Mountain Heritage Trust is pleased to report that a DVD copy of the long lost Stanley Watson film High Hazard will soon be added to its archive collection.

Stanley Watson is a keystone in the history of British climbing.  He established the British Mountain Guides organisation in 1930.  In 1934, Watson made High Hazard - a film about climbing in the Lakes in which Norah Johnstone, a teacher at Keswick Grammar School and later Watson's wife, starred as a Victorian climber.  The film includes footage of Stanley Watson himself climbing Kern Knotts blindfolded and a young girl, Vivian Verity, whose first climb at aged 9 was up Napes Needle.

It was thought that the film was lost, but it has now surfaced, thanks to the keen eye of Matthew Entwistle.  The film and items from the Stanley Watson collection will be featured in an exhibition at the Lake District Visitor Centre, Brockhole from 14 July to 21 September 2008.

Maxine Willett, MHT archivist, explained the significance of the find: "I'm very excited that this has been found. It's another piece helping to complete the jigsaw of the Stanley Watson collection and of Lakeland climbing as a whole. You may remember that this collection had been saved from a skip a few years ago but the film was nowhere to be seen, only references to it amongst the papers and photographs. You'll see by watching the film that it deserves the longterm preservation it will get from being in the MHT archive.  There's another missing Stanley Watson film out there called Skye High.  This would also be a fantastic addition for the collection, so if anyone knows the whereabouts of a copy then please get in touch with me at maxine@mountain-heritage.org."

Search the Mountain Heritage Trust archive for more on the Stanley Watson collection.

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