Mountaineering

Richard W. Frank

When stuck in Boston or Binghamton, nothing feeds my need for the outdoors like the Banff Mountain Film Festival — A traveling film festival focusing on mountains, mountain peoples, and the outdoor lifestyle in general. The 2007 and 2006 preview below provides a good intro.

A Few Links

Mountain Zone — Good for finding out about expeditions around the world.

Summit Post — A good source for trip reports and other beta on mountains everywhere.

Backpacker Magazine — Good for maps and backpacking trail descriptions despite them not accepting me and Meg for their Continental Divide Trail mapping project.

Rainer Mountaineering — One of the best to teach you the basics

Galen Rowell — One of the best mountain photographers of all time.

Everest: Beyond the Limit 2007 — The stunning Discovery Channel reality series complete with Sherpa-cam.

Access Fund — NGO that protects climbing areas around the US.

Banff Mountain Film Festival — Site of the 2007 winners.

Back to Personal

One hobby I can truly seeing myself doing indefinitely (even if I won the lottery) is mountaineering. It encompasses so much of what I love: hiking, climbing, camping, slogging through snow, ice, rock, and mud, and cooking over a sooty camp stove, to mention but a few. Yes, mountaineering appeals to a certain section of the population: white, middle class, well-educated, mildly masochistic folk with something to prove to themselves. I guess I fit the stereotype. But there is no other vacation that covers all my bases.

I will readily admit that I am, at best, a mediocre climber and mountaineer. I lack the obsession that drives others to quit their day jobs to go on trips and wash dishes to fund their next climbing adventure. Others more hardy than I become mountain guides and dedicate their lives to the hills. I content myself to one or two trips a year (and fewer during these poverty-stricken grad school years) and reading stories from the glory days of mountaineering: Tilman, Bonnington, Messner, Viesturs. However, when I get tenure…

The odds and ends below provide a brief intro to the things that get me going. Hope you enjoy them, and if you need an extra hand to melt snow on a Cho Oyu or Mt. Lenin expedition let me know…

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

-John Muir

Mountaineering

Below the snows of Kilimanjaro

2007 Radical Reels Tour Promo

2008 Banff Mountain Film Festival Tour Promo