MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release
September 7, 2000

Sir Edmund Hillary and Reinhold Messner, two giants of the mountaineering world, will headline this year’s Banff Mountain Festivals.

The ‘grand gentleman of the mountains’, Sir Edmund Hillary became a household name around the world after his 1953 first ascent of Mount Everest with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. One of the most famous and influential climbers in the world today, Reinhold Messner is best know for his dedication to lightweight alpine-style mountaineering. Among his many accomplishments, Messner made the first solo ascent of Everest as well as the first ascent without supplemental oxygen. Messner’s and Hillary’s Banff presentations will focus upon the future of mountaineering in an era in which commercial expeditions crowd the slopes of the world’s highest mountain.

Hillary and Messner are just two of over three dozen mountain luminaries who will gather in Banff for the 25^th anniversary of the Banff Mountain Film Festival. This year’s mountain festivals include the Banff Mountain Summit, October 30 and 31, the Banff Mountain Book Festival, November 1 to 3, and the Banff Mountain Film Festival, November 3 to 5, 2000. Tickets are selling briskly for all events.

The Banff Mountain Summit will feature over thirty of the world’s top adventurers and mountaineers, in a series of seminars on leading-edge mountain issues. In addition to Hillary and Messner, guests include: Sir Christian Bonington, David Breashears, Kitty Calhoun, Riccardo Cassin, Greg Child, Yvon Chouinard, Peter Croft, Wade Davis, Kurt Diemberger, Catherine Destivelle, Ed Douglas, Mick Fowler, Will Gadd, Anderl Heckmair, Lynn Hill, Dr. Thomas Hornbein, Dr. Charles Houston, Leo Houlding, Silvo Karo, Guy Lacelle, Jeff Lowe, Pat Morrow,

Royal Robbins, Doug Scott, Audrey Salkeld, Todd Skinner, Junko Tabei, Jack Tackle, Ed Viesturs, and Krzysztof Wielicki.

The Banff Mountain Book Festival will explore five decades of Yosemite climbing when Royal Robbins, Yvon Chouinard, Lynn Hill, Peter Croft, Leo Houlding and Todd Skinner share the stage to discuss the lure of the valley’s big walls. This year’s festival will also feature a presentation by one of the world’s foremost mountain photographers, Bradford Washburn. Travelling the world for eight decades, Washburn has documented the landscape from the Grand Canyon to the Alps, from Mount McKinley to Mount Everest.

The 25th anniversary Banff Mountain Film Festival will present the leader of the first expedition to climb Annapurna, Maurice Herzog, as opening-night speaker. Herzog will bring his film of that epic 1950 ascent, Victoire sur l'Annapurna (Victory on Annapurna), to the festival screen.

Herzog will be introduced by his friend and colleague Reinhold Messner. In addition to screening the world’s best mountain films and videos, this year’s festival will also feature presentations by American alpinist Kitty Calhoun and filmmaker and climber Kurt Diemberger.

For tickets, contact:

Banff Centre Box Office, Box 1020, Stn 38, Banff, AB, Canada, T0L 0C0
Phone: 403-762-6301 or 1-800-413-8368
Online ordering: www.banffcentre.ab.ca/CMC

The 7^th Annual Banff Mountain Book Festival,
Presented by Canadian Mountain Holidays,
and sponsored by Eagle Creek Travel Gear, National Geographic Society,
Patagonia, Dunham Bootmakers and Mountainzone-Quokka
with assistance from: the Alpine Club of Canada, the Banff Book & Art Denand The Mountaineers Books.

Media contact:
Banff Centre for Mountain Culture
phone: 403-762-7594 fax: 403-762-6277
email: debra_hornsby@banffcentre.ab.ca

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