Presenters 2007

Andy Cave

Andy is one of the top all-round climbers in Britain.  Working as a miner on leaving school, he eventually quit his job to concentrate full-time on mountaineering, and to improve his education, and he has excelled in both - With a PhD in linguistics, and an experienced public speaker, Andy’s talk will be dramatic and inspiring.

At the age of 20, he climbed the North face of the Eiger, and followed this with some epic and technically difficult ascents including Shishapangma (8008m), Changabang as well cutting-edge rock climbs

He has featured in the acclaimed BBC2 series Wild Climbs and often features on national radio.

His book, “Learning to Breathe”, won the Boardman Tasker Prize and the Banff Adventure Travel Writing Award 2005. Read more about Andy on his web site...

Will Gadd

Will is one of the world’s top outdoor extreme sports athletes. Participating and excelling in ice climbing, paragliding, mountaineering, rock climbing, kayaking, skiing, caving, diving – and more –and with the hook line in his bio, “Nobody ever died wishing they had spent more time behind a desk”, it is surprising that he has had time to be a writer, scriptwriter, film producer, stunt-man and videographer as well.

Will is the current World Record distance holder for paragliding (263 miles) and he won every major ice climbing competition in the world in 1998 and 1999. He completed the first one-day ascent of Mt Robson in the Canadian Rockies. Order his DVDs here...

Find out more about Will here......

 

Børge Ousland 

On the 23rd of March 2006,  Børge Ousland and Mike Horn became the first persons to reach the North Pole during the Arctic winter. This expedition had long been regarded as impossible due to the constant darkness and the extreme cold of the winter months. Their success added a new chapter to the history of Polar exploration – and it is one of the highlights in Borge Outland’s impressive list of achievements.

With solo expeditions to both the South and North Poles and solo crossings of both the Antarctic and the Arctic from coasts to coasts, Børge Ousland has established himself as the leading polar explorer of our time.

Ousland grew up on Nesodden outside Oslo. After high school he trained as a diver and worked from 1984 to 1993 as a saturation diver in the North Sea. In the period 1989 – 1991 Børge served his military service in the Norwegian Special Naval Forces.

Ousland has twice climbed mountains higher than 8000 meters in the Himalayas (Cho Oyo in 1999; in 2003 he had to turn back just below the peak of Mount Everest).
 
In 2003,  Børge and Thomas Ulrich succeeded in crossing the Patagonian Ice Fields without outside support. The expedition started by kayak from Tortel, over the inland ice fields on skis and sled, and 54 days later they finally paddled to Puerto Natales in their kayaks.  The combination of Thomas as a mountain climber and Børge as a polar veteran was very successful on this very difficult expedition that, for example, included a 600-meter rappel. 

Børge has managed to successfully complete his expeditions as a result of thorough preparation with emphasis on training, coordination and development of equipment and properly balanced nutrition.

Børge is an acclaimed author and film maker. His film Alone to the North Pole, won first prize in Dijon Adventure Film Festival. The Big White, 2001, won first prize in the Moscow Adventure Film Festival and in the Torello Mountain Film Festival). Read more on his web site

Stephen Venables

Stephen Venables is no stranger to the Dundee Mountain Film Festival, and featured in 2003. He was the first Briton to climb Everest without supplementary oxygen during the first ascent of the Kangshung Face in 1988. A well known author, his book Painted Mountains won the Boardman Tasker prize in 1985, and Himalaya Alpine Style (with Andy Fanshawe) won the Banff Festival Grand Prize in 1995. One of his other books, "A Slender Thread", tells how he fell and broke both legs whilst descending from the first ascent of Panch Chuli V. He starred in the IMAX film "Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure", and was involved in the filming of the BBC documentary on the first ascent of the Matterhorn, “The Misfit and the Matterhorn”.

He has made several first ascents in Peru, Bolivia, Patagonia and South Georgia.

In 2007 Stephen will be busy completing another new book, covering Ranulph Fiennes’ attempt on the North Face of the Eiger, attending the premiere the new IMAX film on the Eiger – for which he wrote the screenplay – and coordinating the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Alpine Club, of which he is the current president.
Read more about Stephen's travels on his website.

Marko Prezelj

Marko began mountaineering with his father at age seven. After several years he learned that some climbers could keep going where he and his father turned back, so he began looking for more experienced partners. At that time in Slovenia it was not possible to climb (with an organized club) until 16 years of age so Marko waited until 1982 to begin 'real climbing' and alpinism. "Curiosity and good company (friends) motivated me at the start and I'm happy to find out that it remains quite the same now."

Marko appreciates all forms of climbing. He can on-sight 7b+, and is "comfortable" at a slightly lower grade (6c+) on less-than-ideal rock in the alpine setting. He has climbed mixed routes in Scotland and made many difficult ascents, often in winter, in the Western Alps.

Marko has climbed many 6000m and 7000m peaks in alpine style. High points include the main summit of Melungtse (7181m) via the east face, the virgin East summit of Yebokangal Ri (7332m), the first ascent of the north face of Gyachung Kang (7952m), and the second ascent of the Golden Pillar of Spantik (7027m). In 1991 Marko and Andrej Stremfelj, won the Piolet d'Or for their five-day alpine style ascent of a new route to the summit of Kangchenjunga South (8476m). All of these summits were reached via technical routes. Marko understands that personal climbing experiences are (more often than not) too complex to share in just a few words, that new routes and numbers cannot delineate a human experience. "There is a difference between an experience -- the intimate feelings of a moment in time and place -- and the story of that experience, which I find difficult to recapture."

Although trained as a chemical engineer, Marko earns his living as a guide and photographer. He lives in Kamnik, Slovenia with his wife Katja and two sons, Tim and Bor. Find our more about Marko here...

Marko's presentation is entitled "Based on True Stories". Alpinist Magazine once said about Marko ‘More than one young climber has found himself doing the best route of his life when tied in with Marko Prezelj.’ Opinionated, hungry and the purist’s purist, the Slovenian alpinist has a simple piece of advice: ’have fun’. Born in Ljubljana in 1965, Marko moved from first encounters with the ‘old school’ of alpinism to create his own style which he admits is his obsession. He finds climbing more than a sport, but something which is “both complex and immeasurable”.

Marko explains, “Curiosity was the impulse that first brought me to alpinism, and it leads me still. In climbing, style is my first concern. The decision making process is a challenge in which doubt and uncertainty are essential ingredients….’no regrets‘ is the rule. When I know the outcome the game is different and in the end less fun. It is considered normal to avoid the uncertain. the unexpected and the unknown but these are the catalysts for human progress and they’re my catalyst as well.”

“Every feeling is unique. Every partnership is unique. Every climb is unique. ”
“We all emphasize moments from our climbs we felt they were important, and they all differ from one to another – in choce and in description. The essence of a climb burns out in the moment of experience and we – alpinists try to present only the ashes (based on a true story) to the public.”

See some of Marko's outstanding photographs here...