Festival Winners | Films | Guests | News Coverage | Jury | Photo Gallery | Media Kit

2006 Mountainfilm Special Guests...

Non-film Presenters Alpha Flow

Conrad Anker

Conrad Anker’s specialty, simply put, is climbing the most technically challenging terrain in the world. This quest has taken him from the mountains of Alaska and Antarctica to the big walls of Patagonia and Baffin Island and the massive peaks of the Himalaya. Conrad’s Antarctic experience spans a decade, with first ascents in three regions. Learn more about Conrad at www.thenorthface.com.

Rick Armstrong

Born in Anchorage, Alaska, Rick Armstrong has been skiing since he learned to walk. His ski adventures have taken him from the 14,000-foot peaks of Colorado to the remote backcountry of China and Mongolia. Rick’s roots lie in ski mountaineering, and his background includes extensive ice and rock climbing, snowboarding and paragliding. Learn more about Rick at www.thenorthface.com.

James Balog

James Balog’s work springs from a passionate, lifelong involvement with nature as an artist, adventurer, scientist and explorer. His books, Tree: A New Vision of the American Forest and Survivors: A New Vision of Endangered Wildlife, have been hailed as major conceptual breakthroughs in the visual arts. People, The New York Times, CNN, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC’s Good Morning America and NPR have featured his work. His images have been exhibited in museums and galleries from Los Angeles to Greece and are regularly published in National Geographic, Time, Life, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. He is a contributing editor for National Geographic Adventure.

John Beatty

British photographer John Beatty is widely acclaimed as one of the most exciting and stimulating nature, travel and adventure photographers to have emerged in recent years. His life's work takes him through mountains, tropics, icecaps and deserts.

John’s presentation: “Wild—Spirit in the Land”

“Wild—Spirit in the Land” is a multimedia presentation with original music composed by John’s son that flows with images of the natural world - its timeless rhythms, beauty and simplicity.

Peter Berg

Peter Berg is the director of Planet Drum Foundation, which aims to provide an effective grassroots approach to ecology that emphasizes sustainability, community self-determination and regional self-reliance. He is the author of Reinhabiting a Separate Country: A Bioregional Anthology of Northern California and Discovering Your Life-Place, and in former incarnations was a playwright and actor with the San Francisco Mime Troupe.

Peter’s presentation: “Sustainability Must Be Bioregional”

Peter will give a presentation on sustainability: “The places where we choose to live are bioregions where we harmonize with natural characteristics including both personal and soci-cultural activities.”

Scott Blackwell

In 1971 a seven-year-old Scott discovered a passion for food—particularly cookies, which later grew into his founding of Immaculate Baking Company. Then, twelve years ago, he decided he wanted to capture the life and environments of folk artists living and creating art in the rural South. That project, eventually captured in a film called All Rendered Truth, received a media arts grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2004.

Scott’s presentation: “All Rendered Truth”

Scott will be showing a segment of his film All Rendered Truth and discussing the project, which also spawned (Folk) A.R.T. Is*, an artifact-based exhibit that features the work of 21 self-taught artists from nine Southern states.

Willy Bogner

“My passions?” Willy Bogner once explained, “They are pictures, sports and music.”  In the 50’s he traveled around with his camera hunting pictures—in Alaska, in the Himalayas and in the Rocky Mountains—and quickly discovered the film camera as the absolute medium to express his passions.  As an athlete in the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley,  Willy Bogner shot documentation on what was happening in the Olympic village  “behind the scenes,” where television reporters did not have access. Albert R. Broccoli, who produced James Bond films for over 20 years, used Willy in action, stunt and dramatic ski film sequences for films including A View to Kill and The Spy Who Loved. Bogner is also a familiar name in the fashion industry—the Bogner family has been making high-end ski clothes for decades. Willy Bogner’s films include: Ski to the Max, Cool Trend, The Way to B,  Bunny and Claude, Fire and Ice, For Your Eyes Only, Tuamotu, Journey to Hunzaland, Himalaya and many more.

Willy’s presentation: “Willy Bogner”

Willy will give a glimpse of his fascinating life of extreme skiing, filmmaking, and fashion.

Phil Borges

For more than 25 years, Phil Borges has documented indigenous and tribal cultures across the globe and his photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. His award-winning books have been published in four languages. In 2001, Phil founded Bridges to Understanding, an on-line classroom program that connects youth worldwide through digital storytelling that explores and honors cultural diversity.

Phil’s presentation: “Stirring the Fire, Women Heroes at the Edge of the World”

Phil Borges’ latest project, which he presents here as a slideshow and lecture, focuses on women in developing countries as they push through the barriers of convention and oppression to improve their communities and their lives.

Christine Boskoff

Christine Bsokoff is the owner of a premier Seattle guide company, Mountain Madness Inc., an alpine climbing school that leads international climbing, trekking and safari expeditions around the world. She has repeatedly guided treks to six of the seven highest summits on each continent.

Christine’s presentation: “Summit Dreams”

Christine will present her unique and light-hearted perspective on climbing through words and images: from a clear, crisp morning on a snowy Himalayan peak to a warm rock cliff in the late afternoon sun.

Jon Bowermaster

So far Jon Bowermaster's travels have taken him to seven continents and have involved two-person sledding across Antarctica, sailing a 60-foot sailboat across the Atlantic and first descents of rivers from Chile to China. His adventures—many sitting in a kayak--have led to the publication of eight books and several documentary films.

Jon’s presentation: “Oceans 8—Sea Kayaking Croatia and Tasmania”

With support from the National Geographic Expeditions Council, Jon Bowermaster's “Oceans 8” project - an exploration of the world’s coastlines from the seat of a sea kayak – continues. Jon will show film clips from his “Oceans 8” documentaries and give a talk about the project.

Arlene Burns

Arlene, Mountainfilm’s festival director, has been involved in Mountainfilm since the mid 90’s before stepping up onto the hot seat where she now resides.  But, contrary to local popular belief, she did have a life before Mountainfilm.  Since the early 80’s she was based in Kathmandu, Nepal for nearly a decade organizing and orchestrating river expeditions in the Himalayas and beyond.

Arlene, Brot & Ace’s presentation: “Artery for an Arid Landscape”

In the summer of 2005, the National Geographic Expeditions Council sent adventurers Arlene Burns, Broughton Coburn (see below), Ace Kvale and two handsome Mustangi princes on a first descent of the region's most sacred river, the Kali Ghandaki, which flows between the Himalayan giants of Dhauligiri and Annapurna to form the deepest canyon in the world. They will take you on a short tour of their expedition through words and pictures. (It was during Mountainfilm exactly a year ago that Arlene, Brot and Ace got the news from National Geographic that their expedition was green-lighted!)

Broughton Coburn

Broughton Coburn is the author of six books and has worked in conservation and development projects in the Himalaya for 20 of the past 33 years. In 1997, Broughton was awarded the American Alpine Club's Literary Achievement Award for his body of work. His conservation and development work has encompassed projects for the World Bank, UNESCO, World Wildlife Fund, and other agencies.

Brot’s presentation: See Arlene Burns, above.

Jeff & Ursula Cristol

Telluride locals Jeff Cristol and his wife Ursula have traveled throughout the world in search of new experiences and adventure. Jeff traveled to climb and ski for many years and now turns his energies to paragliding with his Peruvian wife as companion and support.

Jeff & Ursula’s presentation: “Central Asia With a Tent and a Paraglider”

During the summer of 2005, Jeff & Ursula Cristol traversed Central Asia in search of paragliding. They’re giving a presentation of their journey that included 40 days in Mongolia, as well as visits to flying sites in the Altai Republic, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Galbadrakh “Gala” Davaa

Born in the Hoyd Province of Mongolia, Gala Davaa studied in Mongolia, Budapest, the UK, and Colorado. He is the executive director of the Mongolian Society for Environmental Education (MSEE), a national NGO, and has been working since 2002 on a project promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods in the eastern grasslands of Mongolia.

Dr. Howard Donner

High-altitude physician Dr. Howard Donner volunteers for the National Park Service to help climbers who need immediate medical attention at 14,000 feet. He heads the Denali medical rescue camp, was a member of the 1997 NOVA Mount Everest expedition and is a medical consultant for NASA. Dr. Donner is co-author of Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine.

Howard’s presentation: “Deadly Ascent: Surviving Denali”

NOVA joins a team of medical researchers, rescuers, world-class mountaineers, military special forces and astronaut John Grunsfeld on Denali as they take part in a study designed to shed light on mountain medicine in extreme conditions. Dr. Donner and Dr. Peter Hackett head the high-altitude rescue and research camp.

John Dugger

John Dugger is an artist and master banner maker. He began creating banners in London in 1974 and shows his work at the Tate Gallery in London and in U.S. and U.K. collections. He has made banners for Buckingham Palace, Oracle Corporation and Francis Ford Coppola and was invited by the Dalai Lama to the Namgyal Monastery to study with Tibetan Banner Master Dorjee Wangdue.

Carroll Dunham

Carroll Dunham is an anthropologist, documentary film maker, and director of Wild Earth, a cooperative that produces luxury Himalayan herbal products in Kathmandu. She is the author of The Hidden Himalayas, and co-author of Tibet: Reflections from the Wheel of Life and Sacred Landscape and Pilgrimage in Tibet-In Search of the Lost Kingdom of Bon.

David Edwards

David Edwards has been a freelance photographer and expedition guide for over 25 years. He has traveled extensively throughout Asia, documenting and exploring native cultures with a special interest in Mongolia and China. For the past three decades, he has led river trips in the Grand Canyon. Additionally, he leads educational and photographic expeditions on rivers and land throughout the world. (www.davidedwardsphotography.com)

Dave’s presentation: “Reflections on the Shaman’s Mirror”

Dave Edwards introduces Galbaa, a female shaman—the ninth in a line of ancestry—who lives in a remote part of western Mongolia. Galbaa is from the Tuvan tradition, but she also serves Mongols, Kazakhs and others.

Gretel Ehrlich

Gretel Ehrlich is the author of 13 books of fiction and nonfiction and was trained as an ethnographic filmmaker at UCLA film school. Her work has been anthologized in essay compilations and has also appeared in National Geographic, Harpers, The New York Times Magazine, Shambala and others.

Gretel’s presentation: “The Changing Climate”

After traveling with subsistence Inuit hunters in northwest Greenland through both summer and winter seasons, Gretel Ehrlich and David McLain present a slide show and discussion to demonstrate how traditional life is being affected by climate change, a threat to the entire artic ecosystem.

Jeffrey Falt

Jeffrey Falt holds degrees in history, law, and Asian studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Following terms with California Rural Legal Assistance and the Concilio Mexicano in rural California, he assisted the Sri Lanka Bar Association on a country-wide assessment of the legal needs and perceptions of the poor while he was an overseas service fellow of the International Legal Center (an NGO funded by the Ford Foundation). After four years as program officer for Law and Human Rights with the Asia Foundation, five years teaching in the Asian studies graduate program at Dominican College of San Rafael, and six years as southeast Asia co-group coordinator for Amnesty International, Jeffrey returned to work in the fields of human rights, access to justice and participatory development. Over the past 20 years, he has collaborated with local counterparts on projects in Africa, Asia and Central America, including such hotspots as East Timor, Liberia, Cambodia and Nepal. He and his wife, Oyungerel Tsedevdamba live in Ulaanbaatar, where they are collaborating on a novel about the impact of the Stalinist purges on the lives of Mongolia’s nomadic herders. Jeff is our Symposium MC.

Marcie Cohen Ferris

The author of Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South, Marcie Cohen Ferris is associate director of the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies and assistant professor of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also vice president of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

Marcie’s presentation: “Matzoh Ball Gumbo”

Marcie Cohen Ferris will discuss her book Matzoh Ball Gumbo, which examines how Southern Jews have embraced, avoided and adapted Southern food and, in the process, found themselves at home.

William Ferris

Memory and Sense of Place in the American South
William Ferris, who grew up on a farm near Vicksburg, Mississippi, is the co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture and served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1997 to 2001. He is currently the senior associate director of the Center for Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bill’s presentation: “Memory and Sense of Place in the American South”

William Ferris will offer a discussion of Southern culture and history, focusing on music and literature that includes a musical performance and original film.

William W. Fitzhugh

William Fitzhugh is director of the Smithsonian’s Arctic Studies Center and has been conducting arctic and circumpolar archaeology for more than thirty years in Canada and Russia. His Mongolian deer stone research began in 2001.

Bruno Frohlich

Bruno Frohlich is a scientist with the Smithsonian Institute’s Anthropology Department. He is a statistician and physical anthropologist with multiple degrees from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Connecticut. He specializes in Middle Eastern skeletal biology, Arctic and Sub-Arctic skeletal biology, forensic anthropology, remote sensing, geophysical methods and computed temography.

Judy Goldhaft

Judy Goldhaft is a cultural educator who works with Planet Drum Foundation and was formerly a performer with San Francisco Mime Troup. She also founded the Reinhabitory Theater.

Judy’s presentation: “Water Web”

A 20-minute performance with words and movement, “Water Web” celebrates water and our complex relationship with it as humans through a dance narrative, lyric poem, and rap/movement eco-performance piece.

Daniel Gonzalez

Daniel Gonzalez has 17 years of experience with conservation and environmental campaigns in his home of Chile. He was international coordinator for the BioBío Campaign (Chile's first operation to stop large-scale dams); executive director of the Pumalin Project, founded by Douglas Tompkins and the Foundation for Deep Ecology; and is currently executive director of Futafriends, a U.S-based NGO that promotes protection of the Futalufu river.

Dr. John Grunsfeld

Although he's been chief scientist, an astronaut and astrophysicist with NASA, John Grunsfeld likes to refer to himself simply as a "Hubble repairman." He is a veteran of four space flights, including the last two Hubble repair missions where he was the last human to touch the space telescope. He is a former chief scientist at NASA and former chief of EVA training (spacewalking). His academic focus studies the origin of the universe.

Dr. Peter Hackett

Peter Hackett was a climber on John West’s 1981 American Medical Expedition to Everest, where he was both a doctor and mountaineer. He is a physician in Telluride and an affiliate professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. His studies on mountain sickness (altitude illness) have been published in over 100 medical journals.

Pete’s presentation: See Howard Donner.

Andrew Harvey

Andrew Harvey was born in South India where he lived until the age of nine, a period he credits with shaping his vision of the inner unity of all religions. Harvey has written and edited over 30 books, including The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, edited with Patrick Gaffney and Sogyal Rinpoch; Dialogues with a Modern Mystic; The Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi; Hidden Journey; The Essential Gay Mystics; and Son of Man.

He has written for publications such as The New York Times Book Review, Yoga Journal, Body Mind Spirit, Common Boundary, and Quest. He has taught at Oxford, Cornell and Hobart and William Smith College, and was the subject of the 1993 BBC documentary "The Making of a Mystic."

Lynn Hill

Lynn Hill is one of the best climbers in the world. A natural athlete, she has also competed as a gymnast and runner. She possesses a combination of power, grace and endurance that has enabled her to tackle some of the most difficult challenges in the world of climbing, as well as allowed her to consistently break climbing records. She has been a guest at the White House and has been featured on television and in many newspapers and magazines. Lynn produced a film about her free ascent of the Nose and wrote an autobiography about her life as a climber, entitled Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World (published by W.W. Norton). She if featured in the documentary short film The Leaning Tower.

Kris Holm

Kris Holm pioneered mountain unicycling and is the world’s best-known mountain unicyclist. His main passion is taking his unicycle on adventures to unusual places around the globe. You can watch Kris Holm’s extraordinary unicycling skills in the documentary Defect.

Eric “EJ” Jackson and family

EJ Jackson is a three-time and defending world freestyle kayak champion, a former Olympian and the founder and president of Jackson Kayak, a small kayak company. This lifetime kayaker and entrepreneur is joined by his wife and children—Kristine, Dane and Emily—on the U.S. Freestyle Kayak Team. In certain circles they are known as the "First Family of Kayaking." This winter, the kids became the youngest kayakers ever to boat the Nile and Zambezi rivers. Join EJ as he offers an inside look at an atypical family life.

Victor Johnson

Victor Johnson is a award winning writer, musician and producer from Oregon. His company P-POP Ent. & Publishing specializes in traditional acoustic music and storytelling for kids and families as well as content for film, video and tv.

Leonard Jones

(Folk) A.R.T. Is* artist Leonard Jones’s self-taught cartoon style features bright colors and depicts scenes of his life and memories in rural Georgia. He paints with house paint on recycled roof tin with sticks, brushes and his fingers. His work has been featured in the House of Blues and other galleries in the South.

Leonard’s presentation: “All Rendered Truth”

Leonard will be on hand with Scott Blackwell to discuss his work and perhaps give a demonstration…

Nick Keefer

Telluride artist Nick Keefer presents his collection of recent paintings. Sacred Geometry is a complex geometry made up of small pieces that evoke the intensity of swirling energies that seek to escape from confined spaces. Each painting contains many smaller paintings and portals into color and light.

Pat Keller

Rite of Passage in the Whitewater World
Keller is a professional extreme kayaker whose accomplishments include two national championship titles, international medal and championship title and numerous first descents on rivers around the world.

Pat’s presentation: “Rite of Passage in the Whitewater World”

Pat Keller shares a personal account as a young river athlete who experienced his defining rite of passage at age 17, when he witnessed the death of a close friend on a river in British Columbia in 2003.

Robert Glenn Ketchum

Robert Glenn Ketchum’s photography, writing, numerous books and exhibits over the last 35 years have earned him acknowledgment from Audubon magazine as one of the 100 people “who shaped the environmental movement of the 20th Century.” He has woven his projects in ways that serve issues and drive effective legislation, which has made him one of the most successful artist/activists in American history. He has been the recipient of the Robert O. Easton Award for Environmental Stewardship and the Josephine and Frank Duveneck Humanitarian Award. He was also named the 2001 Outstanding Photographer of the Year by the North American Nature Photography Association and Outstanding Person of the Year 2000 by Photo Media magazine. For 15 years, he also served as Curator of Photography for the National Park Foundation.

Ace Kvale

Ophir, Colorado photographer Ace Kvale is one of the most successful adventure photographers in the business. He has photographed climbers in the Alps, skiers on the volcanoes of Ecuador, visual effects for the movie Cliffhanger in the Dolomites and more.

Ace’s presentation: See Arlene Burns.

Lesley Littlefield

Lesley Littlefield writes and performs her short and frolicsome songs on a wide range of sweet and silly topics, such as farming, animals, geologists, oranginess and more. According to Nashville, Tennessee, journalist Lobo, "Quirky caricatures unfold while this sprite of a song-smith pays homage to 17th-century folk ballads and at times even evokes the musical styles of Patsy Cline and Joni Mitchell. Littlefield leaves this fly on the wall buzzing, 'Bravo! Bravo!'" Lesley joined Angelic Organics as a fieldworker in 2001, and there she met Farmer John (see The Real Dirt on Farmer John,). After a year in Russia, she went with Farmer John to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, to become his biographer and writing consultant. In 2005, she completed her first CD/DVD Little Songs.

Martin Litton

In the realms of wilderness conservation, Martin Litton is a powerful voice. During his 89 years, he has comfortably worn many hats: as senior editor of Sunset Magazine, board member of the Sierra Club and founder and guide for Grand Canyon Dories (the first company to run wooden dories through the Grand Canyon). Martin has taken a leading stand in many major conservation efforts, from the protection and establishment of Dinosaur National Monument and Redwood National Park to protecting the Grand Canyon from two intended dams (which sparked the birth of an environmental movement that continues today).  His latest love and passion is in saving the last tracts of giant sequoias, which are among the oldest living organisms on earth. On the cusp of his 9th decade, he is not daunted by the ferocious whitewater of the Grand Canyon (rowing his own dory), nor by the limitations of government beaurocracy with regard to environmental protection. Martin Litton continues to fight “the good fight” with a force as noble as the giant sequoias themselves.  (He’s hiking out of a river trip early and piloting his own plane to get to Telluride in time for Mountainfilm this year.)  We salute you, Martin Litton, for a lifetime of extraordinary achievement on behalf of mother earth.

Kent Madin & Linda Svendsen

Kent Madin started Boojum Expeditions in the early 1990s, which was the first U.S. adventure travel company to develop tourism in Mongolia. From an initial interest in horseback expeditions, Kent and Linda Svendsen have expanded their offerings to all forms of tourism and founded their own Mongolian travel company in 1998.

Mark Marks

Renowned shark biologist Mark Marks is best recognized for his pioneering graduate studies on the behavioral ecology and sociobiology of the great white shark. Living amongst the apex predators in South Africa for nearly eight years and employing novel experimental biology techniques, Mark has been able to determine social structure and dominance hierarchy by decoding white shark communication signals. Mark’s research on these aquatic carnivores has taken him on a global adventure to elucidate the life history of one of the planet's truly dynamic and misunderstood marine predators. A hint of this research is shown in the film Mind of the Demon.

Mike Marolt

Mike Marolt is a fourth-generation Aspenite who has participated in some 30 ski mountaineering expeditions spanning the globe. He was one of the first Americans to ski from 8,000 meters (XX feet).

Mike’s presentation: “Skiing the High Himalayas”

Mike will present his video diary that documents the first American ski descent of the north face of Mt. Everest and the first group of Americans to ski from 8,000 meters.

Dr. Jeffrey L. Marsh, M.D.

Dr. Jeffrey Marsh, a part-time Telluride resident, is the medical director of the Bhutan Cleft Care Project and also serves as the director of the Cleft Lip/Palate Oral Craniofacial Deformities Center at St. Johns Mercy Hospital in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Jeff’s presentation: “Bhutan Cleft Lip/Palate Project”

Dr. Marsh will share the start-up story of an indigenous cleft care team in Bhutan, a collaboration between international health care professionals and the Bhutanese Ministry of Health that was initiated in 2001.

Bernadette McDonald

Bernadette McDonald is vice president of Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre, director of the Banff Mountain Film Festival and founding director of the Banff Mountain Book Festival. She is a founding member of the International Alliance for Mountain Film and was an invited speaker at the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2001 to launch the International Year of Mountains. She has just been awarded the King Albert Award for her contributions to the global mountain community. Bernadette is an avid climber, hiker and skier and travels the world in search of warm rock and deep snow.

Bernadette’s presentation: “I’ll Call You in Kathmandu: The Elizabeth Hawley Story”

For more than four decades, American Elizabeth Hawley defied the conventions of her era by living on her own in Nepal, where she became the unofficial chronicler of Himalayan climbing. Bernadette will present the book she wrote about Hawley's unique and unconventional story.

David McLain

David McLain has shot feature-length assignments for magazines—such as National Geographic, National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Traveler, Smithsonian, Outside and Skiing—in countries as far-flung as New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, Central and South America, Greenland and British Columbia. The photographs in his gallery show were shot on assignment for National Geographic (January 2006) for an article by Gretel Ehrlich, covering traditional Inuit hunters in Northern Greenland.

David’s presentation: See Gretel Ehrlich.

Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier

Cristina Mittermeier was trained as a marine biologist, but after publishing scientific papers about the loss of biodiversity and human cultures, she found herself short of words and turned to photography. Her work has been published in several books, including six she co-authored with other scientists and photographers, and featured in National Geographic, National Geographic Explorer, Nature’s Best Magazine and other publications. Cristina sits on the board of directors for Nature’s Best Foundation, the WILD Foundation and the Chairman’s Council of Conservation International. She chairs the International Committee of the North American Nature Photographers Association and serves as the director of the newly formed International League of Conservation Photography.

Greg Mortenson

Greg Mortenson's lifelong interest in mountaineering culminated in a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, the world’s second highest-mountain. The expedition changed his life. Since then, Greg became dedicated to promoting education in remote and volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Through his nonprofit, the Central Asia Institute, he has set up more than 55 schools, which provide opportunities for education and literacy to more than 20,000 children. Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today, says, "Mortenson doesn't just climb mountains. He moves them, and through his dedication and determination, he's given hope and changed the lives of thousands of children in a region of turmoil."

Greg’s presentation: “Three Cups of Tea”

Greg will be speaking about his book Three Cups of Tea, in which he recounts the unlikely journey that led him from his failed attempt to climb K2 to successfully building schools in some of the most remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Timmy O'Neill

Timmy O'Neill is America's most outrageous climber. He has set "gob-smacking" speed climbing records from Yosemite to Patagonia, and has been at the cutting-edge of the sport for over 15 years. He is a world-class slackliner, renowned building solo climber, class 5+ kayaker and dangerously fast mountain biker.

Juan Pablo Orrego

Juan Pablo Orrego was one of the founders, and then general coordinator, of Biobío (Chile's first operation to stop large-scale dams). In recognition of his efforts, he received the Goldman Environmental Award in 1997 and the Right Livelihood Award in 1998. Since then, he has continued to work on environmental issues, particularly ones related to water resources in Chile.

Jonathan Overpeck

Jonathan Overpeck is a climate system scientist at the University of Arizona, where he is director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, as well as a professor of geosciences and atmospheric sciences. His research spans the globe and has a special focus on climate change in the Arctic, as well as the emerging topic of abrupt climate change. He has published over 100 papers on climate-related topics.

Peck’s presentation: “Global Warming and Greenland: A Global Concern”

The climate of the Arctic is changing faster than anywhere on the planet. Sea ice, ice sheets, glaciers and permafrost are all warming and retreating at an unprecedented rate. Some say that changes in the Greenland ice sheet are likely harbingers of larger changes to come, and the impacts will be global. Jonathan Overpeck will share his research on the emerging topic of abrupt climate change.

Chris Pague

Chris Pague brings 27 years of experience in the study of natural history, conservation planning, and conservation biology to The Nature Conservancy (‘the Conservancy’) of Colorado. BS and MS degrees in Biology and Zoology and advanced training in ecosystem ecology and evolutionary biology, combined with 24 years of field experience, provided him with a strong background for conservation inventory and planning efforts. Chris moved to the Conservancy’s Colorado Program in 1997, where he is now the Senior Conservation Ecologist. Other foci include regional conservation, planning and strategies for conservation of Colorado’s eastern plain and on Colorado’s public lands.

Farmer John Peterson

Lifelong Illinois farmer John Peterson runs Angelic Organics, one of the largest community supported agriculture farms in the United States. More than one thousand families in the Chicago area receive a delivery of vegetables and herbs from Angelic Organics. John brings the discipline of farming in the Midwest to his winters of writing in Mexico. John’s essays were featured prominently in Sharing the Harvest (Chelsea Green, 1999). His articles have appeared in Growing for Market, Biodynamic Magazine, Lilipoh, and Community Farm News. He has written numerous short stories and plays. In 2005 the film The Real Dirt on Farmer John was made about his life.

Chris Rainier

Chris Rainier’s mission is to put wilderness and indigenous cultures on film. Rainier is a National Geographic Society Fellow, co-directs the National Geographic Societies Cultural Ethnosphere Program, and directs the All Roads Photography Program. He is a contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler magazine, a contributing photographer for National Geographic Adventure magazine and a correspondent on photography for NPR’s Day to Day. His work is seen in Time, Life, Smithsonian, The New York Times, many National Geographic publications and other journals. Rainier’s photography has been shown and collected by numerous museums, including the Australian Museum in Sydney, The Biblotheque Nationale in Paris, The International Center of Photography in New York, The George Eastman House International Museum in Rochester and the United Nations (NYC).

Lisa Rands

The North Face Athlete
Lisa Rands grew up in southern California, where she spent her early climbing years seeking traditional roped adventure. While studying for her geology degree in college, she was introduced to bouldering, which suited her powerful style well. In the summer of 2002, despite her limited competitive experience, she beat the best gym-trained climbers in the world in two major events and ended her first year of international competition ranked number one in the world. Learn more about Lisa at www.thenorthface.com.

David Roberts

By the time he was 22, climber David Roberts had been involved in three fatal accidents. Yet he continued climbing in a calling that's now spanned 40 years.

David’s presentation: “On the Ridge Between Life and Death”

David presents his memoir, On the Ridge Between Life and Death, a critique of a climber's way of life that asks the ever-present question, “Is it worth the risk?”

Russ Family Musicians

Larry and Jason Russ are a father/son musical duo that performs acoustic-based pop/folk. With a guitar and a variety of percussion instruments, they present vocal and instrumental compositions and interpretations. Larry and Jason have played together for over 10 years, and they were selected to perform in the field of finalists at the 2003 Maryhill Winery singer-songwriter contest in Washington. Larry was a finalist at the Sisters Folk Festival in Oregon in 2002; Jason has performed at Mountainfilm the last two years with his group Onehum.

Eric Sanford

In 1969, at the age of 18, Eric Sanford decided to become a climber after seeing a photo of the Tetons in the pages of a magazine. With similar dedication—and a similar lack of credentials—he then talked his way into a variety of jobs, including horse wrangler; ski racer; mountain, river and heli-ski guide; and contributing editor and staff photographer for a dozen magazines.

Eric’s presentation: “The Reluctant Climber”

In this hilarious presentation that will amuse all ages, Eric will take a look at turning a dream into a vocation.

Hamid Sardar

Hamid Sardar Ph.D. received his doctorate in Sanskrit and Tibetan Studies from Harvard University. He is a writer and an award winning ethnographic filmaker based in Paris, France and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He is also currenlty the president of the Swiss-based Axis Mundi Foundation, which has supported various projects that document the culture and indigenous wisdom of Mongolia's traditional nomadic cultures. His film The Reindeer People received the prize for Best Film on Mountain culture at Banff 2004.

Hesh Sarmalkar

Hesh Sarmalkar gave up the world of sciences to pursue his true love, acting, inspired by his illustrious Bollywood Family. Hesh's projects include Sundance 2004 Official Selection Sangam, an Italian short shot in Florence titled Dopodomani, and a New York short The Proctor. Hesh has been tapped as an ensemble lead for the feature Patang scheduled to film in 2007.

Max & Emma Silverman

It is safe to say that Max and Emma know more about Mountainfilm than any other kids on the planet, as their father Rick was our festival director from the time they were born until 2004, when the whole family took a year off to travel the wilds of the world. Their last country of residence, before returning to Telluride, was Mongolia, where they awed and amazed the locals with their expertise via unicycle. They also happen to be experts in geography, connoisseurs of French cheese, and masters of geography, among many other things. Both have been esteemed members of the kidz Kino jury.

Max & Emma’s presentation: “Nomads, Kids, and Unicycles”

Max & Emma will present a slide show regarding their journey through outer Mongolia on horseback and unicycle seat.

Jocelyn Slack

Jocelyn Slack works in watercolor, pen and ink. Her travels and life outdoors have inspired greeting cards, calendars, murals, restaurant spaces, fabric design, T-shirts and logos that feature wildlife with a personality. Her new book P is for Potato depicts the Idaho landscape and the people who live there.

Chris Spelius

Chris Spelius is founder of the adventure travel company Expediciones Chile, which has run kayaking and rafting trips on the Futaleufu river since 1986. As a world-champion kayak rodeo finalist and kayak Olympian, he has been the subject of numerous films and articles.

Naran Surenjav

Naran is one of the most popular Mongolian singers today. She graduated from the Mongolian University of Culture and Art in 1995, majoring as a dramatic actress. She has released five albums to date that have been well received, both in Mongolia and abroad, and has performed in many countries, including Russia, China, Japan, Hungary, Bulgaria, Korea, Turkey and Singapore.

Dr. Geoff Tabin

A Graduate of Yale, Oxford and Harvard Medical Schoo, Geoff is now professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciencees at the University of Utah and the John A. Moran Eye Center in Salt Late City, Utah. Geoff also serves as co-director of the Himalayan Cataract Project.

Geoff has pioneered technical rock, ice and mountaineering routes on all seven continents, including the east face of Mt. Everest and was the fourth person to climb the highest points of all seven continents, known as the Seven Summits.

Jack Tackle

Jack Tackle has lived most of his life in Montana, but he is no traditional “cowboy.” Despite thirty years of climbing and guiding throughout the world, he is best known for climbing in Alaska, where he attempted summits on 30 separate trips and completed 12 major first ascents in various ranges across that vast and rugged landscape.

Jack’s presentation: “Alpine Lessons Learned”

Join Jack for a slideshow and lecture that will cover 30 years of alpinism and the lessons learned along the way.

Kevin Thaw

The North Face Athlete
Often heralded as the United Kingdom’s number-one all-around climber, Kevin Thaw has consistently performed at the top level of many disciplines—alpine, big wall, traditional, ice, mixed and bouldering—and shows no sign of slowing down. Born and raised in the U.K., he left the day after his finals in mechanical and production engineering. When he’s not climbing, Kevin relaxes by surfing the Internet and skateboarding. Learn more about Kevin at www.thenorthface.com.

Kate Thompson

Kate Thompson traveled to Mongolia in 1999 as part of a relief effort to clothe homeless children and help them get into school. In conjunction with this trip, she also journeyed to western Mongolia to visit nomadic Kazakh families and experience the many rich aspects of their culture with horses and eagles. Kate shoots professionally for travel magazines.

Oyungerel Tsedevdamba

Oyungerel “Oyuna” Tsedevdamba was born in the village of Tarialan in the Khuvsgul province of Mongolia. After receiving a master's in business administration in Moscow, she became a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University where she studied international policy. Oyungerel authored two Mongolian television documentaries on Mongolian contemporary political events and political reforms. She has published scores of newspaper articles, designed and managed a website on human rights, and lectured on the history of economic thought and management at the University of Trade and Industry in Ulaanbaatar. She composed lyrics for six songs that were recorded by the popular Mongolian singer Naran. She was awarded the Golden Medal of Excellent Studies, issued by the Ministry of Education of Mongolia in 1983. In 2003, she was awarded the Order of Liberty by the Democratic Union of Mongolia and the Best Achievement in Social Welfare by the Ministry of Social Welfare in 2005.

Paul Watson

For 29 years Captain Paul Watson has been at the helm of the world's most active marine non-profit organization, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Paul's career as a master mariner began in 1968 as a seaman with the merchant marines and with the Canadian Coast Guard. He has authored six books: Shepherds of the Sea (1979); Sea Shepherd: My Fight for Whales and Seals (1982); Cry Wolf (1985); Earthforce! (1993); Ocean Warrior (1994); and Seal Wars (2002). In 1972, He co-founded the Greenpeace Foundation in Vancouver, B.C.

Paul’s presentation: “Defending Whales in Antarctica”

Captain Paul Watson will be giving a presentation on the recent Sea Shepherd voyage to Antarctica to defend whales from the illegal operations of the Japanese whaling fleet. Dramatic video will be shown illustrating the dangerous interventions that resulted in the saving of 85 whales from death by harpoon.

Don Weeden

Don Weeden is executive director of Weeden Foundation, a New York-based family foundation that has funded conservation efforts in southern Chile for 15 years. Prior to taking over as executive director, he lived and worked in South and Southeast Asia for 25 years, focusing on population, community development, and eco-tourism efforts.

Gordon Wiltsie

Gordon Wiltsie is a photographer, writer, mountaineer and explorer whose work has taken him to some of Earth’s wildest and remotest regions, including numerous journeys to the Himalaya, the Andes, the Arctic, Antarctica and both geographic Poles. He is widely considered to be one of the most creative and prolific expedition photographers in the world.

Art Wolfe

Art Wolfe has been hailed by William Conway, president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, as "the most prolific and sensitive recorder of a rapidly vanishing natural world." Wolfe has taken an estimated one million images in his lifetime and has released over forty-five books. His awards include the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Outstanding Magazine Photography, Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year by the North American Nature Photography Association, Photographer of the Year by Photo Media magazine, and the National Audobon Society’s first-ever Rachel Carson Award.

Ted Wood

Ted Wood is a freelance photojournalist and co-founder of Conservation Ink, a non-profit publisher of interpretive materials for Mongolia's national parks. His work on environmental/natural history stories has appeared in magazines worldwide, including GEO, Smithsonian, Vanity Fair and others. Recently, Ted has been shooting in Mongolia's national parks.

Cedar Wright

Cedar Wright learned climbing at the age of 21 on northern California’s majestic sea cliffs. Cedar is a prolific “first ascensionist” whose passion and positive energy are inspiring and contagious. His zeal for climbing is balanced by his Zen approach to his downtime with meditation, yoga, guitar, painting and writing poetry among the ways in which he relaxes. Learn more about Cedar at www.thenorthface.com.

Note: All schedules, events and presenter participation are subject to change.

Top Photo: © GUS GUSCIORA
What's next boss?

Navigation Climber © ACE KVALE