Daniela Jasper-Klindt

The Jaspers, are almost a normal family. The Jaspers are Robert and Daniela, their children Stephan and Amelie and the Tibetan Terrier Denga. They would go through everyday life as a normal family if it weren't for the past and the present. If it weren't for these abysses. Robert Jasper is an extreme mountaineer, still one of the best in the world. In his film 'Die Jaspers - eine Familie am Abgrund', SWR filmmaker Andreas Köstler paints a portrait of a family for whom the unknown on the mountain has a very special charm, without their blue-eyed, life-threatening adventures.

Mixed climbing, that is on ice and rocks, is one of the most adventurous techniques of climbing and it holds a strong attraction for Robert Jasper, one of the best mountaineers in the world. He has done some of the most difficult climbs in the Alps, the fastest climb of Cerro Torre in Patagonia, sports climbs up to grade 10 and expeditions to various mountains in the world. Daniela, his companion on the mountains and in life, seems to be at her ease in the most difficult climbs and in the ice gorges. In winter 1997/98 Robert and his wife managed, in Wallis, to complete a mixed climb of four lenghts of rope called the ' Flying Circus', one of the most difficult routes in the world and so severe that the Jaspers could claim a new grade of difficultty.

This is a look behind the scenes at the making of the Imax movie 'The Alps' and delves in to the detail of moments in the film as well as preparation for shooting on the mountain. There are interviews with producers, the director, editor, and the principles of the film who share stories of the making of the film. Featuring some of the most spectacular giant screen imagery ever seen – captured by intrepid helicopter and mountaineering crews – the making of The Alps was a vastly ambitious undertaking that involved a team made up of climbing luminaries, hardy mountain guides and award-winning nature cinematographers.

In 1966, John Harlin II died while attempting Europe's most difficult climb, the North Face of the Eiger in Switzerland. 40 years later, his son John Harlin III, an expert mountaineer and editor of the American Alpine Journal, returns to attempt the same climb. Against a backdrop of overwhelming natural beauty, The Alps is a true-life story of extraordinary courage. It's the intensely personal journey of a man who has every reason not to climb the deadly Eiger North Face, yet climb it he must. Featuring some of the most spectacular IMAX imagery yet seen, the film celebrates the unsurpassed beauty of the Alps and the indomitable spirit of the people who climb there.

Robert Jasper is an elite mountaineer. No other climber in the world is in such high standards of performance in all varieties of alpinism. His hobby is ice climbing. In the film he takes us through all the stages of his ice climbing career. From the ascent of the NE wall of the 4,099 meter high Monch to the frozen couloirs in the Mont Blanc massif, to the extreme ice climbing. We accompany him to Chamonix, the Basler Jura and to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. We see him in 'Nuit Blanche WI 6' in Argentiere, the most difficult icefall in the Alps. This is a film about personal peak experiences.