Outer Edge Magazine

Back in 1968, Yvon Chouinard (the bloke who set up Patagonia and Black Diamond Equipment), his buddy Doug Tompkins (the guy who founded The North Face), along with friends Dick Dorworth and Lito Tejada-Flores, grabbed their surf boards and climbing gear, and set off south, with no particular mission in mind other than living free and enjoying themselves. They ended up in Patagonia, and Doug found his way to the top of a peak called Cerro Corcovado. After the trip came to an end, the drifters grew up, built businesses on the foundation of their dreams and watched (somewhat baffled, apparently) as their bank accounts swelled. And there the story might have ended, except the lads made a VHS film about their journey, Mountain of Storms, which was unearthed from a dusty vault by Patagonia employee Amy Kumler three decades later. She showed this film to her friend Jeff Johnson, who – inspired by the philosophy of Chouinard and Tompkins – subsequently set off south on his own journey of discovery and enlightenment. (Interestingly, the first reaction of Johnson and Chris Malloy, – director of 180° South – after they saw the footage, was to come to Australia, to climb at Arapiles and surf along the coast.) During Johnson’s odyssey he gets shipwrecked on Easter Island – where he picks up a local chick and surfs the longest wave of his life – meets up with mates like celebrity climber Timmy O’Neill and hirsute surfer Keith Malloy, and catches up with his heroes in Chile (where Tompkins now runs a series of land-conservation projects). While this is a footloose film about following your dreams and to hell with everything else, it’s kept in focus by one dramatic imperative that rumbles throughout: Johnson wants to have a crack at Cerro Corcovado, but he’s running out of time and doesn’t know what he’s doing on ice… It’s all so cool you could chill a year’s beers simply by leaving this DVD in your esky. So what’s that nagging feeling at the back of your brain. Oh yeah, that’s it, you’ve got work tomorrow. Or have you…?
We give this: 4 ½ out of 5 big excited whoops

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magpictures.com.au
Directed by Chris Malloy
$29.95