As a publication, we have never crowned a Canadian climber of the year but looking back, we probably should have. There were a number of amazing contributions by Canadian climbers this year around the globe and some of their efforts are very impressive including Amanda Berezowski’s send of ASDATO (5.14c) at Horne Lake, Evan Hau’s long list of first ascents including Neanderthal (5.14b) and Cobalt Gecko (5.14c), and Sonnie Trotter’s variation to North America Wall, Pineapple Express (5.13b).

After looking through the accomplishments, for us there was one climber who stood out from the rest and that was Edmonton-based climber Miles Adamson. Miles had an impressive summer in the Canadian Rockies, sending Honour and Glory (5.14d), establishing one of Canada’s hardest multi-pitch climb Don’t Rock the Boatswain Extension (5.14b), establishing a new zone in the Rockies with the help of Scott and Marc Eveleigh, Zach Watson, and Matt Hendsbee, putting up Rootin Tootin Cowboy Shootin (v13), a highball in Red Rocks Canyon, and then ending the year with an ascent of Ambrosia (v10) in Bishop, CA.

We had a chance to sit down and chat with Miles about all his experiences this year and here is what he had to say.

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The Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival starts its 2018 November Series run next week from November 13th-18th. This year, the festival is bookended by two different films co-directed by filmmaker Pete Mortimer.

Pete Mortimer is a climber and Filmmaker based in Boulder, Colorado. After making his first film in 2001, Pete went on to pursue a career in filmmaking, breaking out with his films Front Range Freaks (2003), Return2Sender (2005) and First Ascent (2006). In 2007, Mortimer teamed up with Chris Sharma to film his attempts on Es Pontas in Mallorca, captured in the film King Lines (2007) which later led to his work with Josh Lowell. Together, Mortimer and Lowell created the Reel Rock series, a collaboration of climbing films that has defined the climbing film landscape, featuring some of the best films in climbing. Mortimer and his production company, Sender Films, have received numerous awards for their work on a number of culturally significant climbing films, including King Lines (2007) and Valley Uprising (2014).

Co-directed with Josh Lowell, Mortimer’s latest film ‘The Dawn Wall’, has taken the climbing community by storm and was their most ambitious project yet, following Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgensen as they attempted to free The Dawn Wall on Yosemite’s El Capitan.

We had a chance to catch up with Pete Mortimer this week and here is what he had to say.

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