Northwestern Mountains
An early silent color film of Glacier National Park and Mount Rainier. The film is part of the 'Our Colorful World' series, produced by Bell & Howell. It shows a drive up to the Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, and a two-day ascent to Mount Rainier through Nisqually Glacier by two men and a woman. This Filmosound Library series produced in the early 1940s initially included thirty-seven single reels, for the most part silent, bringing beauty spots and wildlife of America and the world to the school screen in full natural color.
Southern Peaks
Second part of the film 'River of ice', a mountaineering tour on Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand. After spending the night in the Deficance Hut, two women and a mountain guide ascend up to Mount Moltke. From Defiance Hut, past the Unser Fritz Falls, across the Franz Josef Glacier, past Castle Rock, to the Summit. On the way, they encounter a friendly Kea, New Zealand's mountain parrot. Finally, the group reaches the summit and admire the magnificent vistas. The films are part of a series of films produced at the end of the twenties by the New Zealand Government Publicity Office to promote the beauty and attractions of the country.
Snow Flight
The film was produced by Jerome Hill as 'a document of skiing according to the principles of Hannes Schneider.' It features Otto Lang, director of the Mt Rainier and Mt Baker ski schools. As the film opens, Otto emerges from a cabin beneath Table Mountain at the Mt Baker ski area with his canine friend. He applies wax-on climbing skins to his skis. Then he steps into his bindings and climbs to a scenic ridge. The narrator describes each technique in detail as Otto demonstrates again. Several of the maneuvers are done in slow motion on a slope meticulously packed by side-stepping.
The Ascent of Mont Blanc
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.
The Aiguille Verte
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.
Piccoli Alpini
The film is a kind of docu-fiction about a boy who enrolls in a battalion of young mountain troops. The film follows his daily life in the military school and pays special attention to maneuvers and training exercises in the mountain, which include mountaineering and rock climbing lessons. The film, by Giovanni Vernuccio, was produced in 1942 by the Instituto Nazionale Luce at the end of the Italian Fascist regime, and was made with the collaboration of the 36th group of Alpine battalions 'Fabio Filzi' of the federal command GIL of Turin during the preparatory course for the festive camp of Balme.
Sebastopol
A mountain guide and a young woman make an ascent to Mount Sebastopol in New Zealand's Southern Alps. The couple leave from Mount Cook's Hermitage Hotel and after following an easy path by foot, they rock climb a sheer rock face. After reaching the top of the rock pinnacle, they follow by snowy terrain up to the top of Sebastopol, completing a precarious passage across the steep snowfield. The film is part of a series of films produced at the end of the twenties by the New Zealand Government Publicity Office to promote the beauty and attractions of the country.
30 Jours au-dessus des nuages
In 1941, under the Vichy regime, during the Nazi occupation, a team of six people crossed the Mont-Blanc massif. Leaving the Arve Valley with a month of supplies, five young men and a woman attempt a raid to show that France has passion and love for the effort and to celebrate youth, teamwork, leadership, tradition and achievement. The team advances roped, above the clouds. They pass the different passages, glaciers and needles, sleeping in tent under the stars at minus 20°C, facing the storms and the dangers represented by crevasses. Among others, they climb the Aiguille Verte, the Aiguille du Grépon and Mont Blanc.
Franz Josef Glacier
An alternative version of the film 'Southern Peaks', shortened in this case to be included in an episode of the series 'Glimpses of New Zealand'. 'Southern Peaks' continues the story of 'River of ice', a mountaineering tour on Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand. In the film, two women and a mountain guide ascend up to Mount Moltke. From Defiance Hut, past the Unser Fritz Falls, across the Franz Josef Glacier, past Castle Rock, to the Summit. On the way, they encounter a friendly Kea, New Zealand's mountain parrot. Finally, the group reaches the summit and admire the magnificent vistas. 'Glimpses of New Zealand' were a series of films produced at the end of the twenties by the New Zealand Government Publicity Office to promote the beauty and attractions of the country.
White Wall
Two climbers progress on an alpine glacier and reach the top of a mountain by climbing a long and steep slope of snow and ice. They also have to climb a completely vertical wall of ice using crampons with frontal tips, ice nails, and rope stirrups. The film was produced in 1942 by the Instituto Nazionale Luce at the end of the Italian Fascist regime.
The Ridge Grave Girls
A prom queen-to-be must break free from her small town’s ominous legacy of prom queens who die after their crowning.
L'escalade de la Grande Arête
The climbers Jean Jacques and André Lambert, accompanied by the photographer Jean Lozeron, climb the great ridge of Salève, in Haute-Savoie. They ascend by the crack of the yellow ridge and reach the summit of Salève. The descent becomes a bit difficult because of the snow and the cold.
Crossing of the Piz Bernina
The film shows a winter crossing attempt of the Bernina ridge by a team of Swiss military in a reconnaissance tour in April 1939. The commanders conclude that the winter crossing isn't suitable for the oxercise of the troops, so the ascent is repeated in summer under more favorable conditions. An early color Swiss military film by Major Charles Golay.