen 9 failed attempts since 1970, including a 2017 attempt by the team of Graham Zimmerman, Steve Swenson and Chris Wright. In 2019 the team returned bolstered by the addition of Mark Richey for one more attempt on the unscaled peak.
I later met the Graham later in the Rab tent at the festival in which we had an interesting discussion around filmmaking at altitude and the precarious dance cinematographers play in climbing dangerous new lines and capturing the action.
You can find more of his work here.
What I’m Watching
The Last Mountain
I remember reading about the disappearance of Tom Ballard whilst on a Scottish Winter climbing trip in Fort William a couple of years back. The death of this top athlete was of particular note as his mother, Alison Hargreaves, another prominent British mountaineer, died whilst descending K2 after her successful summit in 1995.
The Last Mountain explores Tom’s death on Nanga Parbat, his mother Alison’s, and of a family’s grief coming to terms with the loss of their loved ones and if the challenges they undertook were really worth it.
Quote I’m Pondering
Last newsletter before Christmas and the New Year. I hope you all have a great time over the festive period.
Stay classy,
Alex
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As I write this newsletter the rain is drumming relentlessly against the climbing hut window here on the west coast of Scotland and I am feeling resigned that maybe, just maybe, the Scottish winter climbing scene is finally over.
This month I’m sharing the perfect film to get excited about Scottish winter skiing, a book to think differently about wealth and thoughts on how finding a mentor can appear in places least expected.