SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - Spotted on GO Blog, here’s a movie I will be queuing up to see. Blindsight the documentary/movie follows the gripping adventure of six Tibetan teenagers on their journey to climb a mountain in the shadow of Everest.

Lhakpa-Ri peak, the goal of the expedition, is 23,000 feet high. The expedition leader is blind climber Erik Weihenmayer. On May 25, 2001, Erik became the first blind man in history to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak.

In 2002 I shared a pint with Erik’s climbing sherpa from that expedition in Kandersteg, Switzerland. He was on a hut exchange where he ran a swiss alpine hut for a summer while a swiss guide helped out in a Nepalese one. I can’t remember his name, but I swooned in awe when I saw his Everest Summiteers Association membership card. Not only had he helped Erik place his hands & feet up the Hillary step, but he had also carried the IMAX camera to the summit on his back during ‘Everest’ movie (and was wearing the cap to prove it in the bar!).

Watch the Blindsight trailer:

There’s a nice line in there by an American:

The difference between westerners and easterners, we want to stand on top… it’s just ingrained in our make up.

Eastern response:

Get one person to the summit and everyone succeeds.

Very true of the east from my experiences.

Nice… see you there with the popcorn.

www.blindsightthemovie.com

-Robin.

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - A film crew joined us at EC2K7 last April to film a promotional video for Scouting Ireland’s 2008 Jamboree.

I was asked to get their camera women up a very big tree and rig her & the camera up there ~ 25m high! They then did takes of some of the Scouts climbing, myself tying them in, and a bit of chat too. The whole video is actually excellent and I suggest you watch at least the first few mins of it to get a great idea of what outdoor adventure in Ireland means to youngsters. It is very professionally made.

I’ve embedded the video below, but to watch yours truly waffle about the challenge of scaling a 25m giant tree using the bark as handholds you should jump to 7m 57s (click).

You can watch the full Scouting Ireland Jamboree 2008 video here. Thanks to ex-TGU blogger Darran for arranging the online version.

-Robin-

(Video Credit: Scouting Ireland)

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Stilettos for snowboarding chicks. How cool are these! Stilettos made out of snowboard binding parts. Now this is modern art!

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UnderDeveloped (Irish Climbing Scene) DVD launch night has been announced. I’d love to go.

Calling all climbers, boulderers, bridge jumpers, film buffs and critics.

We are holding a big event to celebrate the launch of the DVD. We’ve booked Queens Film Theatre, Belfast on 17th Nov 2007 at 2:30pm for a matinee, big screen showing. 220 seats. We’ll let you all know how tickets will be sold and costs etc. Put it in your diary now tho!!

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New crag being routed in Cork, Ireland. Whaleback Crag (word doc).

This is close to but smaller than the main Aillihies crag. 7 routes in the Diff-VS grade all accessible from the same platform system via a scramble down.

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A good video from some time ago, climbing The Great Roof.

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The famous ‘Alpinist’ magazine have re-launched their website. It’s got some seriously good feature content. Check it!

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-Robin-

LONDON, UK (team Geared Up) - With such a good response to our top 5 mountain biking & snowboard crashes we’re going to continue the series! Today we look at the top 5 helmet-cam (head mounted camera) videos.

5th Place, skiing down the longest escalator in Europe (Angle Tube Station, London)…

4th Place, dropping down some big waterfalls in a kayak…

3rd Place, Red Bull Boys ride down through the inside of a skyscraper (inc crash)…

2nd Place, Speed Riding Down the Eiger…

And in 1st Place, and deservedly so…

-Robin-

(Image Credit: By the Author)

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - This film is so long coming we’ve talked about it as far back as Oct ‘05 and Mar ‘06! But it’s now about to finally be released. “UnderDeveloped: A film about climbing in Ireland”, looks to be a hit. It has been produced by Ricky Bell / Tops off 4 Power productions and features footage from Crystal Methods E8 6c, Tolerance E8 6c, Idlewild E6 6b, Faith E7 6c, The Power of the Hobo E7 6c, A Bad Skin Day E7 6c, Jokerman E6 6b, Mushroom Boyz E7 6c, We’re All Learning E7 6c, Pressure Point E6 6c, Wall of Prey E5 6b, Eazy Now E6 6c, The Complete Scream E8 6b and plenty of banter (see trailer)!

The DVD will be premiered at the Hillsbourgh film festival on the 5th October 2007. Tickets are on sale at the minute via Raw Oudoors. Rumour has it they are selling out rapidly.

Watch the trailer, I love it:

Further video teaser here (good spotting!).

I will certainly be buying a copy.

-Robin-

(Info via Irish Climbing Forums)