Fearlessness: a blade that cuts both ways. New film from Nikolai Schirmer

Mountainwatch | Video

In his latest film Nikolai Schirmer explores levels of fear in the mountains how he sees fear not as a weakness but a vital instinct. In the film Schirmer and his regular riding partner Krister Kopal climb in dangerous situations to descend some radical couloirs northern Norway. The dialogue between the two a discussion on the psychology of their risk-taking in the mountains.

“I don’t know about you, but I feel like I have my fear response kind of dialed a lot lower than a lot of people,” says Schirmer. “And it allows me to see a lot of opportunity where maybe other people just sense fear, but it’s like a double-edged blade, right? When you’re dealing with avalanches, you want to be super scared. You want to be like super tuned to the fear response.”

The film is beautifully shot, the landscape and mountains are spectacular and Fearlessness provides an interesting insight into why Kopal and Schirmer spend their time in the mountains “on the edge.”  It is another film from the prolific Schirmer that is well worth watching.

Nikolai Schirmer is a Norwegian freeskier and filmmaker whose films are renowned for their story telling, characters and self-deprecating humour. He is also a busy man and releases content  monthly this northern hemisphere winter – check them out on his You Tube channel