Synopsis
A Life Ascending chronicles the life of acclaimed mountaineer Ruedi Beglinger. Living with his wife and two young daughters on a remote glacier in the vast mountains of British Columbia, Beglinger has built a reputation as one of the top ski mountaineering guides in the world.
The film follows his family’s unique life off the grid and their journey in the years following a devastating avalanche that killed seven people. Documenting the sublime beauty and ever-present risk of a life lived on the edge, the film ultimately explores the power of nature as both an unforgiving host and profound teacher.
Crew
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER:
STEPHEN GRYNBERG
Born in Denver, Colorado, Stephen shot his first movies as a teenager, carrying a massive VHS tape deck in a backpack to capture his friends skiing in the Rockies. Those first visual forays gave way to more confined pursuits as Grynberg had careers as a chemical engineer and a television executive. Somewhere in the midst of this business haze, Stephen found himself with a camera again and began writing and directing short films.
After graduating from the American Film Institute’s director’s program, he wrote and directed his first feature film, the critically acclaimed Love From Ground Zero in 1998. Stephen created his first documentary short film, Past Forward in 2005, as part of Envisioning the Future, a city-wide art project curated by renowned artist Judy Chicago. A Life Ascending marks Stephen’s first feature length documentary film and his long overdue return to using a camera in the mountains. Stephen has a degree in directing from the American Film Institute, an MBA from Columbia University and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University. Stephen also teaches personal story writing and coaches his seven year old twins, Stella and Oliver in various sports. He lives with his wife and kids in Santa Monica, California.
RUEDI BEGLINGER
Renowned mountaineering guide, Ruedi Beglinger was born and raised in the mountains of Glarus, Switzerland. He started skiing at the age of 3 and went on his first ski-mountaineering tour at 6 with his father.
By 22 he was an Internationally Certified Mountain Guide. In 1980, Ruedi immigrated to Canada where he worked initially as a heli-ski guide in the Selkirk and Monashees Mountains.
In 1985, he founded the Selkirk Mountain Experience, a full service hut to hut guiding operation at the base of the Durrand Glacier in the Selkirk Mountains, which he still runs today with his wife, Nicoline. They are the parents of two daughters, Charlotte and Florina. As a mountain guide and mountaineer, Beglinger has pioneered numerous first ascents and ski-traverses in North America, South America and Europe.
CINEMATOGRAPHER: PAT MORROW
Award-winning DP Pat Morrow’s desire to experience and document life in wild places has led him on countless assignments and expeditions, including being first person in the world to have climbed the highest peaks of all seven continents: Mount McKinley, Aconcagua, Mount Everest, Elbrus, Mount Kilimanjaro, Vinson Massif, and Puncak Jaya. Recent projects include a film for the BBC Nature’s Great Events series; shooting in the Canadian Rockies for the NFB documentary The Sweetest Embrace – Return to Afghanistan; and a film shot on location in Baltistan and Afghanistan. Pat lives with his wife and filming partner Baiba in the mountains of British Columbia.
CINEMATOGRAPHER: ROGER VERNON
A native of Alberta, Roger Vernon has combined his love of the mountains and his desire to make images into a flourishing career as an internationally respected cinematographer. His expertise has taken him onto mountains and glaciers around the world, including Pakistan, to photograph K2 for the feature film Vertical Limit. He joined David Breashears on the 1996 American expedition to Everest to photograph the two documentaries: The Search for Mallory and Irvine and American Firsts – Women on Everest.
He has also worked on a multitude of documentaries ranging from natural history and science to the arts.In 1993, he was inducted into the prestigious Canadian Society of Cinematographers. Roger has worked on a number of feature-length dramas for Hollywood, including Unforgiven, the 1992 western that was nominated for Best Cinematography, the Oscar award winning film Legends of the Fall, and most recently New Moon.
EDITOR: PAM WISE
Editor Pam Wise, A.C.E., began her career editing cinema verite documentaries with Ricky Leacock, Charlotte Zwerin, and the Maysles brothers. She is the 1998 A.C.E. Eddie Award Winner for the Oscar Nominated, Best Feature Documentary – DANCEMAKER. She has edited numerous award winning narrative features, including Secretary, Transamerica, Dark Matter, and Then She Found Me.
She has done extensive music and dance editing on such films as Horowitz Plays Mozart, a Maysles feature documentary, Carnegie Hall Gets Plastered, (co-director), A Tribute to Hank Williams, John Lennon Live in NY, and Accumulation with Water Motor, directed by Jonathan Demme. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Motion Picture Editors Guild, and a member of American Cinema Editors.
ORIGINAL MUSIC BY: ADAM GORGONI
A native of New York City and the son of a studio musician, Adam Gorgoni has numerous scoring credits which include Sundance favorite Starting Out in the Evening, Karen Moncrieff’s The Dead Girl which was nominated for 3 Independent Spirit Awards in 2006 including Best Picture, Blue Car for Miramax, the hit comedy Waiting for Lions Gate, Ray Romano’s comedy 95 Miles to Go, and the HBO Original Path to Paradise. Television work includes the critically acclaimed Aliens in America, Sons and Daughters as well as shows for NBC, Disney, Discovery, Bravo, and National Geographic among others. Gorgoni is a graduate of Harvard University and has also studied composition and orchestration at Manhattan School of Music, Eastman Conservatory, and production/ engineering at the Berklee College of Music. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.