I previewed a film trailer last week about the upcoming Banff Festival of mountain films (to be held Feb. 16-18) and the spirit of adventure it imparted was with me as I packed for a weekend trip to Rockwood to celebrate a friend’s birthday atop Mount Kineo.

You’ll find more on the Banff films below. Meanwhile, let me tell you about a winter outing that’ll get your heart pumping.

The peak of Mount Kineo stands only 800 feet above the surface of Moosehead Lake, according to the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer. But it’s a dramatic, imposing 800 feet when you’re standing at the base looking up.

From its southern side, the sheet cliffs are humbling. It’s not hard to imagine the respect American Indians gave the mountain that for them was a source of valued flint. They named the mountain after the harsh Chief Kineo, expelled from his tribe for his cruelty.

It was with some trepidation that I found myself standing at the mountain’s base Saturday, asking why I’d been so quick to say yes when the suggestion was made a month ago to climb the landmark. I’d not hiked it in warmer weather, so why, I asked myself, was I strapping on my snowshoes and preparing to do so now?

Because, I reminded myself, a good friend, Karen Francoeur, was celebrating a landmark of her own, and she had it in her mind that an assault on Kineo was an awesome way to note the passing of 40 years.

So at 1 p.m. after a rousing chorus or two of “Happy Birthday” four friends – our kayaking klatch – began a rigorous assault on Indian Trail. The paddlers-turned-mountaineers included Scott Anchors, Robert Causey, Francoeur and me. Our guide for the trip was Francoeur’s 14-year-old son Ryan, who piloted our support vehicle, a snowmobile, to the base.

We decided Indian Trail was the way to go. Besides, it’s the first trail you come to if you start from the developed southern end of the Kineo peninsula. A blue arrow on an exposed rock confirmed to us that we’d reached the trailhead near shore, so we were off.

There are blue blazes on trees marking the route up, straight up. It took us a few restarts to find the second blaze, and then some disbelief after that. “Naw,” I thought, “It can’t be straight up there. There’s gotta be another blaze off to one side.”

We clawed our way up, often taking two slides backward for a half step forward. I found that trying to kick steps into the snow with snowshoes on my boots was sometimes effective, other times futile. The best traction I could find at times was the head of a boulder under the snow. Claws on the snowshoes hold pretty well on them. Hiking poles often provided the only other means of traction.

The trail follows the profile of the cliff face, providing numerous scenic vistas as you gain altitude. The views are stunning, and, as you gain elevation, the buzzing of snowmobiles on the lake below fades away.

But this pleasure doesn’t come without pain. It’s not an easy hike in the winter. It took us nearly two hours to reach the intersection of Bridle Trail, which snowmobiles had used. This trail, I told myself, was our way down, and probably should have been our way up.

From this intersection to the peak, it’s four-tenths of a mile through woods to the base of a steel observation tower. Climbing its metal grate steps is a must if you want to see the views above the surrounding trees. We ditched the snowshoes and climbed the metal grate steps to the platform.

What a view! To the northeast are Little Kineo, Lilly Bay and Big and Little Spencer mountains; to the southeast is Blue Ridge, to the south lies Big Squaw Mountain, and to the west lies Boundary Bald Mountain. The expanse of Moosehead Lake provides the foreground while Brassua Lake lies to the west.

We broke out our stoves and heated water for soup and hot cocoa to ward off the chill, then started our descent. After returning to the intersection of Indian and Bridle trails, we opted to descend Bridle since the day was getting short and the snowmobile tracks promised us the trail was by no means steeper than Indian Trail.

It was a downhill cakewalk. When we reached the shore, we only were two-tenths of a mile from the base of Indian Trail where we’d left our skis. Then it was off across the lake into the brilliant pinks of the sunset, back to our cabin in Rockwood to join the rest of our family and friends. The birthday celebration would continue into the night.

If you’ve been to the Banff Festival of Mountain Films in Bangor and Ellsworth in years past, you probably already are anticipating this year’s films. If you haven’t attended the film festival, mark your calendar and plan to attend on Feb.16 in Bangor, and Feb. 17-18 in Ellsworth. You won’t be disappointed.

For the uninitiated, the film festival is a selection of short cinematic presentations in celebration of mountain culture and outdoor adventure. For a $7 advance ($8 at the door) ticket, you have the pleasure of seeing a little more than two hours of this year’s selected films from the famous Banff Mountain Film Festival, which for 25 years has been celebrating the spirit of adventure and the mountain environment.

Each November, the world’s best films with mountain themes draw an international audience to Banff, Alberta, Canada, where they are viewed and judged over a three-day period. A jury determines the best films and awards prizes in eight categories and audience members decide the winner of the People’s Choice Award.

T he best of the best are picked to be sent on tour throughout North America, Europe, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Chile and Iceland. This is the 14th year that the best films have been selected to take on tour. This will be the fourth year of the tour for Bangor audiences, and the sixth year for Ellsworth. Cadillac Mountain Sports is the host again this year.

Bangor store owner Brad Ryder attended this year’s Banff Film Festival in Alberta and told me this year’s winners all are great He won’t know until closer to the time of the show exactly what titles will be shown locally. Bangor’s films, at the Opera House, will be a mix of culture and adventure, while the Ellsworth shows at The Grand Auditorium are divided – Saturday, Feb. 17, for mountain culture, and Sunday, Feb. 18, for mountain sports.

This year’s tour will feature one “retro” film, judged best film on mountain culture and the People’s Choice Award-winner from 1994: “He Dances for His Cormorants.” This is a film about Zong Man, considered the best fisherman on the Lijiang River. He has 12 cormorants that are trained to catch the biggest fish in the river.

Ryder gave me a preview video of this year’s highlights and the snippet included on this film (which runs 26 minutes) piqued my curiosity. Ryder said it’s an interesting cultural film.

The rest of the offerings will be from the most recent festival.

One possibility is “Wheel Women,” women mountain bikers, filmed on Vancouver’s North Shore and British Columbia’s interior. From the intro film, it looks like a great selection of highly charged downhill racing scenes. “Posse of Women,” a seven-minute film on four West Coast mountain bikers, also promises high energy.

“Wild Climbs: Czech Repub,” is a 30-minute film about Andy Cave and Leo Houlding, two internationally known British climbers who are featured climbing the sandstone towers of the Czech Republic. Ryder said he thought the 30-minute film was a good one.

If play boats are your cup of tea, “Wicked Liquid II – 1,000 Cunning Stunts” should be interesting. The trailer I saw was intriguing. The film features kayaking on the White Nile in Uganda, gnarly creek runs from South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland and footage shot on the Zambezi River. Ryder said the language is a little rough but the action is nonstop.

Y2sKi” should please even the nonskier. The excerpt I saw in the trailer features a deep powder sequence in slow motion that’s pure poetry. “Skilletto” is a high-energy, mountain-biking film (four minutes) that’s pretty good, Ryder said.

“A Higher Calling,” the story of six friends whose goal is to fly across western Nepal by para-gliders, is another one where the filming is wonderful. It’s also featured in the trailer. Of the 45-minute movie, Ryder said, “I really liked it. I thought it should have been judged best of the festival.” It won the People’s Choice Award.

For more information on the film festival, call Cadillac Mountain Sports at 941-5670 (Bangor), 667-7819 (Ellsworth) or 288-4532.

Jeff Strout’s column is published on Thursdays. He can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.