BANFF @Altitude

Author, spoken-word artist and adventurer Craig Childs has written more than a dozen books on science, nature and personal experience. In his book Atlas of a Lost World: Travels in Ice Age America, Child follows ancient migration routes on foot, pursuing early Pueblo passages across the American Southwest, and he traces the paths of first peoples as they migrated into the Americas during the late...

In 2019, we kicked off the Festival with a fabulous panel of folks working to bring diversity to climbing and bridge gaps to create a richer, more welcoming and inclusive outdoor community where everyone is celebrated. The discussion featured Kai Lightner, Mikhail Martin, Dr. Erynne Gilpin and Bethany Lebewitz. Kai Lightner is a professional rock climber who started the organization Climbing for C...

Beth Rodden is one of the best rock climbers of our time, and a globally recognized ambassador for the outdoor community. She has achieved a number of notable free climbs on El Capitan and also established the most difficult first ascent of a crack climb ever done by a woman. She has been climbing for thirty years, and she hopes to be climbing for thirty more. In 2024, Rodden’s memoir A Light thro...

As a physician and pioneer climber, Dr. Tom Hornbein combined his love of mountains and medicine to shape an illustrious career. He spent his life examining the physiological effects of high altitude on the body. He made his first ascents in his native US and in the Himalayas, most notably the West Ridge of Mt. Everest in 1963. As an author, he wrote Medicine for Mountaineering and Everest: The We...

For J.R. Harris, his real adventures and life began in 1966 when, as a young New Yorker, he impulsively drove his VW Beetle across the country to the very end of the northernmost road in Alaska. He was searching for an answer to a simple question: “What is it like to be way out there?” Harris is the author of Way Out There: Adventures of a Wilderness Trekker, an account of his extraordinary exploi...

Catherine Destivelle is one of the most celebrated alpinists of all time. She was climbing some of the highest peaks in the Alps by the age of 17 and was unbeatable at world cup competitions in the late 1980s. After leaving the world cup circuit, she was ultimately drawn back toward her roots in alpine climbing. She has made solo winter ascents of the Eiger, the Grandes Jorasses, and the Matterhor...

Jimmy Chin is no stranger to the Banff stage and screen, with a resume of films such as Meru, Free Solo, The Rescue, and Wild Life that have all been finalists and award winners at Banff. Chin started climbing in college, embracing the dirtbag life before picking up a camera and kicking off his photography and film career. His long list of accomplishments includes being part of the first American...

In 2023 we had the joy of welcoming Mingma G Sherpa to Banff to join us for our Voices of Adventure series. Mingma G began climbing at the age of 20 and has become a prominent member of the international climbing community. His list of accomplishments is long and impressive—six summits of Everest, four summits of Manaslu, as well as summits on Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, Lhotse, Dhaulagiri, Nanga Par...

In this episode, we explore the climbing world of Lynn Hill, a true icon of the sport. Lynn is known for smashing records in the '80s and '90s and was a key player in the Yosemite climbing scene. She was the first person to free climb “The Nose” on El Capitan in Yosemite as well as the first woman to redpoint 5.12d, 5.13a and 5.14a. Her career is nothing short of extraordinary! We welcomed...

Cory Richards returned to the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival in 2024 to talk about his book The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within. Cory is joined by fellow alpinist Jack Tackle to dive into Cory’s career as a renowned climber and National Geographic Photographer. In both his book and this episode, Cory looks back at success and what the cost of fame means while...

Let’s dig into the hard alpine climbs of Steve Swenson as he sits down for an interview with Geoff Powter. Steve is known for his kind and warm personality and advocates for mentorship systems in the outdoors. His climbing achievements are top-notch, and he is one of only a handful of people to have won the coveted Piolets d'Or twice. In 2012, Swenson along with Mark Richey and Freddie Wilkins...

In 2018, Kate Harris presented her award-winning book Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road. Harris’ deep dive into adventure travel won her the Travel Adventure Book Award at the Banff Mountain Book Competition, as well as the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction and the 2019 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature. Her weaving of travel narratives and personal ref...

The Banff Centre Mountain film and Book Festival is world renowned for bringing the top adventurers from around the world to celebrate mountain culture and share their stories on stage in Banff, Canada. Each episode we’ll dig through the festival archives to revive some of our favourite presentations. Over the years we've spoken to hundreds of incredible adventurers who've shared their spectacular...