Thrill-seekers will enjoy hearing from Italian mountaineer Simone Moro at the upcoming NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival, director Mark Sedon says.

The festival is aimed at ‘adventure lovers of all ages and stages, and Simone will have “chilling and harrowing” stories to tell.

Simone featured alongside Corey Richards and Denis Urubko in the 2011 film ‘Cold’ as they made the first winter ascent of one of Pakistan's 8,000 metre peaks. 

Since then, he has gone on to make three more winter ascents on eight-thousand metre peaks – a feat that no other climber has been able to match.

“He’s a mountaineering legend,” Mark said. “It’s hard enough climbing at 8,000 metres, but you have to be a bit crazy to even imagine climbing something like that in winter.”

His achievements within high-altitude mountaineering are matched only by his feats of bravery, Mark said.   

In 2001, Simone abandoned his own attempt of the Everest-Lhotse Traverse to save English climber Tom Moores, who was stuck on the west face of Lhotse. 

He is also the first European helicopter pilot qualified to fly in Nepal, and has completed numerous rescue operations from the air, including taking part in the highest long-line rescue at 7,800m on Everest in 2013.

Simone, one of 17 speakers at this year’s festival, will speak in Wānaka on Saturday June 22.

He will be joined by Frederique Olivier, an accomplished field guide, naturalist, photographer, and documentary filmmaker who has dedicated much of her career to exploring the polar regions; white water kayaker Shannon Mast; well-known local climber Guy Cotter; and award-winning authors Colin Monteath, Victoria Bruce and Craig Potton, amongst others.  

New Zealand’s talented filmmakers will also be on hand at the festival to introduce their films, with 64 of the films on the programme Kiwi-made, and several making their world premieres.

Mark said ticket sales for the festival have been slower than in previous years and he said the cost-of-living crisis may be partly responsible for this. 

He encouraged families to make the most of the free family shows being held at Edgewater Hotel in Wānaka on Saturday June 22 and Sunday June 23 and at the Hāwea Hotel on Saturday June 22. 

The NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival will run in Wānaka June 21 to 25 and in Queenstown 27 to 28 June. The event will also be broadcast online in New Zealand and Australia from 1 - 31 July.