The Grand Rescue

Q&A with co-director Meredith Lavitt!

Mountain rescue is always a risky proposition, so those who are attracted to the job tend to be strapping, young, and full of verve (and nerve). This was definitely the case in 1967, when a group of seven national park rangers in the Grand Tetons risked their lives to save an injured climber. On August 22, Gaylord Campbell was climbing the north face of the Grand Teton with a friend when a boulder broke free and showered them with rocks, leaving Campbell with compound fractures. During the rescue attempt, which took three days, Campbell was critical of the methods and decisions made by his saviors every turn of the way. The Grand Rescue tells this legendary story for the first time on film.

Screening with:

Sufferfest 2: Desert Alpine
Cedar Wright | USA | 2014 | Digital Projection | 27m
When Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright undertook the adventure they called “Sufferfest” in the summer of 2013, they meant for the name to be tongue-in-cheek. The goal of the trip was to string together climbing mountain peaks in California by road biking, and indeed proved to be full of suffering. But also fun. But mostly suffering. They swore they would never attempt anything like it again. Yet, in Sufferfest 2: Desert Alpine, they once again endeavor to bike and climb, this time in the desert Southwest. Climbing 45 desert towers, using hybrid road/mountain bikes as their only transportation, Honnold and Wright set out for another adventure worthy of the name.