FILMS
The latest expedition of Montanus duo transports us in one of the most isolated and little-known continental fragments on Earth. Socotra island lies in Indian Ocean between the Horn of Africa and Arabian Peninsula and it is home for surreal endemic flora and fauna. ‘Socotra’ is a short film that follows them in the exploration of this remote and alien-looking land.
In our latest bikepacking trip we explored one of the most incredible place on Earth, a stretch of prehistoric land enclosed between Pacific Ocean and the Chilean Andes, following the eastern side of Ring of Fire. ‘Cordillera de Fuego’ is a short film that captures the essence of a self-supported 500km adventure that we lived in the shadows of snow-capped volcanos and ancient araucaria forests.
Riding a bike is something special. It’s a way to have fun. Escape. It can provide time for inner reflection if you ride alone or it can be an experience shared with friends. Multi-day bikepacking trips give us the possibility to amplify all these aspects by spending more time outdoor. Every single trip is a series of unique moments that you preserve in your mind until you recall them. Maybe it’s over a beer with friends many years after. In November 2013 we planned to have a 2 day trip on the mountains of Abruzzo spending the night in a tiny mountain hut at 1900 meters above sea level. At that time we had no idea what the word ‘bikepacking’ meant and we rode 26” enduro bikes carrying camping paraphernalia into huge backpacks. That incredible adventure marked the birth of Montanus project. We decided to ride again that route on November 2021. 8 years later, the memory of that overnighter is still so vivid that it continues to feed the urge to explore wild and remote places.
'Second Wind' recounts the story of first bikepacking trip of Montanus following the restrictions of the winter lockdown. An escape into the wilderness as the pandemic loses its grip, it presents an opportunity to once again breathe in the rejuvenating spring air. A return to the mountains... dive deep into Nature, and wash your spirit clean.
BEE WILD BEE FREE Sometimes your bike lead you to discover new and wild places, other times it can give you more. We explored the process that brought us closer to Nature finding out how bikepacking and beekeeping played a significant role in our environmental consciousness. ‘Bee Wild Bee Free’ is the small contribution of Montanus to raising awareness about the importance of honey bees for mankind and for planet’s ecosystems.
We recently rediscovered on an old trail that we used to ride on a regular basis, especially while training during lunch breaks in the weeks leading up to an upcoming bikepacking trip. Over the years, wind and snow have broken branches and even uprooted trees, impeding the swooping singletrack that crosses the coniferous forest. So we decided to clear out the trail, and in doing so noticed that some of the fallen trees held abandoned bird nests. All the while the recognizable sound of the woodpecker at work could be heard in the distance. It was then that the idea was born to “recycle” some of these conifers and create birdhouses with them, letting the rest of the logs follow their natural cycle as humus. Things got even more interesting since Giorgio creates handmade wooden products in his spare time (@saturn_woodturning), and immediately saw the possibility of building the birdhouses by turning the logs gathered while clearing the path. In addition to the idea being creatively stimulating, this project became a small token of gratitude and appreciation to the environment through which the trail passes. Now we ride there almost every day, waiting for spring to see if the birdhouses will host some broods.
‘The Wolf’s Lair’ is a 400 km bikepacking route that winds through medieval castles, alpine scenarios and ancient italian villages in the Apennines mountains. The Montanus duo traced that route in 2016, after they felt the need to explore deeper Abruzzo region to learn more about their culture and origins. Giorgio and Francesco are back on The Wolf’s Lair to film the experience and show the hidden beauties that fascinated them three years before.
We created a sort of tribute in honor of our own land, filming the backyard trails that link our hometown L’Aquila, in central Italy, with the massif of Gran Sasso d’Italia, where highest peaks of Apennine mountains are located. In this mountain enviromental we started appreciating wilderness and developing the outdoor skills that has allowed us to travel and explore remote and wild lands. ‘Home Wild Home’ is more than a bikepacking film, it’s a sign of gratitude to our own land and an encouragement to the recovery of L’Aquila, hit by a devastating earthquake 10 years ago.
Just below the Arctic Circle, situated between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, a remote land emerges from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, dominated by huge glaciers, ashen deserts, and mighty lava structures. Here, along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that crosses the island, the incessant work of fire and ice traced a route that runs through a world of immeasurable desolation and enthralling beauty.
Patagón is the video that tells the adventure of Montanus during the bike and packraft exploration of a remote area of southern Patagonia, where, between the Austral Andes and the huge glacial lakes, the traditional Argentine culture of the gauchos still survives.
The endless and arid steppe, the wonderful and jagged peaks of the Andes, the huge fresh water basins with their incredible colors, the awesome glaciers that fall into the deep depressions of the Cordillera, the extreme and changing wheather conditions, the incessant and exhausting wind, make Patagonia one of the few place in the world able to convey the feeling of being on the edge of the Earth. A slight and lonely stretching of the South American continent, conditioned by the turbulent intersection of two oceans, located in the southern hemisphere where medieval imagination has positioned monsters and fantastic creatures. “Patagón" is the name by which Ferdinand Magellan called the natives of that region, which in his eyes appeared as giants, dressed in animal skins and raw meat devourers, accosting them to the figure of "Gran Patagón", a huge wild creature of whom he read about in a chivalric novel at the time. Patagonia is still a "wild creature", where the guanacos, the pumas, the Andean condors, the flamingoes, the crested caracara and other species populating it share this boundless land with the Gaucho, proud guardians of a ancient rural culture.
Almost five centuries after the voyage of the portuguese explorer, the "Tierra de Gigantes" keeps alive the call of its wild lands, fueling the desire for exploration in one of the most beautiful and remote corners of the planet.
Tramontana [tramonˈtaːna] it’s a cold and dry wind blowing from the north Europe towards Italy, carrying snow and frigid temperature. In ancient times the Latin word trānsmontānus (trāns- + montānus) indicated what was beyond the mountains, unknown, barbaric and dangerous. “Tramontana” is a journey through human ancestral fears and primordial virtues of the fire, the natural element that, since the dawn of time, allowed it to defeat the dark, the cold, the isolation and the wild beasts. A tribute to the human wild side that gets lost in the origins of our story.
Location: Gran Sasso plateau, Abruzzo, Italy.
The call of the mountain is even stronger during winter, when the snow breaks the tree-tops and the cold weather freezes the bones. During this time, when most people put their bike to rest, an adventure between two Italian buddies began.
They aimed to search for the COLD VEIN, that vein which come back to pulsate in the winter wilderness.
This was an experience that brought Giorgio and Francesco to find more than what they were searching for.
A journey through their own limits, where what is important, is not the width of the tires but the extent of the horizons.
