This weekend the Kendal Mountain festival (15-18 November) will draw thousands of outdoor adventurers, from elite athletes to every-day enthusiasts, to the Lake District for the biggest event of its kind in the world.
Alongside talks by medal-winning Olympic triathletes the Brownlee brothers, practical workshops and free beer, at the heart of the event is the Mountain film festival, which showcases 60 films, including several premieres.
The selection includes some of the year's most anticipated and feted extreme sports movies. Catch the world premiere of Wide Boyz, a documentary following Sheffield climbers Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker's ascent of one of the widest, hardest crack climbs on the planet in Utah – beating the Americans at their own game. Autana tells the story of adventure climber Leo Houlding and filmmaker Alastair Lee's first ascent of a Venezuelan tepui (table-top mountain), with Houlding and Lee presenting behind-the-scenes stories and deleted scenes, while Tempting Fear takes a fascinating peak inside the mind of Swedish extreme skier Andreas Fransson.
It's not solely about adrenaline junkies, there are cultural, wildlife and environmental documentaries on offer too. A far less dangerous, but no less passionate sport is the subject of Capetown – one of Cumbria's oldest pastimes, hound trailing.
The films will certainly serve as inspiration to anyone attending the festival's Adventure Film Academy where you can learn the tricks of the trade from some of the industry's leading professionals.
Wide Boyz
Two climbers from Sheffield take on the hardest wide crack climbs in the world, beating the Americans at their own game.
Congo – The Grand Inga Project
A team of extreme canoeists take on the world's biggest rapids; 1.6m cubic feet of water per second, thundering down the final pitch of the mighty Congo river. Twice as steep and 100 times the average volume of those found on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, to say it's a dangerous mission is an understatement.
Tempting Fear
Tempting Fear Trailer from Kendal Mountain Festival on Vimeo.
This film profiles Andreas Fransson, the boldest extreme skier in a generation. Over the past three years he's logged first descents in a half-dozen countries, battled back to life from an accident that nearly killed him and become one of the most talked about skiers on the planet.
Autana
Cerro Autana is a spectacular but remote table-top mountain in western Venezuela. Climbing it involves 100% humidity, 35C heat and torrential downpours combined with mosquitos, flies and a dozen different species of ants – an irritating backdrop against the more serious menace of tarantulas, scorpions and deadly snakes for this team of explorers led by British climber Leo Houlding.
Capetown
Capetown Trailer from Ben Barden on Vimeo.
A documentary about one of Cumbria's oldest pastimes: hound trailing. Running in her first season, much is expected of the young dog Capetown. Will she win the puppy championship? This short film is a fascinating look at the hound trailing community in Cumbria.
What happened on Pam Island
This film charts a Polish husband and wife team as they embark on the physically and emotionally-draining challenge of climbing the world's highest sea cliff, in Greenland. But first they have to get there – by kayak across a treacherously cold sea.
• Kendal Mountain festival runs from 15-18 November, mountainfest.co.uk, 01539 725133
