New perk: Easily find new routes and hidden gems, upcoming running events, and more near you. Your weekly Local Running Newsletter has everything you need to lace up!
.
’s new film Cold is a gripping edit of the footage photographer and mountaineer shot during his February ascent of Pakistan's 26,360-foot Gasherbrum II. The 19-minute short won the Best ϳԹ Film at Carbondale, Colorado's 5 Point Film Festival. Based on the trailer, and early results, we expect Cold to pile up rave reviews during this year's adventure film festival circuit. Not only was Richards the first American to summit an 8,000 meter peak during winter, but he lugged a Canon 5D up the mountain and shot nearly 500 gigs of footage while doing it. (Read Grayson Schaffer’s story, Partly Crazed with Frostbite, in the May Issue, which chronicles Richards's climb). Fogel first saw the footage as an update from the field Richards's posted on the's web site.
“It’s so raw and honest,” says Fogel. “I couldn’t believe he had the camera out in those conditions.”
Those conditions included being buried in an avalanche, falling into a crevasse, and getting lost on Gasherbrum II's upper slopes during a whiteout. As you would expect, Richards shot less as the climb became more life threatening, but Fogel still pulled 15 minutes of footage out of the hour Richards captured on the summit push.
“There’s a handful of shots in there where Cory runs ahead of the other climbers [Simon Moro and Denis Urubko]and turns around to shoot them climbing up,” says Fogel. “You can hear him throw up from the effort.”
Fogel splices shots of some of these life threatening moments with clips of Richards's family at home. The effect is poignant. Watch the trailer here and follow the updates on Cold's page and the web site.
–Kyle Dickman