GC-09. The White Mountain

Hong Kong, Feature Documentary, 2023, 92 min

Hadley Hammer is a professional female steep skier who stars regularly in ski films – speeding down steep mountain faces for a living. Bastien Fleury grew up in Chamonix where he is a mountain rescuer for Mont Blanc/Chamonix’s elite mountain rescue team – and a champion ski-mountaineer who has set new records for 100k alpine ski runs. Both have seen friends and loved ones die in avalanches. Permafrost…the glue that has always held mountains together…is disappearing rapidly because of global warming and causing a huge spike in rock and snow falls. In this nail-biting film, their separate stories are interwoven as they each embark on exceptional feats to test the safety of the steepest off-grid skiing and rock climbing routes on Mont Blanc, one of the most dangerous mountains on earth. Subtitled.

Directed by Luke Wiles, Gwyn Williams

US Premiere