Jury

Terry Gifford

For 21 years Terry Gifford was Director of the annual International Festival of Mountaineering Literature and he is now a trustee of the Mountain Heritage Trust. His collected climbing essays were published in 2004 as “The Joy of Climbing”. He is also poet and author of several pioneering books of ecocriticism (e.g. “Green Voices: Understanding Contemporary Nature Poetry”. Terry Gifford is Visiting Professor at the Bath Spa University, UK, and Senior Research Fellow and Profesor Honorifico at the University of Alicante, Spain. He acted as porter for the making of his wife Gill Round’s walking guide, Costa Blanca.

Klaus Feichtenberger

For approximately half a year, Klaus Feichtenberger is abroad either to dedicate himself to his passion film or to receive one of the numerous awards, such as the Jackson Hole Award 2005. His journeys lead him around the globe. He counts as one the world’s best nature film makers. In fact, so far each and every of the films of the graduated philologist has won a prize. Among his awarding authorities are the broadcasting companies such as ORF, ZDF, BBC, Discovery and Arte. He was born in Graz and is an author of more than 250 screen plays and voice over texts.

Robert Eckhardt

Robert Eckhardt stood on almost 1000 summits, among which were 69 four-thousand metre peaks in the Alps, 16 five-thousand metre summits and 12 six-thousand metre summits. His highlights were the Peuterey ridge on the Mont Blanc, the ascent of the north pilar of the Droites and the tours on the Badile, the Dru and in the Urner Alps. In addition he undertook expeditions to the Rakaposhi and to Ama Dablam. For more than 30 years, Eckhardt has held lectures in which he deals with the topics of risk and responsibility. He demonstrates to his public, that “one can still live big adventures in the Alps, where one is living in complete autonomy and responsiblity for oneself.”

Alun Hughes

Alun Hughes is director, cameraman and producer of international extreme sport and adventure travel documentaries based in Wales. His movie “Stone Monkey” (1987) was called “the possibly greatest climbing film of all time” by the famous climber Leo Houlding. Alun is proud winner of four Cameras Alpin in Gold at the International Mountain and Adventure Filmfestival Graz (“Stone Monkey” 1988, “Waterfall Kayak” 1990, “From Nowhere to the Middle of Nowhere” 1999, “Dringo ir Eitha” 2008).

Gertrude Reinisch

Gertrude Reinisch was born in Markt Piesting in Lower Austria and soon she discovered her passion for mountains and writing. As an ardent allround-mountaineer with a preference for alpine sport climbing and ski touring, she has organized numerous expeditions to different Himalaya states. In 1990, the journalist and author has participated in the Polish expedition by Wanda Rutkiewicz to the Hidden Peak and Gasherbrum II in Pakistan, and although there was bad weather, she managed to reach an altitude of 7800 m. In 1991, she stood on the highest mountain of North America, on the Mount McKinley in Alaska. Since 2002 she is living in Steyr, and together with her husband Alois Indrich she is specializing in environmental and nature film documentaries. Also she is interested in the Himalayas people, and for 10 years she has been working for a development aid project where Sherpas are instructed as mountain guides and alpine hut managers. The film “„Das Geheimnis der Sherpa“(“The Secret of the Sherpa”) is a result of these experiences.