El Capitan and the appeal by filmmaker Fred Padula

American filmmaker Fred Padula has launched an appeal to raise funds to digitally restore the classic, award winning climbing film El Capitan.

One of the world's most famous climbing films, El Capitan by Fred Padula, needs a face lift! Filmed in 1968, this classic flick follows Gary Colliver, Richard McCracken, Lito Tejada-Flores and Glen Denny during a three-day full immersion up the immense The Nose in Yosemite Valley and over time El Capitan has become a true classic of its kind, defined by many as the best climbing film of all times. But almost 45 years have passed and the original 16mm film urgently needs restoring. To deal with the immense work of digitalising and cleaning each of the 86,000 frames the filmmaker has now launched an appeal online to raise the necessary funds - at least $25,0000 - and even if this minimum goal has already been reached, time is running out and every additional dollar will go a long way in restoring this film to its former glory. Which netted the Grand Prize at the Trento Film Festival and the Banff Film Festival Grand Prize, to name but two of the most important awards. Here's the appeal by Fred Padula and the comparison of some frames, before and after the lifting!

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ROUTE TOPO: The Nose, El Capitan, Yosemite