GORDON STAINFORTH

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LATEST NEWS

February 2010

Exactly 40 years after their epic close shave on Store Trolltind on 6-8 July 1969, in which they nearly lost their lives, Gordon and his twin brother John returned to Romsdal in Norway. The photo on the right shows Gordon on the summit of Nordre Trolltind on July 9 last year, with the upper section of their 1969 route (the Fiva Route) in the deep gully system in the centre of the picture. Larger image and further details.

On July 6 they returned to Brur Skar, the deep notch on the left hand skyline above the 5000 foot Trolltind Wall, the largest rock wall in Europe. The incredible view from Brur Skar, showing the bottom 3000 feet of the Fiva Route.

See further galleries of images. (There are eight separate galleries under 2009 > Romsdal.)

The story of Gordon and John's epic on the Fiva Route in 1969 and their return in 2009, with general reflections on 40 years of climbing (and life and death), will be the subject of Gordon's next mountain book. Further details 'soon'.

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In September 2009, Peters Bookselling Services chose the "Wishing For Tomorrow" webpage, which I designed, as "Website of the Week" in the Peters e-gazette - this is sent to over 2000 key librarians nationwide. The website can be seen here. Hilary McKay appeared at theThe Times Cheltenham Literature Festival on October 18, 2009.

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On Saturday July 4, 2009 Gordon and his old editing colleague Gill Macdonald (neé Smith) - part of The Shining editing team in 1980 - met Christiane Kubrick at the Childwickbury Arts Fair. The last time all three were together here at the Stable Block at Childwickbury Manor House was 29 years ago ...

Another picture of Christiane

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On Friday April 24 2009, Gordon introduced Stanley Kubrick's The Shining at Sensoria: The UK's Festival of Music and Film, in Sheffield. The Film Programming & Development Director, Andrew McIntyre, later described it as 'an excellent introduction and contextualisation for both the film and Kubrick and perfect for Sensoria Festival.'

For the record, Gordon has now collected together just some of the accolades he has received over the years for his work editing The Shining music score.

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Gordon's highly acclaimed photographic exhibition The Crux, celebrating 150 years of British mountaineering and rock climbing achievement in 25 classic images, is on display at the British Mountaineering Council, 177-179 Burton Road, Manchester. This is now its fifth major venue in three years. Open to all. Further details.

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The Lakes episode of Griff Rhys Jones' programme Mountain, in which Gordon featured, was repeated on 14 May 2008 on BBC2. Watch excerpt (10.9 MB - can take quite a while to download - at least a minute, depending on your system. Be patient!) By the way, the reason I took the film crew there was that this was the exact spot I took this image for my first book, Eyes to the Hills.

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On March 1st 2008, Gordon interviewed Joe Simpson at the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival. The audience response was such that organiser Matt Heason described it as 'the highlight of the festival. It went down a real treat with the sell-out audience when Gordon Stainforth weaved an enticing blend of film clips and insightful questions to festival patron Joe Simpson.' Watch clips from the interview: first excerpt - another excerpt. Gordon was also one of the judges (with Ian Parnell and Niall Grimes) of the best films in six categories.

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In November 2007 Gordon introduced Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' to a packed house at the Ritz Cinema in Belper, giving a 55-minute presentation about his work editing the highly acclaimed music score.

Earlier in 2007 Gordon featured in two TV programmes: the BBC1 Griff Rhys Jones' series Mountain and the BBC2 series Balderdash & Piffle.

In February 2007, Gordon's gallery on UKClimbing.com, which attracts over six million visitors per month, was voted 'best gallery', out of over 1000 galleries, two weeks running.

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— Site last updated, February 1, 2010 —

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ABOUT GORDON

Internationally acclaimed award-winning author and landscape photographer Gordon Stainforth is perhaps best known for his lavishly illustrated personal photo-essays on the British hills and mountains: Eyes to the Hills, Lakeland, The Cuillin, and The Peak: Past and Present; but in the course of his career he has also been involved in a wide range of other creative pursuits - film and music editor (notably on Stanley Kubrick's The Shining), book and exhibition designer, and novelist (see Biography). He is presently involved from day to day with book reviewing, lecturing and website design (using the latest CSS and PHP techniques - see GS Web Design), while concentrating on his main interest, philosophy.

Gordon's main project at present is a major book on philosophy which has been in preparation for eleven years. Further details to be announced soon. A later book will show how this quite radical theory applies universally both to cultures around the world and to geophysics and mountain landscapes. No less.