El Pisito

Documentary on one of the first editions of the Trofeo Mezzalama, the highest ski mountaineering race in Europe, at more than 4,200 meters above sea level, which takes place on the glaciers of Monte Rosa, from Breuil to Gressoney-La-Trinité, crossing the summits of Castor (4,199 meters) and Nez du Liskamm (4,100 meters). The film recounts the last hours of feverish preparation before the start, the teams preparing for the race linked in ropes, then follows the stages of the competition by following the groups of skiers from a plane. Created in 1933, the Trofeo Mezzalama was contested until 1938, before falling into oblivion during the war. A second version was organized from 1970 to 1973. A third biannual version has been organized since 1997.

This rare documentary was filmed with the participation and personal camera of Wolfgang Gorther, a German military cinematographer of the 1st mining division, who participated in the legendary ascent of Elbrus on the night of August 21, 1942. From the beginning of the Second World War and the last international winter sports week in Garmisch-Partenkirchen follows the invasion of the German troops into the Soviet Union: Dnieper, Zaporozhy, Kharkov, Rostov-on-Don, Nogaean Steppe, Caucasus – fighting at 50 degrees below zero, military expedition into the world of ice and snow; – ascent of mountain arrows and subsequent hoisting of flags on the Elbrus at an altitude of 5,633 meters.

Rock climbing on the "Cobbler". Awarded first prize by Michael Powell in the 1948 Scottish Amateur Film Festival

A travelogue set in the jungles of Borneo.

1906, produced by Charles Urban, cinematography by Frank Ormiston-Smith.

I used to think that when people said to me, "You're not like other girls," it was a compliment.

Escalada à Torre dos Clérigos

Joseph Vallot and his team of guides and porters climb Mont Blanc in 1906. Their ascent will take three days. They spent their nights at the Grands Mulets refuge and the Grand Plateau refuge. This is the very first successfully filmed ascent. Joseph Vallot (1854-1925), rich heir of Lodève in Occitania. He devotes part of his fortune to the observation of the Alps, sometimes opposing the scientific community. He built an observatory, still standing today.

Account of the first French expedition to the Himalayas, which attempted to climb the hidden peak (Gasherbrum I) in 1936, from the preparations for the trip to the end of the ascent. After a long approach walk through quasi-desert regions, then on a huge glacier, the caravan of 700 porters arrives at the foot of Hidden Peak. The expedition was led by Henry de Ségogne, with Jean Charignon, Pierre Allain, Raymond Leininger, Jean Carle, Jean Deudon, Louis Neltner, Jacques Azémar, doctor Jeand Arlaud and director Marcel Ichac. Weather conditions, logistical problems and a strike among Sherpas forced the team to retire at 6900m on the south face. The film received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1938.

We look first at Westminster Abbey and the Towers of Parliament. And the sight-seeing only starts there as it continues to all the famous buildings of London.

"She Climbs to Conquer" shot by W.J. Oliver, was a noteworthy film which gained well merited acclaim. Made in 1933 it pictured the climb of Georgia Engelhard, a professional mountain climber, from Abbot's Pass to the peak of Mount Victoria.

Released in 1930. Direction, production, writing & cinematography by Adam Krzeptowski

Klettern im Fels (in English, "Rock Climbing") is a German silent documentary about rock climbing. It was directed by the cameraman Hermann Schadock and produced by Defira-Film in 1934.

The ascent of the Aiguille Verte in the Mont Blanc Massif by the ridge of the Moine. Two climbers, the mountain, and the rope. No plot, no tragedy, but the lives of the two protagonists during the hours they are struggling. A film produced by the Comité de l'Expédition Française à l'Himalaya and made by Samivel and Marcel Ichac to test the film material destined to a future expedition in the Himalayas (the 1936 French expedition to Hidden Peak in the Karakorum). It is also an opportunity to show the beauty of the mountain at different moments of the day, the ascent of climbers roped, and the techniques and dangers of mountain climbing.

Sound version of the silent picture 'Climbing Mount Tupper.' William J. Oliver filmed the ascent of Mount Tupper in the Glacier National Park by the famous Swiss mountain guide Edward Feuz accompanied by his daughter and another man. The party of three climb roped up to a height of 7000 feet.From there, the two men continue without the women to face the final part of the climb, 'a naked shaft of rock rising sheer and high'. The two men finally reach the summit and later, on the descent, they meet the woman, who is waiting for them. The film was produced by the National Parks of Canada to promote tourism travel to the Canadian Rockies.

This short film shows an alpine march of the young fascists of the federal command of Belluno to the Mario Vazzoler refuge. From there, a group of three roped climbers, make a rock climbing ascent to the Torre Venezia and the Torre Trieste, in the Italian Dolomites. The film was produced in 1935 by the Instituto Nazionale Luce during the Italian Fascist regime.

Short version of 'Nanga Parbat' (1936), the record of the 1934 German expedition to Nanga Parbat, led by Willy Merkl and with the full backing of the new Nazi government. Peter Aschenbrenner and Erwin Schneider reached an estimated height of 7,895m on July 6, but were forced to return because of worsening weather. On July 7 they and 14 others were trapped by a ferocious storm at 7,480m. During the desperate retreat that followed, three famous German mountaineers, Uli Wieland, Willo Welzenbach and Merkl himself, and six Sherpas died of exhaustion, exposure and altitude sickness, and several more suffered severe frostbite.

From the shores of Lake Huron to the prairie capital of Manitoba is an interesting trip. Scenes shown are motorboating amid the Thirty Thousand Islands that dot Georgian Bay; fishing in the long reaches of the celebrated French River; the lovely scenery on the north shore of Lake Superior, which you touch as you travel toward Winnipeg; the biggest grain elevators in the world situated at Fort William in Ontario. Judging from the size and number of these granaries which dot the landscape, one would think that the entire wheat crop of the world could easily be stored away in this one particular spot. One sees at Port Arthur, Ontario, a genuine bowling green, an outdoor bowling alley, the like of which have passed away many years ago. The gate of old Fort Garry, which was all there was of Winnipeg in 1821, is still to be seen, as well as the first locomotive in western Canada, which arrived by river steamer in 1877 and which is now enshrined in the middle of a grassy lawn...

Travelogue released on the 22nd of January, 1917. Produced by Burton Holmes.

Travelogue released on the 15th of January, 1917. Produced by Burton Holmes.