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Manuel was my mountaineering instructor in middle school and a good friend for a couple of years after. I have a lot of very good memories from those years in which I made some of my best friends to date.

To many, Manuel was a controversial person, a character whose strong personality and ideas sometimes conflicted with other people’s minds. To me, he was a mentor who several times encouraged me to push my limits to accomplish my goals. He was a good friend who always had faith on me.

I’m sad because of his sudden death, but happy because he passed away while he was doing what the liked the most: climbing one his beloved mountains. Rest in peace Manuel, one day we’ll meet again in the other life.

Seems like this weekend is about doing nothing in the outdoors…

While I was going back to bed, I noticed it was still dark outside. A quick look through the window surprised me with a full moon about to set behind the horizon. I quickly decided to dress up, grab my camera and go out for shooting some pictures.

In a couple of minutes, I was at the top of a nearby hill enjoying a not-often-seen spectacle (actually, it happens every 28 days). I was testifying how the sun rised while the moon setted, each at opposite sides of the city. It was a truly awesome gift of nature:

I didn’t BRING my headlamp to the wall, so I had to stick with doing only one 400-meter lap in it. After a beautiful sunset, the night welcomed me with a giant full moon which slowly began to illuminate the rocky landscape. Beautiful October moon…

Note: article is in spanish.

I enjoyed a lot its reading, it reminded me of the old times when I was a microbiology student who spent most of his time looking through the microscope and doing molecular biology experiments. Those college years… *sigh*

• Tyrol – Land in the Mountains: Extraordinary nature photography coupled with music from Philip Glass. Do I need to say more?
• Cobra Crack: Good action film. Didier Berthod, crack climbing master digs deep into his emotions while fighting his way to link the extremely hard moves of the Cobra Crack in Squamish.
• Cayesh – The Calling: Steve House and Marko Prezelj open a new route in Cayesh’s West Face. The film shows how both climbers’ experience and attitude is their key to success in this fine display of modern extreme alpinism.
• Conflict Tiger: Nice documentary. A tiger becomes a threat to a small Siberian village after the attack of an imprudent hunter. It shows how current world economy puts humans and wildlife into conflict.

It’ll be another year until the festival comes back to Mexico. In the meantime, we’ve got enough material to be inspired and to reflect about. Can’t wait to be in the outdoors again!

• Conference: Origins and evolution of Alpinism in Europe and The unaccessible North Face of Dru: Jordi Pons, legendary Catalan alpinist and filmmaker talked about the often-forgotten origins of alpinism and how it evolved into what we know nowadays. Then he projected a short film in which he narrates his successful climb of Dru’s North Face after 3 unsuccessful attempts spanned along 25 years.
• Patagonia – A Travel to the End of the World: Great adventure film. Thomas Ulrich and Vebjørn Hagen narrate their 500 km journey to cross the Southern Ice Field in Patagonia. They reach their goal after employing a diverse set of exploration techniques along their way.

Tomorrow is the last day of the festival and its program looks very promising. Can’t wait until then…