​Fred Beckey, author of more than a dozen mountaineering guides, has made more first ascents than any other North American climber -- and possibly more than any climber anywhere. And that's not just because he's been at it the longest, though the fact that he just turned 89 and is still bagging first ascents is going to make his records awfully tough to top. Tonight at 7:30 p.m., Beckey will be talking about his latest book, Fred Beckey's 100 Favorite North American Climbs, to Patagonia Boulder, 1425 Pearl Street, where he'll be introduced by Patagonia CEO Casey Sheahan.

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​Austrian climbers dominated both the men's and women's competition this past weekend, before a sold-out crowd at Movement Climbing + Fitness in Boulder for the 2011 International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Lead Climbing World Cup. Many climbers -- and climbing fans -- hope this event was a preview of the 2020 Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, since sport climbing has been short-listed by the International Olympic Committee for possible inclusion as a medal event.

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​"What the fuck am I doing here?" asks mountain climber Cory Richards, in the opening seconds of Cold, one of six climbing films featured in the 2011 Reel Rock Film Tour that kicks off tonight at 6 p.m. at the Boulder Theater. It's a poignant question: Richards is at 21,959' and freezing his ass off at -51 degrees on February 2, 2011 when he asks it, taking a moment to speak to the camera for posterity just in case he doesn't make it through the ascent of Gasherbrum II, a 26,362' peak in the Himalayas that had foiled all previous winter attempts.

We caught up with Anson Fogel, the Carbondale-based filmmaker responsible for shaping Richards' footage from the trip into one of the year's most chilling documentaries, to see if he came away from the project with any answers.

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Jake Norton, from Golden, CO, is attempting to climb the Triple Seven Summits -- the three highest peaks on each continent -- to raise money to support the Denver-based non-profit Water for People

​Jake Norton, a mountain climber from Golden, CO, is in Uganda this week to climb Mount Stanley's Margherita Peak, a 16,763' peak in the Ruwnezori Range, as the next step in what he's calling Challenge21. Climbing the Seven Summits -- the tallest peaks on each continent -- has long been a hallmark achievement for climbers around the world; Norton's tripling up the ante and going for the Triple Seven Summits, aiming to be the first climber to bag the three tallest peaks on each continent, 21 peaks in all, in an effort to raise $2.1 million for the Denver-based non-profit Water For People and draw attention to the global water crisis.

We caught up with Norton by email from Africa, where he'll also be climbing Kenya's 17,057' Mount Kenya this month (he's already crossed Africa's tallest peak -- Tanzania's 19,340' Mount Kilimanjaro -- off his list, having previously made the summit three times) to learn more about Challenge21, the work of Water for People, and the allure of the world's tallest mountains.

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​In 1996, adventurer Göran Kropp famously set out by bike from his home in Sweden, loaded with gear, and rode all the way to Nepal to climb Mount Everest. He made the summit on May 23 of that year, without bottled oxygen and without Sherpa support, then climbed down, got back on his bike, and rode home. I Made It: Göran Kropp's Incredible Journey to the Top of the World, a 46-minute documentary of that human-powered triumph, won the Best of Banff Award at the Banff Mountain Film Festival in 1998 and gets a rare public screening tonight at 8 p.m. at Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder.

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​Last week we reported on the International Olympic Committee's announcement that ski and snowboard slopestyle events have officially been added as medal sports for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and on the local ramifications of that decision. And wait, there's more: Other big news with a solid local angle coming out of the 123rd IOC session in Durban, South Africa includes the announcement that sport climbing -- including lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering as individual disciplines -- is one of eight new sports being considered for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Games, with the International Federation of Sport Climbing as the recognized sanctioning body.

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​If Colorado's highest peaks have been calling your name and you're ready to bag some fourteeners, stop by REI Denver, 1416 Platte Street, tonight at 6:30 p.m. to join the kick-off event for the the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center's Multiple Summits for MS.

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Photo courtesy Pat Ament

Climbing pioneer John Gill floats up 'the Scab' in the Needles of South Dakota.

​Rock climbing legend Pat Ament began bouldering and free-climbing near Boulder in 1958 when he was a student and gymnast at the University of Colorado, and spent his formative years learning from the best of the best. His relationship with mentor John Gill helped shape his own career not only as a climber, but also as a writer and filmmaker: Ament's 1977 biography John Gill: Master of Rock (an updated edition was published in 1998) is one of the classics of climbing literature, and his 2009 film The Disciples of Gill helped demonstrate just how far his mentor's influence has spread throughout the sport, reaching many of today's top climbers. Both Gill and Ament will be signing autographs and talking about the past, present and future of the sport for the local premiere of Ament's new film, Gill Across Time. tonight at 8 p.m. at Neptune Mountaineering, 633 South Broadway in Boulder. We caught up with Ament by phone at his home in Fruita for a bit of "back in the day" banter and to learn more about the new film.

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​Push On! In the seven months since Clayton Brown opened his Pusher BMX shop at 5777 East Evans Avenue, "Colorado's Only BMX Rider-Owned and Operated BMX Shop" has been getting props from the likes of TransWorld Business and ESPN, doing double the business Brown projected for himself and attracting pro riders from all over the state and even the world. Stop by the shop to see why tonight when Etnies/Cinema riders Corey Martinez, Nathan Williams, Bruno Hoffmann and Seth Kimbrough pop in for a BBQ and bike demo from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

More weekend stoke after the jump...

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Towers of the Ennedi won a Charlie Fowler Award for Best Climbing / Mountaineering Film at Mountainfilm in Telluride

​The winners of the 32nd annual Mountainfilm in Telluride festival were announced on Monday and include eight films in five categories. We've got the trailers after the jump, and we'll shout them out on this blog later in the year if and when any of them will be screening in Denver-area theaters.

David Holbrooke's 2011 Festival Director's Award went to Undercity, from director Andrew Wonder, a documentary about subterranean explorer Steve Duncan's adventures underneath New York City:

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