banff film festival.

From surfing the frozen Norwegian seas to mountain biking precarious Austrian mountain peaks, the Banff Mountain Book and Film Festival is crazy inspiring. Friday’s showing at the University of Minnesota, sponsored by Midwest Mountaineering, was no exception. It certainly makes the day-to-day desk job look pretty ho-hum and leaves me yearning to sell everything, toss a few essentials in a giant pack and goooooo.

But, perhaps what inspires me the most is how passionate those in each film are about their sport. They seek out adventure in faraway places, do exactly what they love to do, what they were born to do – and, do what most of us wish we could do.

But, why can’t we?! As Bruce Kirkby said in the film The Questions We Ask … the questions we ask shape our path.

So, ask more questions, embark on crazy adventures, find your passion, shape your path and go!

I can’t pick just one favorite of the seven films we saw, but here are the trailers to two and two full-length films.

Grand prize winner, North of the Sun – two Norwegians surfed + skied on a secluded beach north of the Arctic Circle for a year. I’m cold just thinking about it 🙂

Keeper of the Mountains. In an era when women didn’t have careers other than homemaker or teacher, Elizabeth Hawley traveled the world and settled in Kathmandu, where she became a journalist, interviewing every single Everest climber. Whip smart woman.

In Cascada, despite days of downpours, the guys kayaked some wicked waterfalls in Mexico.

And, The Last Ice Merchant. Baltazar Ushca has climbed Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador for decades to harvest ice. He can’t imagine life any other way.