Watch Road to Slipstream, a Film Set in the Canadian Rockies

The 2014 film, Road to Slipstream is about an encounter between three new-to-the-Rockies climbers and three experienced alpinists.

In 2013, Martin Lesperance wanted to make a film about inexperienced climbers meeting experienced climbers and the dynamics between them.

After bringing director Tracey Jacobson on board, Lesparance’s dream started to take shape. Tracey invited Gripped’s editor Brandon Pullan to help write the story and in the end, Pullan was cast as the lead role.

Road to Slipstream is about three young climbers who thought they could travel to the Rockies and casually climb the classic kilometre-high WI4 alpine ice route known as Slipstream.

Along the way, they meet Jim Elzinga, Margo Talbot and Steve Swenson and while the three young climbers are playing fictional characters, the three experienced are playing themselves.

Elzinga made the first ascent of Slipstream with John Lauchlan and after the 1979 climb, he went on to become one of Canada’s leading expedition climbers. Lauchlan died on the ice climb Polar Circus in 1982 from an avalanche.

Steve Swenson is one of America’s most experienced alpinists and Margo Talbot has long been a leading Canadian ice climber. In 2011, Talbot wrote the popular book All That Glitters, which is highly recommended.

The film was shot in less than a week in the spring of 2014 and has been screened in Canmore twice and is a production of Namaste Films.

Road to Slipstream from Road to Slipstream on Vimeo.