The NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival has wrapped up in Wanaka - its home turf - this week, after five days of armchair adventuring.

The film festival’s origins were the 2002 Wanaka Mountain Slide Festival, organised by locals Mark and Jo Sedon. Now the festival takes place in Wanaka, Queenstown (July 1-3), and is broadcast online in New Zealand and Australia (June 25-July 25). Mark and Jo remain at the helm.

The 19th festival showcased a wide range of films, guest speakers, workshops and presentations from inspirational adventurers, and the Wanaka App caught some of the sessions.

We were particularly inspired by Kiwi adventurer Tara Mulvany - an outstanding Southern woman - at the Women in Adventure session on Sunday evening.

Tara has circumnavigated Stewart Island and the North Island alone by sea kayak, and was part of a small team that completed the first-ever kayak circumnavigation of Svalbard in the Arctic. 

Katherine Choong is the first Swiss climber to complete a grade 35 rock route.

This past summer she traversed the Southern Alps, and her casual description of the traverse - especially when teamed with photographs of endless peaks - was impressive.

The snow show on Monday night got attendees ‘frothing’ for the winter season. With a showcase of eight incredible films, the audience were transported to fresh lines and waist-deep powder all over the world. 

The films had variety: from the exploration of Mount Cain (a ski resort time warp on an island that only functions thanks to determined locals), to snowboarders paddling down the Colombian River in minus 40 degree temperatures in search of deep powder and pillows.

Adventurers pushed unbelievable boundaries as they bush-bashed Patagonian forests, got stranded in mountains during the pandemic and braved extreme blizzards - all while we sat back and munched on freshly baked cookies and drank cups of tea. 

‘Old Fashioned Storytelling’ was the theme of closing night (Tuesday June 29), when a panel of adventurers sifted through their memory banks to tell us their favourite stories. The stories were personal and painted detailed visuals for the audience. We were in hysterics hearing about hallucinations from the ‘sleep deprivation monster’ and digging our nails into the undersides of our seats during the tale of flipped harnesses hanging in the Himalayas.

Interlaced with the storytelling were three films: the journey of New Zealand surfer Kehu Butler; Matthew Girvan and his solo 864km crossing of the Scottish highlands; and finally four friends and their adventures to Baffin Island.

The festival also featured the full-length feature version of one of the most epic tales seen during the festival’s 19 year history. K2: Impossible Descent, which was awarded the grand prize, follows a Polish ski mountaineer as he attempts to ski K2, the most dangerous mountain on earth.

The NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival is a non-profit charitable trust and a registered charity which gives grants to local environmental projects, film or adventure skills training for young people, and helping people with disabilities purchase specialist sporting equipment.

PHOTOS: Supplied