Kickstarter Campaign Launched!

After a couple years we're in the home stretch with our K2 film. We've pinned down a title, and have launched a Kiskstarter campaign to raise the remaining capital for post production costs. We even have some distribution lining up. So please head over to Our Kickstarter page to learn more and donate. Watch the trailer there or on YouTube or Ursus Films.   To read more about the trip click here to go back to read an earlier entry.

Newsletters and Fundraising

Asking people for money is always a bit awkward. I've had very few opportunities in life to do so. But, with this film getting closer to completion I have come to the stage where asking is an important part of the process. Some readers may have received an email newsletter this last week. For those who didn't, check it out HERE. I tried to strike a balance between humility and self promotion. It's uncomfortable putting your endeavours out there and telling others they should be opening their checkbooks for you. But Im feeling pretty good about the film so far and think it's worth putting out there for the world to see. I have gotten a few negative responses from people who were offended I would ask them for money. But mostly the response has been favorable. The negative reactions are a good opportunity to thicken my skin and stem, I think, from a basic misunderstanding of how documentary films are made. No one gets rich doing this. If my wildest fundraising dreams came true I would break even. I've taken the film this far and I'm only raising money to get the rest of the way.

My next post will be about some of the specific progress being made on the film.

K2 Film Progress

After taking a big break we've finally started to get a handle on all the footage shot during the 2009 season on K2. The plan is to complete a one hour documentary by the end of this Summer. Working with us again is the Emmy award winning director and editor Jason Reid (2rfilm.com.) He brings his superb editing skills as well as a wealth of experience moving films though the final stages of production.

The previously completed fifteen minute short (see below) concentrated on Fabrizio Zangrilli's experiences with K2 and was shown around the country during 2010. The current iteration of the film now follows three or four different people on our trip to K2 and explores their motivations and philosophies concerning climbing in the high mountains.

In this one hour version there will also be time to talk about the death of extreme skier Michele Fait as well as our rescue attempt on Latok II. Both of these were significant parts of our journey and capture well the difficulties and dangers of climbing in the Karakorams.

After two years, we're really looking forward to putting the polish on this project. We'll be posting more details about progress and fundraising campaigns as we move along. More soon.

Dave's Interview with REI

A couple months back I did a short interview for REI's blog. I talked about filmmaking in the Karakorams and our expedition to K2. Read it by clicking this picture:

K2 2009: Expedition Video

This video was competed awhile ago but I haven't put it on the blog until now. I intend to create a long form film from the footage I shot on K2 last Summer. In the meantime however, watch this short video (15 mins) featuring Fabrizio Zangrilli talking about the 2009 season.

Click here to open the film in a new window.

- Dave Ohlson

Dave's Article for CeraSport

CeraSport gave Ursus Films a ton of hydration drink mixes for our K2 trip and they were awesome. Dave Ohlson recently wrote an article for their newsletter entitled, "Hydration and the Mountaineer." If you're interested, you can download the newsletter here.

Explorer's Web Interview with Dave Ohlson

Dave Ohlson, owner of Ursus Films, recently spoke with explorersweb.com about the rescue attempt on Latok II. He was with Fabrizio Zangrilli and Chris Szymiec of Field Touring Alpine in mid August when they learned of the situation on Latok II where Spanish climbers Oscar Perez and Alvaro Novellon had a bad accident. Oscar Perez broke a leg and arm and was left in a precarious position with little fuel and food while Alvaro descended and put out the call for help. Top climbers from Spain immediately flew to Pakistan to help out. Ultimately, the rescue was unsuccessful due to a change in the weather, the length of time Oscar had been alone on the mountain and the risk to rescuers.

Read the interview and see pictures here: http://www.k2climb.net/news.php?id=18701

Here are some more pictures not posted on explorersweb.com: