Apologies for the months of radio silence…but we have been very busy bees! Well, as I mentioned previously, Tarka had a brainwave 12 months ago, and decided we should take a break for expeditions and create a TV channel to benefit independent filmmakers!!!

We initially looked at standard television channels, but the cost was astronomical and limited us to the UK, so we then looked online! But online we found all video sites to be plagued with the same problems. In our opinion, great films are not made to be viewed the size of a postcard on a crowded and busy web page, nor catalogued away in a never-ending archive, never to be found again. If you want to know how to deliver film we think you need to look at the experts; TV and cinema. So we set about taking drastic measures to completely redefine viewing film online, by converging TV, Internet video and film festival with the latest in cloud and streaming technologies. It has without doubt been the most difficult challenge we have ever taken on and makes the Southern Patagonian Icecap suddenly feel very inviting!

In a nutshell our new platform, www.itzon.tv, provides film lovers with a huge range of independent films, documentaries and animations from around the world all scheduled into a linear stream. Providing a full-screen, high-definition ‘TV’ experience, available through an Internet browser or Internet-ready TV. And the best bit? It’s FREE!

itzon showcases an eclectic mix of films from all genres, but even if your not an indie film festival goer im pretty sure there will still be stuff you just might like!!! Every week there will be a selection of great adventure, travel and sports films you bound to enjoy. itzon is currently in BETA testing phase, launching our first months festival on the 18th May, when you will be able to catch:

Ten – A Cameraman’s tale: Ski/snowboard freeride documentary, and an insight into the world of freeride through the lens of cameraman Guido Perrini.

Single-Handed: Kevin Shields is known as the one handed climber.  Born with most of his left hand missing Kevin has shocked the climbing world.

Chalk and Chocolate: This beautiful film is of one of the best climbers in the world Natalija Gros, climbing one of the most challenging verticals in Slovenia: Histerija (8c+)

Into Darkness: The secret underworld of caves. Journey with cavers who push through impossibly small passages to some of the final frontiers on earth.

A Fine Line: A cinematic journey that unites the leading edge of winter action sports with avalanche education and responsible backcountry usage.

African Odyssey: A grass roots adventure at its best, 4 ordinary guys, 4 very ordinary motorbikes ride 21,000 km from Capetown to London.

Ascending the Giants: An insight into what motivates the arborists who climb the largest trees on the planet!

The Great Walk of China: our film…for those of you who haven’t yet seen it!

And many more!

You can just arrive and watch what’s playing now, browse the programme guide and digital magazine to see what’s on when, use the itzon Demand catch up service to watch anything you’ve missed and vote on the films as part of the monthly festival competition.

Shameless pleading but…Please spread the word about itzon to everyone you know!! Thank you

(Link to demo vid if you wanted something to embed http://www.youtube.com/user/itzontv#p/u/4/Dz56WUix0kQ )

We are so sorry for the lack of updates since we returned, we truly haven’t stopped. We have been here, there and everywhere giving talks, interviews to the press and TV, sorting footage and visiting sponsors etc.

We have had brilliant press coverage since our return, which amazingly is still coming! Our first film ‘The Great Walk of China’ was shown at the Dijon International Film Festival last month and will be showing at Dundee Mountain Film Festival next week and Autrans Mountain Film Festival the week after that. We will both be speaking at Kendal Mountain Festival this Friday about the Rivers of Ice expedition for the very time, at 11.30 in the Parish Hall.

For anyone who hadn’t been following the Rivers of Ice expedition there is a very brief summary below;

From the Jorge Montt glacier we made great progress across the ice cap for 25 days. We successfully traversed one of the world´s harshest environments before reaching the most notorious section of the journey two-thirds of the way in. Tent-bound for 5 days in winds of up to 60 knots, we waited for a suitable weather window: we knew the next technically demanding section could not be attempted without good visibility. At this point, the tent suffered a critical failure leaving us to erect a survival shelter as quickly as possible from what remained of the tent.

Despite having multiple exit strategies along the ice cap none were in range without a fully functioning tent. So despite being aware of the difficulty of descending the Spegazzini glacier, we calculated that it offered the best chance ofsurvival due to its close proximity. In total, we spent 5 nights in makeshift shelters as we slowly negotiated the descent from the ice cap via the glacier in storm conditions. We had hoped to leave as we had arrived, by boat, however the unstable nature of the glacier mouth made it unsafe for a boat to collect us. Subsequently, the El Calafelet 42 division of the Argentinian Gendarmarie were called to provide a safe pick up by helicopter. We spent one night in hospital as a precautionary measure and were discharged with mild frostbite to the toes and snow blindness.

Alhough we did not accomplish our ultimate objective of a full crossing, we did successfully achieve the longest crossing of the Southern Patagonian Ice by a British team as well as the longest ever crossing by a woman. We still believe our fast and light approach is an effective way to complete a full unsupported crossing and will be heading back next year for ‘take 2′.