The Climb

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BRUCE GREENWOOD
Biography

Bruce Greenwood stars as Herman Buhl in THE CLIMB, a Wendy Wacko Production of a Donald Shebib Film. THE CLIMB is the true life adventure of Austrian mountaineer Buhl's heroic assault on the Himalayan peak Nanga Parbat in 1953. Nanga Parbat has claimed the lives of many of its would-be conquerors, including 31 members of a German party who perished on the slopes in 1932.

Greenwood, a native of Canada and a proficient skier, was a natural for the role of legendary Buhl. Greenwood and Wacko worked together previously on STRIKER'S MOUNTAIN, a film made for television about helicopter skiing in Alberta's Cariboo Mountains. STRIKER'S MOUNTAIN was the most watched television movie of the year in Canada, and Wacko was aked to develop the concept for a series.

Among Greenwood's other credits are numerous television appearances including PEYTON PLACE -- THE SECOND GENERATION for 20th Century-Fox Television; NBC's LEGMEN and THE HITCHHIKER for NBC. His film credits include THE BIKINI SHOP, BEAR ISLAND, and the Sylvester Stallone blockbuster FIRST BLOOD, which originated the Rambo phenomenon.

Currently, Greenwood appears in the continuing role of Dr. Seth Griffin in NBC's Emmy-winning series ST. ELSEWHERE.

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BACKGROUND - HERMAN BUHL

Herman Buhl was born in Innsbruck in 1924 and grew into one of the finest mountaineers in the world. He spent the Second World War on the Russian Front, where he was captured and sent to a prison camp. On his return, in 1946, he turned again to the mountains, and was soon recording extraordinary feats of endurance on some of the most difficult peaks in Europe. In 1953, Buhl joined a German expedition to Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas - a peak which claimed more than 30 lives and had proved a constant challenge to the German-speaking world On June 16th, he received the news that Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing had conquered Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. But Buhl's own expedition was not faring so well. Lack of porters forced the lcimbers to carry heavy loads, constant blizzards held them back an the poor and confused leadership only added to their problems. Worst of all, just as the weather began to improve, the expedition leader, dr. Karl Herriligkoffer ordered all climbers off the mountain. For Buhl and his companion Otto Kempter, it was madness. They ignored the order and climbed on.

On the morning of July 2nd, Buhl awoke at 0100 hours. Kempter was sleepy, but said he would join him later, so Buhl set off alone. As dawn broke, Buhl spotted his companion far below, but before long Kempter was forced to turn back. Without oxygen or food, Buhl pressed on for the summit. When he reached it, at 1900 hours that evening, there was little time for rest. He took a few photographs and headed back down under a setting sun. Buhl spent the night without a sleeping bag, tent or warm clothing, leaning against a rock at 26,000 feet, in temperatures of -10 C. By the time he finally staggered into camp, Buhl had been alone on the mountain for more than 40 hours. A superhuman feat of courage and endurance - all the more remarkable in a time when such peaks were normally only tackled by large parties using oxygen.

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Synopsis

1953. A German expedition prespares an assault on the yet unconquered Himilayan peak, Nanga Parbat. Twenty years earlier 31 men, in a party led by Willie Merkl, died in an attempt to scale this mountain.

Dr. Karl Herrligkoffer, Merkl's stepbrother has gathered a party to settle the score. Hermann Buhl, renowned climber with a deserved reputation for courage and almost reckless determination joins the party for the raw challenge of the unattained summit. Peter Aschernbrenner, a survivor of the Merkl party, coerced by Herrligkoffer into leading the party and placing a plaque in Merkl's honour on Nanga Parbat, dreads reviving the doomed expedition plan so carefully recreated by Herrligkoffer.

From the beginning, the climbers are plagued with misfortune; injury, illness, storm and avalanche. The journey seems so ill-fated that finally even Herrligkoffer is forced to accept failure. but Buhl refuses. He isn't fighting to avenge a memory; he's fighting for his own victory against the most vicious of mountains and he won't let another man call him back. As he nears the peak, already given up for dead by his colleagues, he has an experience that will change his life forever. Past human endurance, help for Buhl comes from beyond the grace to cheat death and spur him on for the spectacular finish of THE CLIMB.

Virgin Vision presents a Wacko Entertianment Production of THE CLIMB, a dramatic feature of one of the most haunting and remarkable true life climbing sotries of all time.

Already named, "Best of Festivl" at the 1986 Banff Festival of Mountain Films, THE CLIMB was also selected for his pring's American festival Mounainfilm in Telluride, Colorado, and the 35th International Film Festival of Mountain and Exploration in Trento, Italy, where it si expected to win further accolades.

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Production Notes

THE CLIMB is the true adventure of mountain climber Herman Buhl's heroic attempt to scale the unconquered Himalayan peak of Nanga Parbat in 1953. Producer Wendy Wacko and director Donald Shebib capture the staggering courage of the world-famous Austrian climber's feat, which included spending an entire night propped against a rock ledge at 26,000 feet in temperatures of -10 C without food or shelter. It was victory wrought by sheer determaination.

The making of THE CLIMB was much the same kind of hard earned achievement for Wacko, of Jasper, Alberta in Canada. Like Buhl, she is no stranger to the demands of the outdoors.

Her first film CHALLENGE, and two subsequent documentary films, were all acclaimed by critics for their grasp of realism and their poignant treatment on the continual conflict between man and nature.

She then made STRIKERS MOUNTAIN, a highly rated television movie with a subsequent deal to turn it into a series. At the same time, she became co-producer of a British Broadcasting series called MOUNTAIN MEN, a collection of stories about man's assaults on the world's greatest peaks. That opportunity led to the making of feature film THE CLIMB, starring Bruce Greenwood (ST. ELSEWHERE).

Already named "Best of Festival" at the 1986 Banff Festival of Mountain Films, THE CLIMB was also selected for the upcoming American Festival Mountainfilm in Telluride, Colorado, and the 35th International Film Festival of Mountain and Exploration in Trento, Italy, where it is expected to win further accolades.

For Wacko, it has been a successful uphill climb. To get the project moving, she raised $50,000 from privat sources to finance the second unit's trip to Northern Pakistan. The footage from that shoot combined with her already impressive track record, helped her raise the remainder of her budget.

Fortunately, Greenwood also viewed THE CLIMB as a personal challenge. Otherwise, the 18-hour plane trip followed by a 20-hour bus ride with 45 cases of film equipment and 20 native porters might not have been an attractive proposition. The unit flew to Rawalpindi, Pakistan, drove to Gilgit and then walked five days to the base of Nanga Parbat to a place called Fairy Meadows at an elevation of about 15,000 feet.

They arrived in sunshine, but awoke the next morning to find their camp under eight inches of new snow. Undaunted, they proceeded to shoot without incident. But on the final day, Greenwood slipped from a huge rock, where he sat writing in his diary. He broke his ankle.

Although the crew tried to get Greenwood down the mountain on one of the donkeys, the donkey wouldn't buy it. As a result, Greenwood, ankle tightly bound against swelling, was carried down the mountian by porters...just like so much more equipment of the shoot.

In Rawalpindi again with marketplace scenes to shoot, he was able to walk on the ankle just long enough to get the shots that were needed.

The majority of the film was shot at the Columbia Icefields, in weather that brought tortuous temperatures of 30 to 40 degrees below zero for four weeks.

Wacko recalls, "We filmed on 35 mm. The equipment had an internal heating system, so we managed to get through it without any major breakdown.

"There was a tense time when the cast and crew did not want to work at 40 below. when I found out there were other crews working on the Beaufort Sea at 65 below, our cast and crew pushed on. A delay then could have buried the picture right there."

Wacko, like her CLIMB hero Herman Buhl, doesn't give up easily. Now respected for her determination and the resourcefulness that allowed her to tackle dealmaking at the complex Cannes International Film Festival completely on her own, Wacko is a filmmaker whose love of the medium and the mountains shows in her work. She and director Shebib have reached a summit of their own in THE CLIMB.

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