NIGHT LIES
OF WHERE ANYTHING GOES
There are the Banff Mountain Film and the Squamish Mountain Festival, and the Nova Scotia Boulderfest and then there is the Night of Lies ( nol) Unlike the aforementioned, the nol is an evening of inspir ing, belligerent and sometimes offensive presentations. For 10 minutes, presenters bedazzle the audience with whatever story they care to tell. Sometimes it is honest, whole-hearted and truthful, and other times it is disgusting, absurd and packed with lies. The themes of the presentations include climbing and the outdoors, and always aim to entertain. In the spir it of the Calgary Mountain Club weekly meetings and other alcohol induced gather ings, the nol has a ready supply of beverages. Audience participation is promoted dur ing the perfor mances, from shr ieking and cussing to applauding and hip-hip-hooraying. This evening of dishonesty began, not on a stage, but in a Calgary apartment.
In 2000, Wade Graham had friends come to his home to share stor ies. The evening sparked interest among the attendees filling a void in the world of outdoor entertainment. Years of ser ious, sponsored, corporate festivals had drowned the spir it of impromptu, random slideshows. The organization and planned schedules left little to the imagination. Graham’s gather ing promised the opposite, a multimedia night with no plans, no announcement of themes and no promise of satisfaction. Back at Graham’s apartment the following year, Rockies legend Barry Blanchard showed up, taking Graham and others by surpr ise, presenting a show about Infinite Patience, a route on Mount Robson’s Emperor Face. Everyone was sure that the nol had to continue and Graham saw to it that more people would come, more shows would go on and the word would get out.
The for mat is simple, the show starts, after a few presentations there is an inter mission and then a few more presentations. During the inter mission, pr izes are given away and dr inks are had.
Notable presenters from the past include Sonnie Trotter, Jason Kruk, Joshua Lavigne, Barry Blanchard, Margo Talbot, Bernadette McDonald, Brandon Pullan, Greg Hill, Jim Elzinga, Ian Welsted,Will Gadd, Remy Bernier and countless others. Some shows are about a climb, some about a book, some about a tr ip and some about the reality of a climber’s lifestyle.
In his 12 years at the helm Graham said he had two favour ite presenters. The first was Remy Bernier’s powerful presentation from his wheelchair. “I suffered a severe brain hemorrhage that left me in Foothills Hospital in Calgary for a total of five months, plus one year at the rehabilitation facility in the central Alberta town of Ponoka. I appeared healthy, but the hemorrhage caused a congenital malfor mation. Now, I lack precision and timing with the left side of my body and have no sensation on the r ight, I am paralyzed. Before my accident, I practiced telemark, backcountry skiing, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ice climbing, rock climbing, alpine climbing, canyoning, mountain biking and more. Now, I’m doing adaptive climbing, adaptive skiing, adaptive sailing, adaptive hiking and I will do more,” said Bernier to an emotional audience before showing pictures of a day at the ski hill with his adapted ski chair. Graham’s second favour ite presentation was by Will Gadd in 2012.
Gadd is known as the over-the-top, energetic, wild and outspoken lifestyle athlete who entertains with larger-than-life stor ies, but two years ago he stood in front of 400 people, calm and collected with a stone-cold stare. He spoke of the choices adventureseekers take, their decisions and who it affects. He put a list on the projector-screen above the stage of all the names of people he has known who have passed away. He spoke of immortality and the toll our mountain games can have. As everyone paused for a moment of silence he switched back into his usual lighthearted state and gave a show about new routing at Helmcken Falls in B.C.
Two years ago Canadian alpinist Jim Elzinga gave a detailed account of his successful 1986 Everest Light Expedition that got the first North American woman to the summit, Sharon Wood. The previous year, ice climber MargoTalbot talked about her struggle with drugs in her book, Holding true to the theme of the evening, Ian Welsted gave a slideshow four years ago.The show called Rockies climbers out on their exaggerations, fibs and lies over the last decade. He pointed fingers at top-dogs and lesser-known climbers; it angered many viewers and got a lot of laughs from a lot of folks. The year before, climber Scott Semple ranted about sponsored athletes, it was followed by a pair of sponsored climbers who made the life-style not seem so bad. One of the earlier shows by Dominic Fredette was a display of puppetry and animation, his show was called Mount Wars where the Canadian Rockies was the universe, Mount Andromeda was the Death Star, and a tent was a spaceship.
Graham said he never imagined the show to grow as big as it has. It’s been held in at least seven venues with the current, Cornerstone Theatre, being the largest. “There are life-cycles to things. It’s important to step aside when the time is r ight and not hold on too long. It’s time for the next generation to take the reins and for the show to evolve with a new vision to dr ive it where it wants to go.” In November 2013, Rafal Andronowski took over as organizer of the nol. Steve Swenson, one of America’s most accomplished alpinists gave a lighthearted show, “Whatever is said at the Night of Lies, stays at the Night of Lies,” he said with a gr in.–