Mountainfilm Blogs: March 2008

March 28, 2008 Special thanks to guest blogger, Katie Lee - one of the few people to travel Glen Canyon prior to the Glen Canyon Dam. It pours over my flushed, hot face-- a chilling, cold gift that flows from a breathtaking place in that hot and burnished desert. Even though my eyes and the bridge of my nose are numb and aching with the cold, my cheeks and lips burning under this icy fountain, I do not pull away. I’m locked in a painful kind of ecstasy. Random drops sprinkle my hair. I feel the soft tickle of moss against my cheek--its caress like loving fingers.

March 21, 2008 Did you know that the average African family uses about five gallons of water per day? The average American individual uses approximately 100-176 gallons per day. (Statistics are according to U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet "Water Q&A: Water Use at Home" and the World Resources Institute, 1998-99 and 1996-97. "A Guide to the Global Environment.) March 22 is World Water Day. The U.N. General Assembly dedicated this day in 1992 to raising awareness of the lack of clean, safe drinking water around the world. Events are planned in several countries. In the United States, 69 cities officially recognize World Water Day. For a list of events near you, visit this link at worldwaterday.net.

Posted March 19, 2007 As a Mountainfilm Tour presenter out on the road, I introduce myself to the audience du jour as their “guide for tonight’s cinematic journey around the world” and then proceed to tick off the locales we’ll collectively visit through the eyes of filmmakers, do-gooders, animals and heroes. Sometimes it’s a fleece-n-birks crowd, other times it’s a formal affair or sleepy eyed college kids taking a break from learning or partying. It’s a two-way experience as I get just as much out of it as they do. I return to the hotel or home of a host absolutely wired from the rush of sharing seldom seen labors of love with a roomful of folks hungry for inspiration, education and just darn tootin’ fun. It’s a tough job but somebody has to show it.

March 14, 2008 Sidenote: We are so appreciative of the amazing posts from our guest bloggers - and the generous spirit they embody to put thoughts down and share them with us every Friday. This week is an intermission for a shameless plug of one of the events we have planned for this year's festival. Here's the basics, but check it out in more depth at: Mountainflim Press Releases. • Tribute to the late Sir Edmund Hillary: Renowned mountaineer and filmmaker, David Breashears will host a tribute to the eminent “mountaineer’s mountaineer” who passed away earlier this year. Guests close to Hillary will attend. Rarely seen films chronicling his life and exploits will be presented.

March 12, 2008

This week's Guest Bogger Kristin Carpenter-Ogden discusses the joys of travel and climbing. I didn’t travel internationally until I was in my mid-twenties. I’m not proud of this, but as one of four kids growing up in a wealth-challenged household, I’m not surprised by it either. I was indoctrinated to travel through my boyfriend, now my husband. We started dating, and one day he surprised me with the fact that he’d bought me a ticket to Barcelona (two kids later, things are so not this romantic currently, but we have the memories!). I had been to Europe before, but it was to cover a trade show in Munich as a journalist. In his opinion, that trip did not count, and I completely understand why now.