New video, two slide shows at Dusty’s March 27
What: Still Dreamin’
Where: Dusty’s Bar
When: March 27
The second annual Spring Climber’s festival takes place next week.
The show, dubbed Still Dreamin’, will feature slide shows and a new video featuring California native Chris Sharma.
The event, spearheaded by Bob Allison at the Great Wall Underground, the Whistler Climbing Gym, is a fund-raiser for local climber Jim Martinelo.
"The event is really a celebration of the passion for climbing," says Allison.
Martinelo, who was injured while on a climbing trip in Pakistan earlier this year, previously produced a slide show called Livin’ the Dream, which featured some Pakistan images and was shown at the GLC.
Sharma’s video, released just this past month, features footage of the first 5.15 rated sports climb he completed this past year in France.
"A 5.15 climb has always been a mystical barrier for climbers," says Paul Street, an assistant climbing guide in the local region and manager of Dusty’s.
Sharma, who began climbing at a local gym in Santa Cruz at age 12, nailed a 5.14 c-rated climb at age 15.
You might say he was born to do it.
After hundreds and hundreds of attempts, Sharma, now considered by the climbing community to be one of the world’s most fit climbers, completed the extreme grade.
In another adventure, he made a home for six months at the rock in Bishop, California. His presence there drew crowds as he attempted to complete the sequence of moves necessary to climb the face. When he completed the climb, he named the line Mandala.
Staffers at the Great Wall, Alain Denis and Lee White, will also present slide shows. White’s show includes images from Mount Kenya, the sandstone of Table Mountain, and ice-climbing at the Diamond Couloir, a year-round ice-climbing environment.
Denis’ collection feature shots that celebrate the climbing environs in the Sea to Sky corridor, including Squamish’s Chief.
A silent auction will feature items from Marmot clothing, Can-Ski, and Meadow Park fitness centre passes.
