A bunch of old guys still enjoying the mountains, and the training they need to do to get off the couch
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
My iPad Has Arrived!
Not quite the revolution that Steve Jobs promised but pretty darn slick. I downloaded the Netflix app and before I could click my heels three times I was watching the - just released - video "North Face." Be reminded, this is historical fiction, although most of the story line and climbing sequences are accurate. It was a fabulous climbing film, perhaps the best ever made. For a climber there would have been enough magic, pathos, and heart-stopping moments if they had scrupulously recreated the Rainer-Angerer-Kurz-and Hinterstoisser tragedy, however I suppose the film was enhanced for the average viewer with the addition of the overlaid romance and Nazi background. Still, the artistic liberties taken: portraying the Swiss guides as "oh so helpful," and "going out on a limb" so to speak, or the tired cinematic cliche of cutting the rope, or even the unearthing of gear at the Death Bivouac, all rankled a serious historian.
Given those qualifiers, I strongly recommend this German film with English sub-titles. (When you are done no doubt you will go to your book collection and want to re-read "The White Spider.")