<speakers>

Timmy O'Neill is America's most outrageous climber. He has set "gob-smacking" speed climbing records from Yosemite to Patagonia, and has been at the cutting-edge of the sport for over 15-years. He is a world-class slackliner, renowned building solo climber, class 5+ kayaker and dangerously fast mountain biker. Timmy is best known for his irreverent humor and quick wit, which have been on display at his sold-out multimedia presentations throughout the world and in the films Return2Sender and Front Range Freaks. The film Return2Sender recently won its 10th Best Climbing Film Award, including Banff, Kendal, Vancouver, Taos, Telluride and Boulder Adventure film festivals.

Timmy also partners with leading amputee and spinal injury athletes in ascension and technology development, stating, "Seeing my friends overcome their disabilities and achieve the seemingly impossible, feeds my soul and forces me to reach even further!" He recently made a 7-day ascent up a dangerous route on the 3,000 foot El Capitan with his brother Sean who is paralyzed from the waist down.

Lydia , 46, grew up in Te Wai Ponamu (the South Island of New Zealand) and lives in Lake Hawea . Her interests include art, architecture, fashion, exploring remote places, rock climbing and mountaineering. Her love is nature.

In 1988 she became the first woman in the world to climb Mt Everest in 1988 without supplementary oxygen. To date she remains the only New Zealander to have done so. In 1987 she became the first Australasian woman to climb one of the world's fourteen 8000m mountains, and has been on a total of eight Himalayan expeditions.

She currently divides her work between mountain guiding in New Zealand and overseas, motivational and health presentations and community-based physiotherapy.

Lydia continues to have adventures in the mountains with friends. She recently went to Pakistan with another woman climber and made a first ascent of an unclimbed peak 5800m.

Often asked why she climbs mountains; Lydia describes her love of nature, the simplicity and meaningfulness of life in the outdoors and the sharing of these experiences with other people that attract her to the mountains.

Lydia will wll talk about her 2007 trip to Pakistan with Pat Deavol and their attempt to climb Beka Brakkai Chhok 6940m, the first ascent of Wahine Shar, 5800m, and the cultural experience of travelling in Pakistan, and going on a two women expedition.

Greetings, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Chuck, an active outdoor type with a bent for exhilaration. If it makes your heart quicken then chances are that I'll like it. After nine years of Aircraft Engineering, professional skydiving was my full time thing, 4000 skydives plus 100 base jumps, NZ parachute team & a fourth at the worlds. Add to this heliski guide, professional juggler & part time maniac. Projects have included teaching a New Yorker to basejump for a US, 13 part TV series; camera man for a production on the Southern Traverse, NZ's nastiest adventure race; discover, develop, document & jump (repeatedly) a fine new base cliff in the mountains of my back yard & more.

I have taken many pursuits beyond the accepted limits of the time, I have learned the processes to take any event beyond what was possible before, to only see success & find a successful solution to my own challenges despite all the obstacles between turning a dream into a reality. After all...a dream is just a dream, until it is acted upon.

I will present a slide-video presentation of what we can achieve if we believe in ourselves. This includes "What to do when you wings fall off". A real live occurence on New Years day 2007 when the glider I was flying broke up in mid air. Both wings gone, in freefall outside the cockpit...far from my parachute ripcord.

MOUNTAINEER, ADVENTURER, ARTIST, WRITER AND HUMANITARIAN

Born in Gisborne in 1945 and the founder and chief executive of 4 successful charities including The Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre and The Foundation for Youth Development (formerly the Project K Trust). ‘Ding’ as he is known, has achieved hundreds of daring mountaineering, rock climbing and adventuring firsts throughout the world including: First ascents in the Andes, Himalaya, Antarctica and New Zealand. The first ascent in one season of all six classic European north faces including the notorious Eiger and Matterhorn. The first traverse of the Southern Alps (100 days in winter). A traverse of the Himalaya from Kanchenjunga to K2, 5000 kms in 265 days and a 400 day, 28,000 km circumnavigation of the Arctic in two stages. He was named by NZ Wilderness magazine third on a list of the 10 greatest New Zealand climbers.

Graham will talk about his personal journey through life - how mountains and adventure have shaped it, teaching the big lessons…..

Alice and Dennis walked 3000km from Cape Reinga to Stewart Island on trails, farmland and back roads during 2007. For five months Dennis and Alice braved erratic weather, wayward animals, quirky locals, knee deep mud and more while experiencing the diversity of New Zealand's landscapes.

Listen as Alice and Dennis explain how they created and lived an adventure. The two will talk about the struggle of living the outdoor dream and the difficulties of making this a reality.

Brian will talk about their recent expedition to the Indian Himalayas, to a peak called Changabang, a peak that has and continues to inspire mountaineers the world over. Summited less than a dozen times, the northern side has seen just three successful attempts. As a member of the NZ team that attempted Changabang in 2002, Brian Alder just had to go back to give it another try. This time the plan was for 2 teams on different routes in a simplier style.

Brian is from Christchurch, Brian is always enthusiastic about all forms of climbing but has a real passion for expeditioning. That's just as well as on 7 trips to the big mountains, only three could be considered successful!

Enjoy an hour of stretching and relaxing with local Yoga teacher, Laurie Hower. Laurie is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) who first completed her training with Iyengar Master Teacher, Lynne Minton, in Alaska.

She has practiced Ashtanga since 2002 and has drawn from various Yoga styles to create a flow class that is dynamic and accessible. She has been living, teaching and playing in the Wanaka area since 2005.

When you are faced with capturing a days activity, the filming is usually the easy and fun part, putting it together however can be a whole new challenge and often to big a deal. This workshop will eliminate that problem by introducing you to inline editing and thinking ahead, on the job.

To do this you will need to learn about holding and carrying the camera, variety of shots (zooms, pans, moving and static) and how to blend them seamlessly whilst telling a story within a time frame.

Adventure filming workshop brought to you by Pete Simpson who's style has been majorly influenced by single and multi day raft trips. Each day is a new film, watch and sold.

This free one hour workshop will give you some insights into the back country and leave you with a few tips on how to stay safer while sneaking in a few powder turns this winter in the back country.