Christmas Cracker Seven - Set In Stone

Number Seven: Set In Stone

When the wind's whistling outside, the in-laws are snoring on the sofa and you really can't face The Great Escape for the 400th time, reach for the latest award-winning DVD from the Alastair Lee / David Halsted stable.

It's almost a forgone conclusion that Lee and Halsted willl win the People's Choice award at Kendal and sure enough, Set In Stone romped away with this year's prize following in the footsteps of Twice Upon A Time in Bolivia and last year's cracking Storms - The Movie. It also went a step further by winning Best Climbing Film at the festival.

The film is a look at Lakeland climber Dave Birkett's life and routes and, like all the duo's films, it's a breath of fresh air in a genre that specialises in extraordinarily dull, cliquey ego-vehicles. It's a fantastic mix of breathtaking climbing sequences in astonishing landscapes interspersed with artless comment from Birkett's friends and family and, in classic Lee/Halsted style, some hilarious computer animation.

Don't miss the ridiculous but effective animated summary of Birkett's background or the revealing sheep-rescue sequence. We could go on and on, but this is a lovely, intimate look at one of the world's best traditional climbers that strips away all the ego nonsense and puts a smile on your face. Never dull, always watchable. A great addition to any mountain person's Christmas list.

Priced at £18.99 and available online from the Posing Productions web site at www.posingproductions.com where you can also download a teaser.

Also well worth a look are Twice Upon A Time In Bolivia, a thoroughly entertaining look at real people climbing in the Andes and the hilarious climbing sketch film, Storms - The Movie. Also available from Al's web site.