Kendal Winner, PSYCHE, Reviewed

Alastair Lee has just emerged from yet another Kendal Film Festival with his winning streak in tact - albeit by the skin of his teeth - after his latest climbing venture, Psyche, nosed ahead of The Beckoning Silence in the 2007 People's Choice film award. The margin between the two was only four votes and as we haven't seen The Beckoning Silence yet we can't say whether that's generous or downright stingy. But there's one thing we can be sure of; Psyche's a cracking film.Al introduced the screening as “a trilogy” adding, “doesn't that sound hideous?” But however Hollywoodesque the sound, it allowed him to bring together the best - and worst (think rain, blizzards, and holds that are just out of reach) - of three completely different climbing disciplines: sport, ice and trad.

Whether you get your kick out of shivering it out in a snow hole, searching for the next cam placement, or climbing to crimpy limestone with a reassuring metal bolt only a foot away, Psyche's well worth a viewing.

The first section follows Steve McClure up big overhanging limestone routes on Kilnsey Crag and Malham Cove. For viewers with anything less than perfect vision, we should give you a bit of a health warning at this point. Magnifying equipment is almost definitely required to see any of the holds that Steve's pulling on and the commentary doesn't help much either. Remarks like “it's not that bad” are the standard fare, whether the hold in question is half a millimetre wide or - luxury of luxuries - a millimetre and a half. And we're not even exaggerating that badly. Impressive stuff.

Next up are Andy Kirkpatrick and Ian Parnell attempting the first winter ascent of Torre Egger in Patagonia. The weather may have fallen apart on the pair, but Kirkpatrick's humour definitely didn't crack, even after three nights lying in an increasingly waterlogged snow hole with a storm raging outside.

If you want to see Andy in 'crevasse poodle' mode - or to hear the world's most obscure definition of slacklining - then there are worse places to start.

And if that's not enough, the final section of the, erm, 'trilogy', takes us to Skye in the able company of Dave Birkett. After Set in Stone, also featuring Dave, won last year's People's Choice, Award we had high expectations of this section and if the film let us down at any point it was here. It would have been nice to see a bit more footage of the climb itself and the Cuillin range but that's the only criticism we can find. Dave's as entertaining as ever; Skye's as stunning as ever - yes, even in the famously glorious summer of 2007! - and all in all it rounded Psyche off nicely.

If all that sounds tempting, you can now buy the DVD from the Posing Productions website for £19.99 and if your appetite needs a little more whetting, there are free downloadable clips from each of the three sections to convince you.

Congratulations to Alistair Lee and everyone else involved for serving out another appetising meal of chalk, sweat, cracking scenery, and adrenaline by the bucket load.

Now the only question is: what's next year's venture?!