Documentary Competition

EIGER-NORDWAND - AUF DEN SPUREN DER ERSTBESTEIGER
Eiger North Face - In the Footsteps of its First Climbers
Frank Senn, Thomas Ulrich, SWITZERLAND, 2002, 52', col., video
Director Frank Senn, Thomas Ulrich
Script Frank Senn, Thomas Ulrich
Screenplay Christine Kopp
Cameraman Thomas Ulrich, Werner Maier, Andreas Baumberger, Christoph Frutiger
Editing Apri Productions
Music Martin Villiger
Production SF DRS, Arte Distribution Telepool

The north face of Eiger was successfully climbed for the first time in 1938, after previous attempts ending with lethal results. Today, improved equipment has decisively improved a climber's performance, and therefore Stephan Siegrist and Michael Pitelka decide to confront the north face again, using the same equipment from 1938. An interesting comparison between modern and historical mountaineering.

DIRECTORS
Frank Senn was born in Berna in 1963 and has been a journalist and documentary-film maker for Swiss television ever since 1988. With a life long passion for mountains, he made "Death on the Dhaulagiri" in 1995, a documentary on an expedition that concluded tragically on the Himalayas, after which followed "Snowboard Fever" and "Tibet in Toesstal". In 1999, he co-produced "Eiger-Live" for Swiss television, a transmission which captured the seventeen hour ascent of Eiger by some mountaineers, receiving numerous awards.

Thomas Ulrich was born in 1967 in Interlaken. An alpine guide who dedicated himself early to extreme rock climbing. He travelled to Patagonia for the first time in 1988 and in 1999, along with three friends, he climbed the Cerro Torre in winter, something that had never been attempted before. He has become one of the most celebrated adventure photographers in the world and is currently specializing in climbing cinematography.

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