4 Fs in 2 D

This isn't about academic testing or anything sexually related . . . unless you love climbing. I headed down to Boulder on Wednesday night to see the newest films in the Stone Alliance Tour. Thursday, the NC3 hosted the film, Pure. These movies were inspirational, as you will come to find out.

The Stone Alliance tour started with a snippet of the video, Masters Of Stone VI, the sixth video in a series of serious climbing footage. Initially, I was taken back by the obvious choice to continue editing in the "80's style" that dominated the previous 5 videos in the series. But, as anyone who appreciates literature understands, the obvious choice to pay homage to the longest running climbing video series garned props from me. The section showcased featured the speed record on the Nose (El Capitan, Yosemite) and was incredible to watch.

The second video was Herakleia, featuring bouldering in Turkey's city Herakleia. With cleaver editing and a vast expance of incredible bouldering potential, this video was a sure hit. With colors similar to the Rocklands of South Africa and a group of climbers willing to push the boundries, I had to wipe my hand off on my jeans a few times during this film.

The third video featured was called, The Players and features many of todays up and coming, as well as seasoned veteran, climbers. With an in your face soundtrack, adaptive editing and shooting, and an incredible cast of climbers, this movie is guaranteed to be a thrill ride, when it is released on DVD. Currently, pre-orders are available at the Stone Alliance tour, while I'm not certain of pre-order availability online.

Tonight, my second night of climbing video bliss, was the NC3's premier of the newest Chuck Fryberger Film, Pure. Hearing about the movie since it premiered in Boulder just a few weeks ago, I've been amped to see this new bouldering film. The wait was well worth the reward.

Traveling across the globe, Chuck captured some of todays strongest climbers; not only in terms of their mental and physical strenths, but also with their abilities to progress this "sport" through their truly unique and innovate eyes. I honestly couldn't highlight one specific aspect of the movie that appeared better than another.

Capturing beautiful landsapes in conjunction with the climbers and the problems they were concuring was certainly a highlight. Throughout this movie, Chuck maintained audience attention through a perfect combination of beautiful climbs, asthetic areas, an up-beat soundtrack, short interviews, and a wide array of creative editing. Sweaty hands did most certainly abide as there was not a dull moment throughout the video. If you have the ability to see this movie, do so.

Aside from the premier, tonight was Fort Collins first glance at the trailer for Rocky Mountain Highball, a film project that has been a long time coming and will certainly garner tons of attention world-wide. With a local cast of superstars and many legends (John Gill, Lynn Hill, John Sherman, to name a few) and featuring a plethora of scary, proud lines across Colorado, this is not a film to miss. The Boulder premier date is set for April 27th, at the Boulder Theater. Keep your eyes and ears open for the trailor, when it is released online through Yama Studio.

The NC3 also has a big announcement and that is that our website is being finalized and is set to go online this upcoming Monday. You can visit the website at www.nococlimbing.org. More on that to come!