bergfilmblog

[bergfilmblog]

Been to the Buddha a couple weekends this November. Only snow free crag in the Rockies and it's sending Temps (around 5-9 degrees C when the Chinook wind blows. Also been working the V6 Left Potato Bonda and If Brad Had A Hammer V5 or 6...

Next week it's back down to -17 degrees Celsius though. Boo.

#bouldering #climbing #rockclimbing #White Buddha #Bragg Creek #Trout Fishing In America

[bergfilmblog]

A buddy of mine put up a V8 sloper problem in the Bouldering Cave. I had to make this as a response.  

#bouldering #climbing #wheresthebeef #rockclimbing

[bergfilmblog]

George Simmel on Fashion & Adventure...(and a mention of climbing)

Toward a Sociology of Leisure 

Simmel was the first sociologist to turn his gaze toward the world of leisure 

and consumerism. This is evident, for instance, in an intriguing essay titled 

“Fashion” ([1903] 1971:294–323), in which he inquired into the reasons that 

changes in fashion—be it sartorial, culinary, artistic, architectural, musical, or 

other—occur so frequently in modern culture. The main reason for this, he 

claimed, was that the modern world is a “more nervous age” because it offers, 

in contrast to the past, such a wide array of consumer choices that make it pos- 

sible for individuals to differentiate themselves from others. In other words, 

people will be attracted to new and different fashions at an accelerated rate as 

they seek to forge what they take to be a distinctive personal identity. 

Fashion, however, is not simply a matter of individual choices. Rather, 

these choices are structured by class divisions and by social mobility. Simmel 

identified an antithesis between the desire for individual differentiation— 

for the desire to stand apart and to be unique—and the tendency toward 

social equalization—the willingness of all people, regardless of class posi- 

tion, to embrace reigning fashions—as being both a part of the motivation 

behind fashion choices and a reason for the unstable and generally short- 

lived career of any particular fashion (Simmel 1971:296; Nedelmann 1990; 

Lipovetsky 1994). 

Simmel (1971) proceeded to make the following astute observation: 

The very character of fashion demands that it should be exercised at one time 

only by a portion of the given group, the great majority being merely on the 

road to adopting it. As soon as an example has been universally adopted, that 

is, as soon as anything that was originally done by a few has really come to be 

practiced by all . . . we no longer speak of fashion. As fashion spreads, it grad- 

ually goes to its doom. (p. 302) 

Simmel (1971:313–314) believed, perhaps somewhat paradoxically, that 

fashion is one way that individuals seek to preserve their “inner freedom.” 

Being willing to be dictated to and dependent on the external determinants 

of current fashions reflects a willingness to give up one’s autonomy, but this, 

he thought, pertains only to “the externals of life.” This willingness permits 

the individual to concentrate on preserving subjective freedom at its core 

(Weinstein and Weinstein 1993:101–129). 

Similarly, he described the adventurer as a particularly modern social 

type. A person involved in an adventure seeks to step out of the mundane 

routines of daily life into a domain of activity with its own distinctive rules 

and rhythms. If the realm of work is the world of necessity, it is in the realm 

of leisure time that the adventure occurs. In a bureaucratized, rationalistic, 

and disenchanted world, the adventure provides the individual with the 

opportunity to be released—if only for a relatively short time—from the con- 

straints of such a social order. The adventure promises excitement, innova- 

tion, and self-realization. The example Simmel cited to illustrate this is the 

clandestine love affair, with its alluring combination of eroticism and risk 

(Simmel 1971:187–198; Lyman and Scott 1975:147–158). 

What he was addressing was a far more significant and pervasive aspect 

of modern life, an aspect heretofore generally neglected by sociological 

inquiry. Encompassed in the idea of adventure was a range of activities, 

including travel, sports competition, gambling, and outdoor activities such 

as sailing and mountain climbing. In short, Simmel’s sociology argued that 

modernity could be understood only if we sought to comprehend the dialec- 

tical relationship between work and play—between the realm of necessity 

and the realm of leisure (Simmel 1971; Sellerberg 1994:75–82).Modernity——143

#climbing #mountain climbing #rock climbing #georg simmel #sociology

[bergfilmblog]

Why are they dressed as german soldiers? why are they hiking? why are they filming in black and white? why are there modern cars in the background??

#climbing #Mountaineering #mountains

[bergfilmblog]

a training film for german mountain troops circa 1943. Old skool ropework

#climbing #bergfilm #mountain climbing #Mountaineering #mountains

[bergfilmblog]

Jon and Josh, hauling at Acephale, Canada this summer.

#Acephale #Climbing #rockclimbing

[bergfilmblog]

1st 12a ever today.

Pluvial Power, Acephale, Canada: Red Point.

#12a #climbing #rockclimbing #Acephale

[bergfilmblog]

This is a photo of Mt Yamnuska, from the third pitch of Beautiful Century, a 5.10a 7 pitch fully bolted multi-pitch climb on Nanny Goat Mtn, one of three peaks  south west of the Yam, (KId, Nanny and Goat, respectively) and west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  On-sighted my first multi-pitch! Did it with Khrisna, who I picked up in Aerdrie on the way, who was kind enough to show me the ropes, as it were. 

Most of the 230 m was 5.8, 5.9 but leading with a near-full pack on the third 10a pitch was something else entirely. Normally, I climb single pitch sport, but this was a different kind of pleasure climbing, with waaaayyy more exposure. My Dad would have been proud. Wish it could have been with him.

Super Fun day off this week on a sunny Thursday. Ate sushi at Edo in Aerdrie later, and drove home listening to CKUA's "the Drive" in the lightning flashed evening. Perfect.

#beautiful century #yamnuska #calgary #climbing #rock climbing #Nanny Goat #Multipitch #Kid Goat

[bergfilmblog]

nietzche

in the climbing gym today:  Her: That which does not kill me only makes me stronger. Me: how old are you? Her: Niiiine.

#climbing #nietzche #rock climbing

[bergfilmblog]

Turtle Rock on Ring Mountain, Marin County,  San Francisco, California.

40 ft Traverse at V4+other problems

#San Francisco #bouldering #climbing #Turtle Rock #Ring Mountain

[bergfilmblog]

Been hanging out here for the past two weekends, projecting a couple 11a's (Koyaanisquatsi, and The Great Outdoors ), and an 11c (Sisyphus Goes to Hollywood) which requires you to first climb the 5.7 (Front Row Centre) . Flashed an 11a (Blank On The Map), a one move wonder on three bolts. Fun but super crimpy deadpoint with bad feet after some 5.9/5.10 moves up to it. 

The 8 and 9 's are fun when its not too crowded from the super spring weather...

hope we get to go tomorrow too...

Barriere Mountain, Kananaskis Country, link to routes:

http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/North_America/Canada/Alberta/Kananaskis_Country/Barrier_Mountain/yellow_wall/

#climbing #rock climbing #kananaskis #calgary

[bergfilmblog]

Climbing...isn't a series of "ticks" on your list. It isn't about "talking" your way up a route. It's not necessarily about what grade you're climbing.

Sometimes it's about silence. Seeing a tiny chickadee flutter from branch to branch near you, looking at you, barefoot with your shirt off in the warm sun, sitting on a boulder alone with the smell of pines at the base of the crag, with someone's life in your hands as they climb above. You feel their weight, hear the creak of the rope, and all that can be heard or felt for minutes at a time, is the wind in your ears and on your face.

#climbing #rock climbing

[bergfilmblog]

Going Climbing tomorrow

Barriere Mountain in Kananaskis with J and J maybe K. Can't wait to see if I can finish Sisyphus Goes to Hollywood (5.11C), and get  the 'biner I left at the second to last bolt last weekend. (blerg)

(I promise to bring both shoes this time.)

#climbing #rock climbing #kananaskis #sisyphus

[bergfilmblog]

Got a souvenir from the competition last night.

Quote: "Don't worry, that hold's just a little loose."

Happy Birthday to me. (Rip 'n Grip indeed!)

#bouldering #climbing #edmonton #happy birthday to me #liability issues #rip n grip #rock climbing

[bergfilmblog]

Pull my finger...

#bouldering #climbing #injuries #sports

[bergfilmblog]

High Lane (Vertige) 2009, 82 min german, 90 min french 90 min english 

A group of weekend climbers follow a via ferrata (italian for iron road- a cabled climbing route) and cross into the territory of a, sigh another, inbred cannibal. 

Better than Wrong Turn, in terms of action geared towards climbing, but the parallels in terms of story-line are significantly similar to invite comparison and contrast with Wrong Turn and its father film, Deliverance.

 I'll say we have full blown sub-genre happening here, and in a positive note that the climbing action is  pretty damn good, and sustained in comparison to Wrong Turn, and that one might not even suspect that it is a horror film till the not so subtle introductions of the antagonist appear. 

Good camera work on presenting climbing and the fear of heights, climbing fans will be disappointed by the story shift while horror fans may find relief and rejoice. 

More climbing scenes in movies reviews to come. 

#high lane #vertige #horror #climbing #film #via ferrata

[bergfilmblog]

Wrong Turn 2003-

another horror B movie slasher/ climbing film, though funnily enough in this one the climbing scene is in the very beginning 3 minutes. Easily compared to Deliverance, though not in a flattering way. In a reversal the Cannibalistic hillbillies kill the climbers....be warned. 

I would say the most telling shots are the ones where the 2 girls and the guy are in the firewatch tower, overlooking the pristine idyllic shots of nature through the windows, which ironically positions them as much as the viewer is in relation to a film is, in relation to nature.

'Nuff said 'bout that, tho.

Stay tuned for more movies with climbing scenes in them, follow if you like.

#wrong turn #hillbillies #climbing #horror #film