The line up has been announced for next year’s Fort William Mountain Festival taking place from Wednesday 17 to Sunday 21 February 2016.
Festival organisers say that February is the perfect time of year to experience the stunning landscape of Fort William and Lochaber first hand, with the best winter walking, climbing and snowsport conditions of the year. The Festival offers talks from top climbers and mountaineers, mountain bikers, back country skiers and mountain filmmakers, together with exhilarating film screenings from cutting edge outdoor athletes and adventurers; mountain skills workshops and exhibitions. The Scottish Awards for Excellence in Mountain Culture for 2016, as voted for by the public, will also be awarded.
The five-day programme includes:
Festival Launch Night – Wednesday 17/02/16: To kick it all off a torchlit descent of Aonach Mor on ski, board and mountain bike. Then settle in at The Pinemarten Café at the Nevis Range, with tasty food and local beer, for a cosy night of mountain tales, sneak peeks at the festival films and maybe a tune or two on the banjo.
The European Outdoor Film Tour – Thursday 18/02/16: Europe’s biggest tour of the best of the year’s adventure films, in one action packed night, comes to Fort William.
Scottish Winter Mountaineering presented by Greg Boswell – Friday 19/02/15: Greg Boswell is the future of Scottish winter climbing. Greg has mastered the skills in this most traditional of activities, repeating the hardest climbs of his peers and adding his own big lines. He’s at the cutting edge having just put up Scotland’s second grade 12 route. Join Greg for a presentation of his recent adventures. Steep walls have replaced slabs; overhangs replace ledges. Success is no longer measured in half-day battles with the cold, but in ten-minute sprints where only incredible power will see you through.
The FWMF Studio Sessions – Scottish Backcountry – Friday 19/02/16. An all-star line up of Scottish backcountry skiing specialists, from the steep and the deep, to the outright wild, this will be an amazing evening. They will reflect on the growth of the ski-mountaineering racing scene, give talks on pushing the limits of Highland free-riding, review the dangers of our untamed maritime snow-pack and première cinematic footage of what can be achieved on skis and boards in Scotland’s Backcountry. These standard-setters include Freedom Series winner Robert Kingsland, infamous ski-adventurer Blair Aitken, SkiMo’s Di Gilbert, Highland freeskier Peter MacKenzie, Mountain Rescue’s legendary Davy Gunn and Snowsports Scotland’s Iain Ramsay-Clapham.
The Wild Bunch and Bob Shepton – Saturday 20/02/15: Captain Reverend Bob Shepton returns to the Highlands with Olivier Favresse and Nico Favresse, two members of the renowned Wild Bunch expedition team. They will recount incredible tales of their latest adventures in search of the holy grail – unclimbed big walls and musical enlightenment. On board the Dodo’s Delight (a 10m sailboat) the team measures up with arctic ice, polar bears and ferocious storms; and after some mouth-watering walls in Greenland, it’s in Baffin Island where they find big virgin walls to propel the group to all-new heights.
The Best of Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour – Sunday 21/02/15: A showcase of the best in award winning mountain films from around the world – extreme expeditions and challenges, remote cultures and the world’s last great wild places. One of the audience highlights of the festival and a guaranteed sell out every year.
The Fort William Mountain Book Festival also returns for a second year. Legends of mountaineering and climbing along with local and visiting adventurers will entertain with extracts from their latest books, the full programme for the book festival will be announced soon.
Organisers have put together a range of workshops including avalanche awareness and Scottish winter climbing. There will also be art and photography competition exhibitions, a film competition and live music.
Mike Pescod, Chairman of the Highland Mountain Culture Association, organisers of the Festival, said: “The Fort William Mountain Festival celebrates our wild landscape and the opportunities it presents. The mountains and glens that surround us influence our culture in many ways. We want to promote the value of the landscape of Lochaber as the best destination in the UK to live, work and play. The Mountain Festival includes a superb line up of top climbers and explorers, mountain films, inspirational speakers and skills workshops. It’s not just for adventure addicts though, anyone who appreciates the landscape of the Outdoor Capital of the UK will find something for them in the Mountain Festival.”