The Terry Abraham ‘Life of a Mountain: Scafell Pike’ which documents a year in the life of England’s highest peak, will receive the first of several transmissions nationwide on BBC Four followed by iPlayer 9pm Wednesday 14th January 2015.
The feature, which will be a 60min abridged edit of the original 124min film, is a celebration through the seasons of life on and around the roof of all England.
Accompanied by an evocative musical score from Freddiehangoler (Soundgem Studios), Terry Abraham’s spectacular two hour documentary tells the story of Scafell Pike in the beautiful Lake District through the eyes of the farmers who work the valleys and fells, those who climb the mountain for pleasure and those who try to protect it’s slopes for future generations.
Featuring local authors and broadcasters such as David Powell-Thompson, Eric Robson and Mark Richards along with internationally renowned mountain men Alan Hinkes OBE, Joss Naylor MBE, Chris Townsend and Wasdale Mountain Rescue the programme was filmed over a twelve month period and follows the seasons on the mountain from spring lambs through to winter snows.
Through contributions of the British Mountaineering Council’s Carey Davies and the National Trust the importance of maintaining the landscape quality of England’s highest mountain plays a central role in the film which is introduced by the inspirational shepherdess Alison O’Neill.
Terry Abraham is a self-taught filmmaker and photographer with a passion for the great outdoors. After being made redundant from a low-level IT role, he grasped the opportunity to develop his video skills and carve out a career inspiring the public to the scenic countryside on offer in the United Kingdom.
His first feature length video was the critically acclaimed ‘The Cairngorms in Winter with Chris Townsend’ which went on to become the number one download of 2013 on www.steepedge.com.
Thanks to crowd-sourced funding from the general public via the likes of Kickstarter and Indiegogo and support from a number of outdoor manufacturers, in December 2012 Terry set about producing ‘Life of a Mountain: Scafell Pike’.
Camping out in all seasons and conditions Terry set off alone capturing all angles and perspectives of England’s highest peak, an area that is very close to his heart.
Terry said: ‘I’ll be the first to admit that after just a few weeks I wondered if I’d ever complete the project. Technically producing the film was a steep learning curve to say the least, but more than anything having to camp out for days on end chasing those special scenes on video proved to be extremely difficult. In retrospect, I think I was absolutely nuts to set out and produce the feature – especially on my own.
‘All said and done, the experience has proved life-changing for me on so many levels. Be it the close friends I’ve made in the Wasdale area or filmmaking in general. Would I do it again? Yes and no! It took over my life, and proved hard for my wife and family to deal with at times (never mind me). Emotionally it was very difficult. My dream almost became an obsession but thankfully it all paid off in the end.’
‘For the past few weeks inbetween trips out amongst the fells of the Lake District, I’ve been busy working with the BBC endeavouring to drum up a 60min abridged edit of the film for TV. I’ve learnt a great deal from them even though it’s been heart-wrenching at times, deleting countless scenes, trimming others, all the while aiming to produce an edit that does the full film a modicum of justice for TV.’
‘The film has been shown every day on an IMAX screen at the Rheged Centre, Penrith since it’s premiere. Observing the positively overwhelming responses from audiences to that alone, never mind folks elsewhere after seeing the DVD et al has been truly humbling. It has given me tremendous joy seeing the smiles, the tears and inspiration. Which all drives me on to produce something bigger and better in the future.’
‘I’d like to give special thanks to all of the film’s sponsors who had the faith and trust in me to produce the documentary. I can imagine it was something rather scary for them given my rookie status and the length of time involved to complete but I do hope I’ve made them all very proud.’
The full film is available on DVD to purchase and for retail (including distribution) via www.stridingedge.com and is also available to buy digitally in HD from www.steepedge.com.
You can also pick one up at retailers including Cotswold Outdoor (nationwide), George Fishers of Keswick, tourist information bureaus, bookstores and many more.
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