Manitoba ice climbing documentary headed for Vancouver film festival [Video]

Manitoba ice climber Ray Hope has reached new heights.

“Prairie Ice Farmers,” a short film Hope directed, has been selected for the 2024 Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival.

The film follows a group of ice climbers who have created a vibrant community in the heart of the Canadian Prairies as they live and breathe the thrill of the climb.

Ray was inspired to direct the film based on his own passion for climbing.

“I started 10 years ago. I was on a trip in Japan and did some climbing there, and it just changed my life,” he said in an interview on CTV Morning Live Winnipeg.

Ever since, he and his wife Jackie have taken yearly trips to the Canadian Rockies to mountaineer.

During the COVID pandemic, the Hopes were grounded in Manitoba, unable to travel to the mountains to do what they loved.

To pass the time, they got into filmmaking, turning to their gravity-defying passion for inspiration.

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