the banff film festival was the only rose event i could attend this week, so, as i’m wont to do, i just showed up not knowing anything about what it was going to be. i’m glad things worked out the way they did because this event turned out to be really cool. in case you weren’t aware, as i wasn’t, the banff mountain film festival is a collection of short films about people who go on crazy adventures outdoors. there were films about long distance canoeing through canada, speed mountain climbing, surfing on rivers (i didn’t even know that was a thing), skiing in the arctic circle, etc. each film was by turns, exhilarating, moving, and hilarious. i was very impressed with, not only the incredible feats the subjects of the film performed (ex: “yeah, we had to push our jeep uphill through mud for twelve kilometers.”), but how insightful, and humble most of the films were. my favorite was about a man with cancer going on one last adventure with his dog. it was 10/10 dog. after all the films were done i had the overwhelming desire to go start some crazy expedition of my own. i think we get so stuck in all of the stuff we feel like we have to do that we forget about everything else out there we can be doing. one of the films focused on a guy who worked a normal job monday through friday, and decided that over the weekend he was going to fly to mexico and ski down the third highest peak in north america–and he did it. it was crazy. i hope i don’t ever forget that i can do that.

i’d give the banff mountain film festival a 10/10 and would recommend it to a top ten friend.