Lahoris got the taste of an alternate adventurous life during the 1st Pakistan International Mountain Film Festival (PIMFF), held recently at Alhamra Arts Council. They got the chance to chat with local -- mostly unsung -- heroes who had climbed Mount Everest and K2. They also watched documentaries about high altitude porters, paragliding and the cultures of indigenous populations in mountainous regions.

Reportedly, about five hundred documentaries were submitted at the PIMFF, from over 80 countries around the world, out of which 32 were selected to be screened. Along with the screenings, a gallery of paintings and photographs of mountains as well as discussion panels were also going on. This was the first time that the festival was held in Pakistan; previously, Nepal had hosted such an event.

The visitors appreciated how the festival showed them a new side to mountaineering. A family even stated they had decided to spend their weekend at the event because it would give "our kids exposure to different experiences." Their teenage son, named Masbook, even said that their trips to Murree, Gilgit and Naran had ignited his interest in hiking and now he was eager to perfect his skills.

Several visitors hailed from cities like Faisalabad and Jhelum. Some of them said they had learnt about the event through social media, newspapers and their family members.

The delegates at the PIMFF included filmmakers, directors of other mountain film festivals of the world, adventurers and travel writers from Pakistan as well as abroad.

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There was positive energy in the air. Patriotic songs played in the background as the visiting public pored over the festival schedule, deciding which documentary screening or panel discussion to attend. Others milled around, enjoying the ambience.

Budding mountaineers were spotted around high altitude porters such as Hassan Sadpara, the first Pakistani to have climbed Mt. Everest, K2, Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak, G-1 and G-2, all without any oxygen kit; and Hassan Jan who climbed K2 and the other eight tallest peaks in Pakistan. They shared notes on the kind of money and skills involved.

When quizzed, Nouman, a student of FC College, a frequent mountaineer and also the author of an e-book on trekking, bemoaned the lack of training centres in Lahore.

On the other hand, Hassan Jan told the harrowing tale of how he lost his fingers of his right hand to frostbite, "During an expedition in 2009, my glove fell off as I was tying a knot. That was all it took for us to become frostbitten. We were exposed to the air for about five minutes. I did not have a spare glove but I had an extra sock which I pulled onto my hand. I was with the Korean expedition then."

Despite the hardships and risks involved, he described mountaineering as "addictive."

When asked for details about their adventures, the high altitude porters started to grieve over the lack of support from the government. They said that they were always short of funds and rarely got appreciation.

"Of course, I’ve seen people slip and plunge to their deaths right in front of me. We need to remember that mountain is our mother," Jan said.

"If you climb mountains, you need to have the mental power to not let any accident affect you," he added. "Luckily, I have never slipped. My friend Ghulam Mehdi and I are already planning to go on a climbing trip to G-1 along with Zaamin Ali and Ali Rozee. If we reach the summit, we will dedicate our expedition to the victims of the Peshawar massacre which happened in December."

All told, the most watched documentary at the festival was K-2 & The Invisible Footmen. The film depicts the hard lives of most porters who need to earn enough money during the warm climbing season in order to get through the bitter cold winter months. They accompany foreign mountaineers who have expensive equipment and clothes while wearing second-hand boots themselves. For shockingly low ages, they carry back-breaking weights: at most, they will only earn a couple of thousand rupees. Although the weight limit is 16 kg till Camp 3 on K2, many porters carry 20-25 kg, while some even carry up to 30 kg. Despite the fact that they climb the mountains under much harder conditions than the expeditioners do, they receive only a fraction of the accolades.

When the documentary was played on the first night of the festival, the hall was completely full; some in the audience had perched themselves on the stairs. Outside, many attendees, hopeful of watching the documentary, waited for a makeshift screen to be put up for them.

Owing to its popularity, K-2 & The Invisible Footmen was played again the next morning, before a packed hall. In the evening, the porters wowed the audience with their tales during a panel discussion. Many of the attendees crowded around them afterwards to get selfies and pictures.

Talking to TNS, Maryam Cheema, Festival Director, PIMFF, and Wajahat Malik, Managing Director, Eyebex Films, and Chairman PIMFF, said the porters were extremely eager to come to Lahore as most of their work had never received any attention before.

They also mentioned the difficulty in contacting these people because some of them were already in the middle of expeditions and others had taken their livestock for grazing and could not be reached.

However, both expressed great satisfaction at the way the festival had been received and the attention it got.

Cheema hoped to continue the momentum through a travelling festival that would be displayed in different cities including Gilgit, Islamabad and parts of Sindh.

PIMFF was a joint venture of Eyebex Films and the Punjab government. The Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab (TDCP), City District Government Lahore (CDGL) and Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) executed the project.