Antoine Le Menestrel, known to all fans of vertical games, was born in 1962 in Paris. He devoted himself very early to climbing, which is a cult in his family.
Antoine was among those who made possible the climbing "boom" in Europe in the early 1980s.
He wrote the world's first solo 8A, "Revelation" ("Revelation"), which for its time was also the hardest tour in the UK.
In 1986 he led the second 8B category tour on the cliffs of the Beeches, known among climbers as "The Rose and the Vampire", and the first 8C "Ravage" tour in Switzerland. The following year, Antoine became the first climber to complete an 8A Onsite (at a glance).
A true "anti-star", Antoine shuns journalists and media noise. In 1991, he became the first certified route judge for sport climbing and established the profession as such, laying the foundations for training at national and international level.
Antoine Le Menestrel's performances include artistic climbing on buildings, descending on a rope, passing from one building to another, the emphasis is not on the acrobatic and technical possibilities of modern climbing, but on the presentation of a theme, a story, most often related to the building itself.
A basic principle of the Mnestrel during performances is not to damage the facade when moving on it and when attaching the ropes. Even the espadrilles he climbs with have white rubber on the sole to avoid leaving marks.
Nick Bullock
Nick is a ball of energy, always on the move, climbing, running, training, yet always ready for a good joke. A day on the rock with him is guaranteed to be fun and never without adventure.
He started climbing in 1993 while working as a physical education instructor in prisons. It was hard work, but it gave Nick the opportunity to tackle the rigors of modern alpine climbing and pushed him forward into an unusual climbing lifestyle. Nick left the prison service in 2003, by which time he was fully involved in climbing circles.
When he's not away on expeditions, you'll probably find him in North Wales. The location is convenient because of the exciting traditional routes, gathering an impressive amount of E7's, ashless on The North Stack wall of Gogarth. Climb some new routes in the area, including All the Pretty Horses E6 6b on The Equestrian Walls at Porthllechog and Blood Meridian E6 6a on the infamous Stigmata Buttress at Craig Dorys.
Nick doesn't slack off when it comes to winter climbing either. In 2006 he made the premiere ascent of Cracking Up IX and Travesty VIII on Clogwyn Du, then, north of the border, premiered Avenging Angel VII8 on Ben Nevis.
Over the past stiff winter season he's been doing inventive things in Wales and Scotland with a number of premierships and tough repeats. He's been spending a lot of time on frozen waterfalls all over the world, scoring countless WI 6's such as Sea of Vapours at Bow Valley in Canada and Dame du Lac near Morzine in France.
Nick also showed his class on the big routes. His alpine records are outstanding, especially in the Chamonix valley where he premiered Border Line ED3,VII 8 on the Sans Nom and on Omega ED3, VIII 8 on Petite Jorasses, as well as a whole bunch of re-climbs like Beyond Good and Evil ED3 on the north face of the Pelerin.
Nick has participated in more than 20 expeditions to remote locations such as Peru, Nepal, Pakistan and India, collecting many premieres including Fear and Loathing ED3 VII 6+A2 on Jirishanca in Peru, Central Buttress Direct ED2 VII 7 on Quitaraju in Peru. He also climbed the alpine style ED+Central Spur of Chang Himal in Nepal in 5 days.
And despite what you have read , Nick's life is not all climbing.He still finds time to write. Read one of his articles on www.ukclimbing.com
Philip Lhamsuren is half Mongolian, half Bulgarian and has been travelling the world since he was nine years old. He has lived in a boarding house in Smolyan, in a refugee camp in China, in the Mongolian steppe and in the streets of Sofia. He reached the French Foreign Legion and then Panama as part of the Survivor Project. Having lost his parents and any notion of national belonging early on, he became a perpetual traveller, but instead of a camera and a backpack, he preferred to carry a knife and a notebook.
Here are a few words about Philip from the man himself:
"To begin with, to be clear, I don't do extreme. Even though I was in the Foreign Legion, I stopped myself before pointing a weapon at someone before I hurt them. I've never directly saved a life, but I've seen it done a few times, and I've been saved a few times. I don't consider myself a very brave person, but there are many fascinating things I have experienced that I have found to be more powerful than fear itself. I don't believe in the ideals of the modern world. I've never had a preference for a particular season, geographic zone, or football team. I don't consider myself an athlete, but I can and do like to move at different speeds, over all manner of terrain and surfaces. Even though I didn't ride a bike at all until recently, and don't know how to use climbing gear, I overcome every difficult passage with only a deep love of adventure. What I've realized recently is that I've always been on the road to good friends, we just happened to meet a year ago and today we share a common love of the outdoors, the taste of life, action and adventure.
I believe that good should have fists. I don't give up on my ideas, even when there is no hope, I don't rule out any option for the course of events, and yet I don't know how it will all end. I am Buddhist in my faith, but not religious.
I'm a nomad at heart and blood, a wanderer at heart, which helps me a lot to tolerate travelling! I know that the right words at the wrong time are wrong. It is in my nature to keep silent. I believe that one should sculpt life with their hands. I don't like inertia, my own selfishness, and state boundaries."
Beyond extreme sports, with Valhalla's totally unique style and structure, you'll see a daring new take on skier films, exploding the boundaries of style, opening the eyes and melting the heart of every story lover.
With skiing and snowboarding supplemented with a more narrative approach than our older films, or perhaps any ski film to date, we follow one man's escape into the North Woods, his journey to fulfillment, understanding and love in some of the deepest snow on earth. With a thrilling story and characters, sweeping ski and snowboard mountain cinematography, Valhalla is a vivid explosion of colour, style, snow and nostalgic soulfulness.
With the participation of: Eric Hjorleifson - Cody Barnhill - Carston Oliver - Zack Giffin - Pep Fujas - Kye Petersen - Johan Olofsson - Adraon Buck - Ryland Bell - Josh Dirksen - Aidan Sheahan - Molly Baker - Forrest Shearer - Taro Tamai - Stephan Drake - Eliel Hindert and others.
NORTH OF THE SUN
Inge Wegge and Jorn Ranum spend nine months on an isolated and uninhabited cove on a remote Arctic island in northern Norway, facing the wide Atlantic Ocean.
They build a bungalow out of trees and materials washed ashore from the ocean. They eat expired food from stores that would otherwise be thrown away. The two boys take with them the bare essentials - their surfboards.
The biggest motivation for the Arctic adventure is the remote bay, because it hides a well-kept secret - some of the best surfing waves in the world.
