TAHOE ADVENTURE FILM FESTIVAL: Two-day event livens up South Shore
As the party ran down and the crowd went home, the only question remaining at last year’s Tahoe Adventure Film Festival was how to top it. The answer? Take 50 degree slopes, inverted solo climbs, sheer planes of ice, free-climbing El Capitan and a let’s-say-a-prayer-for-that-guy skateboarding injury and film it. Then add a midget.
The two-day event was held in South Lake Tahoe at MontBleu Resort and Casino on Dec. 15-16. The festival played out like a Jekyll and Hyde story, with a low-key more relaxed atmosphere the first day that served as a warm-up to the high energy festival the second night.
The event, billed as more than just your stuffy film festival, kicked off with the presentation of the festival’s first lifetime achievement award, given to free-climbers Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden. Both considered among the best in the world, the crowd witnessed Tommy’s ballsy attempt to free-climb two different routes of El Capitan in 24 hours.
“That was definitely cool, I didn’t expect that,” Caldwell said. “I just want to keep doing it; I’ve been working at bigger and bigger mountains all my life.”
Surrounding the stage were some of the jaw-dropping photos by Corey Rich and Jerry Dodrill. Rich was also onhand to sign copies of My Favorite Place: Great Athletes in the Great Outdoors, the new book by Jason Paur featuring Rich’s photographs.
Friday night was capped by Heavenly Ski-E-O Glen Plake showcasing clips from his personal collection of ski films dating back to the 1930s. Plake, lacking his signature mohawk, ended by showing one of the most recognizable clips in the world from Blizzard of Oz.
“I hear it every day how that film changed people’s lives and that stays with me,” Plake told the crowd. He ended the night with a preview of his newest film, titled Ice on Rice, showcasing spellbinding runs in the Himalayas due out soon.
Saturday night, they turned up the juice, hoping to shatter any myth that it was a pretentious film festival. With go-go and break dancers taking the stage, DJ Red Dawn spinnin’, a midget handing out Red Bull and the return of Plake, complete with trademark laugh and Mohawk.
“We want to open people’s eyes to the hottest things happening this year. To show the most faced-paced, high energy films being done and give the filmmakers an outlet,” said Todd Offenbacher, event organizer.