Banffanalia 2009!
$130.57. That’s all it cost each of us to run The
Explorers Club booth at the Banff Mountain Book and Film Festival this year. This
included three nights in a kitchenette suite on site, and to the private National Geographic wrap bash. There's lots of time to wander exhibits and take in
films. And this is Banff – one of the world’s
great outdoor adventure destinations which is expensive. Unbelievable. Don't wonder why a cheap Dutchman like me has been doing this since 2004,
despite the 1,000 mile round trip drive: it's
an exciting holiday I look
forward to, where I get to meet fascinating people, have a
blast and mix with other adventurous birds of feather. The goal
of Banff is to raise awareness of the Club, recruit members and
have a great time...though that order could be reversed....
We sought participation from
the regional Pacific Northwest and Rocky
Mountain Chapters and although Chairs Karyn Sawyer and Ed
Sobey
canvassed their chapters by email, there was no interest
for the second year in a row, outside of Lynn
Danaher whom I met at the Keough's magnificent Saltspring
Symposium and we became fast friends, she being as politically
incorrect as I am, and joining my canoe expeditions. (Lynn's
spin off Compass Symposium at Friday Harbor in the Puget Sound, a
success from the start, with a different lecture/nature balance, is
rapidly gaining momentum.)
Perhaps next year, but then perhaps they don't like having fun.
Mountain people can be wild, hairy, smelly and strange. We’d love
it if some joined (I'm hairy too and have a lousy sense of smell anyway),
or sent their books so
we can promote them and, in doing so, the Club.
Despite the flu scare and the
meltdown, attendance surged 20% and the type of attendee veered
sharply toward our kind of people. Never
before have we met so many who qualify dropping by to enquire about
the Club. We're actively sponsoring two excellent new members thus far.
We have so many books we rotate them. Michael Brookfield’s
DINASAUR SEX drew the most attention (you have to see the photo inside of a copulating
male hyena with a wall-to-wall grin and its tongue hanging out, precious….). Kirsty
Duncan’s HUNTING THE 1918 FLU surged in interest again this year, no doubt
because of the current flu scare, which looks like another Y2K to me. And Laurel’s
two books on canoeing – NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN CANOE TRIPS and NORTHERN BRITISH
COLUMBIA CANOE TRIPS Part 1 – drew a lot of interest. We were delighted by the number of
paddlers dropping by.
Gord Currie, 8 summits
pioneer Pat Morrow and film maker
Michael Brown stopped by to chat.
Michael’s squeezette, the lovely Araceli Segarra.
was back in Spain
for a break, breaking my heart. Don't tell The Dragon Lady, but I've
had a crush on her since seeing her star in IMAX's EVEREST. She
and Michael have been shooting IMAX's RETURN TO EVEREST for over two
seasons, but the project has to come up with another 2-3 million to
complete...before I can swoon to Araceli and her cute little
Spanish accent on screen again....
For the draw bin, Laurel and
I donated books, to add to TEC ones the always generous Brian Hanson
donated in the past.
Join us next year! It's a hoot!
The Banffanalites L - R: Jungle Jason Schoonover, Laurel Archer, Lynn Snorkel Master Danaher and National Geographic Adventurer of the Year Samuel
Stime. Simon Donato is MIA, catching a flick, and there's no room for him in this shot anyway.
If you don't see your book, don't fret. We rotate them. We gave away a couple hundred Journals, Logs and handouts as well as ECAD ballcaps and
ponchos.
The expensive and brilliant Club brochures we only dole out to
prospects. Many thanks to Karnath the Magnificent for the
largesse, and to
Matt Williams for shipping.
Future
explorers reaching for the stars! Or is Snorkel Master Lynn
teaching them a dyslectic German salute...?
We
have had a prime location for years, one that doubles our space: this is the first thing people see when they enter the display
booth room: pages from
our brochure. A couple hundred feet
of hallways are also given over to booths, virtually all in the
outdoors adventure arena. A lotta interesting people
doing interesting things with their lives.
Major sponsor National Geographic
holds seminars each morning on how to get onboard with
them. All their top editors - from books to the mags to
the
channel - are here, and they're very user friendly. The media
room next door has fast computers to keep up with email, but the
whole area is Wi-fi.
I
wish I could include shots of the incredible NG wrap bash but
it's unspoken that cameras are a no-no. What happens in Banff....
If you don't like having fun, please please don't join us next year. However, if you do....
Cheers - Jason Schoonover FI'86
Canuck Chapter ComCzar