Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival

KARAKORAM - CLIMBING THROUGH THE KASHMIR CONFLICT


Wednesday April 19th @ 7:30 pm (doors open at 6:30)
The Centennial Theatre
Show proceeds benefit the Climbers' Access Society

World-class alpinist Steve Swenson will present from his new book Karakoram – Climbing Through the Kashmir Conflict. This is a personal story of climbing K2 and other peaks in the Karakoram Range that straddles the borders of China, India, and Pakistan—a story told against the backdrop of extreme altitude and harsh conflict between these nations for control of Kashmir.

Steve Swenson has been climbing for almost half a century. With nearly twenty expeditions to mountains in South Asia, Steve has made ascents of the North Ridge of K2 and a solo ascent of the North Ridge of Everest - both without supplementary oxygen. He and his teammates were awarded the prestigious Piolet d'Or for their ascent of Saser Kangri II (7,518 meters) in 2012; it was the second-highest unclimbed mountain in the world at the time. Before his recent retirement, Steve worked for thirty-five years as a consultant to municipalities and countries on engineering, design, project management, utility finance, and policy-making projects related to water and sanitation. A past president for the American Alpine Club, Steve has written articles for Climbing, Rock and Ice, and Alpinist magazines as well as the American Alpine Journal; he also contributed to Rock, Paper, Fire, an anthology of mountain and wilderness writing. Steve, who has two grown sons, Lars and Jed, lives with his wife, Ann Dalton, in Seattle. He is donating his royalties from Karakoram to The Mountaineers.

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