- Monday, March 24, 2008
- Banff
- Posted by Zach in News
-
Some friends and I attended the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour a few nights ago.
The films were divided raggedly into two halves. One half wanted to commune with nature, the other wanted to conquer it. In some films people jumped off cliffs or climbed arches to interact meaningfully with something large and wild. In other films people jumped off cliffs or skied down mountains to say, “in your face Nature!”
One film about extreme Canadian unicyclists seemed somewhat out of place. A bunch of guys on unicycles, pogo-ed around the forest wincing with every landing. Maybe it’s a Canadian thing.
The highlight was a short film that featured the writing of Jim Perrin, a Welsh Mountaineer and a word wizard. I’m beginning to suspect that the Welsh government forces its people to be talented.
“You!” (crack of the lash) “compose a sonata!”
The Welsh people that readily come to mind are impressive: Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Bryn Terfel, Jim Perrin, Catherine Zeta Jones, and … um…Flewellen in Henry V. Okay, granted, I don’t know of that many Welsh people, but the ones I know are impressive. Moving on, since I saw the film, I’ve been reading a little of Jim Perrin. He is interested to answer the question: Why climb? He says, “In great danger, there is great joy. Life is then very light; it weighs upon us hardly at all and could so easily be blown away: such a delicate, tenuous hold in this short span between laughter and oblivion.” He says elsewhere that these moments are “the dancing moments, with all their deadly allure.” I get the feeling that joy ignites the climber who embeds himself inside the mountain’s pocket. But why?
The portrait of the mountain that emerges from Perrin’s writing is that of worth-o-meter. I’ve had friends who were attracted to high-maintenance girls for the same reason. If the girl demands a lot, it must be because she thinks the guy is capable to meet her demands–there’s a backwards flattery to it. The man who is drawn to the tantrum expert might just as likely be drawn to the Himalayas. There is joy in self-discovery.
Perrin holds the instinct to commune and the instinct to conquer in tension. He asks, “What did we learn from rock, other than that it could be overcome? Never mind what we did on the rock. What did the rock do to us - what lessons did we learn, in that unhuman sphere? What did we bring to it, and what did we take away? What choices did we make? Rancour, ego, resentment, aggression - or things more positive?”
Perrin’s theme seems to be that hard things showcase things more positive. Hardship rings out the cynicism and leaves only the sublime. The mountain climber pushes past the snow, through clouds, and reaches a summit bathed in light and joy. If we’re lucky he might retain a little of his transcendent ephiphanic burst and bring it down for us to savor.
What made the Bannf film ultimately poetic was the symbolism of an old man’s climb–the need to make tactile the intangible opposition of life. I finished the film inspired. As I left I was surprised to see mountain climbing footwear on a number of the shaggy haired, hemp necklace-wearing, guys in the audience. I further noticed that their girlfriends didn’t appear to be the abrasive sort meant to polish them to a sheen. Rather, they were fresh faced and frictionless. They had easygoing natures, were quick to smile, and effortlessly said words like “cruise,” as in, “Let’s cruise into the lobby.”
I suggested that those guys were posers. Maybe those guys aren’t posers. Aaron Green suggested that they weren’t. Aaron said that the crazy high maintenance girl is the easy thing to come by. It’s finding the pleasant one that’s Everest.
Anyway, I’ll leave you with this mysterious line of poetry,
“O’r Llanfair sydd ar y Bryn neu Lanfair Mathafarn Chwyth ef i’r synagog neu chwyth ef i’r dafarn.” (Llwyd 129)
Have no idea what that means but it looks pretty dang cool. And it’s Welsh. BAM!
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4 Responses to “Banff”
Yeah climbing!! Now there’s something I’m excited about!
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/Irk-portfolio/Climb.jpg
I agree that there is definitely an aspect of danger/fear to climbing that has a draw to it. Though for me the draw is more down the lines of problem solving. When your on a sheer rock face its like a giant virtual Sudoku puzzle! (Though the stakes are a little higher if you make a mistake!) Ok, it actually has no similarities to Sudoku except for the puzzle analogy -when you’re a hundred feet off the deck and can’t figure out the next move it becomes a test of problem solving, overcoming fear, and keeping calm. Thanks for the post!
Pretty cool post (but hey — did you mean to spell “Fluellen” “Flewellen”? Been a while since you were in Henry V, eh?).
And I think Ioan Gruffudd belongs on the prestigious list of notable Welshmen.
http://books.google.com/books?id=NTsPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA160&lpg=PA160&dq=flewellen+Henry+V&source=web&ots=QLUlESzRQx&sig=R39x-k4uQ8lAbIaWcn1Qu_uoGhA&hl=en
Chalk it up to Elizabethan free form spelling. And yes, it has been a while
Darn Elizabethans. I wish I could get away with fpelling like thif, alfo.
I wanted to figure out WHAT the Welsh thing said, but now I’m really annoyed that the free online translators don’t do Welsh. It seems foolish, since there are plenty of people who speak it.
There seem to be a lot of names; I DO know the “dd” is pronounced “th,” and “Ll” is like a normal “L” but with a bit more air behind it. And “ch” is like the “ch” in German. Welsh is just a completely awesome language. You know what some really cool stuff is? Old stories from Wales, like those in the Mabinogian. The names are fantastic. Like “Gwenhwyfar.” Sounds like a good name for an otter. Along with “Corporal Nym.”