From base-jumping to public speaking, Queenstown's Chuck Berry goes places others fear to tread, writes Shane Gilchrist.
Queenstown adventurer Chuck Berry suggests having a film made about his everyday activities is a little bit surreal. Certainly, few would argue a life that regularly involves jumping off cliffs in the middle of nowhere is just that. Surreal. Yet, to Berry, it all seems so perfectly ... normal.
The one and only star (scenery notwithstanding) of Auckland auteur Jon Forder's Airborne, The Life Of Chuck Berry, which screens at the forthcoming New Zealand Mountain Film Festival in Wanaka and Queenstown, Berry opens the documentary with the words, "I wasn't interested in growing up".
However, he insists the process of fulfilling childhood fantasies has nothing to do with being gung-ho.
"That's the biggest misconception I deal with," says the 45-year-old who, having first leapt out of a plane in 1984 at the age of 17, has amassed more than 6000 skydives and has since spread his wings to other on-the-edge pursuits, including base-jumping and flying with a wing-suit.
"People think I'm crazy. But you have to be really sensible to do the things I do - even if they might seem crazy from the outside," Berry says.
"People often think skydivers are yahoos, but they are some of the most sensible people I've met.
"One of the big things I've learned though skydiving is the importance of taking responsibility for myself. You have to keep yourself alive and also make sure you don't kill anyone else."
Airborne primarily documents Berry's latest project, a three-year effort to build a high-altitude microlight in his garage near Queenstown. Although he built the aircraft with an eye to identifying potential base-jumping sites in the back country, Berry has put the tiny two-seater to other uses.
One scene has him touching down at Martins Bay on the West Coast, then diving for a feed of crayfish. Able to land (and take off) on strips no longer than 100m, the aircraft has taken him other places, too.
"It really does open up beaches, farmers' fields, crop-dusting landing strips ... I've landed on a paddock in front of the house, on a friend's lawn in Wanaka. It's a great utility.
"It's beautiful flying around New Zealand, going to places you've never been before, or sitting down looking at a map and planning a trip. I'd like to fly around New Zealand in my plane. I haven't been to the North Island in it yet, though I've seen a fair bit of the South Island. I'm considering fitting some long-range fuel tanks so I can go further afield."
Again, Berry's latest challenge had more than a hint of childhood dream about it.
"Ever since I was a kid I'd been making model aircraft. I'd always imagined making a model big enough for me to sit in."
It helps that Berry has more than a few skills in this regard.
Born in Palmerston North, raised in Foxton before moving to Christchurch just before starting primary school, he left high school to take up an apprenticeship as an aircraft engineer in 1985, working for Air New Zealand for nine years.
"That is actually a big part of what I do now - that philosophy of 100% excellence, which is the only level you can aspire to in aircraft engineering. Once I learned that, I've applied it to everything else I do. If you do something properly, then you never have to go back and fix anything.
"Things like base-jumping, well, you get one crack at doing it properly," muses Berry, who moved to Queenstown in 1994 to become a professional skydiver.
"I'd visited Queenstown to do a parachuting display and caught up with a friend who, like me, was a member of the New Zealand parachuting team. He talked me into shifting there.
"It was one of the hardest decisions I've made, but it boiled down to one question: would I regret not doing it? As soon as I thought about that I packed up my possessions and moved."
Having signed an endorsement deal with energy drink producer Red Bull in the late 1990s, Berry has several income streams. Given his preference for activities that leave others paralysed with fear, his favourite job shouldn't come as any surprise: public speaking.
"I do a lot of different things these days. The biggest is doing motivational speeches. It's something I've grown to love over the past few years. I feel like I'm making a difference when I'm talking to a group, explaining the hows and whys of my adventuring.
"By the time I've finished they can see where I'm coming from. I try to give people the idea that they can get beyond their own barriers."
Clearly, being able to deal with fear, to identify its sources then rationalise its effects, is a strategy that has enabled Berry to step where others might not. The key, he says, is not letting fear get in the way of fulfilment.
"You need to identify what's a real fear and what's a perceived fear; it's about breaking down those barriers to achieve your goals.
"I think as you grow up you end up inheriting the fears of those around you - 'don't do that, it's dangerous'. You need to ask, is it something you should be scared of, or is it something you've inherited from society?
"You can learn a great deal about yourself when you face up to your fears, to work out why you are fearful of something.
"Look at the delight and wonder that children have. The world is a magical, special place. I like to look at the possibilities in life rather than the barriers."
Berry believes this outlook has much to do with his upbringing. His parents were both "sporty" (his mother, Diane Stead, recently competed in the Motatapu mountain-bike race at the age of 70) and provided him with freedom and responsibility in equal measures.
"I spent a lot of time in the bush, learning skills as well as learning how to look after myself. I was also very active in scouts. That was an amazing experience. We spent a lot of time in the back country and learned a lot of skills, which I'm still using."
Berry also knows extreme sports, by their very definition, are not for everyone. He acknowledges he shares psychological traits similar to criminals, referring to the findings of Eric Monasterio, of the University of Otago, who undertook a four-year study into thrill-seekers.
"He's a mountaineer himself so understands some of the ethos behind thrill-seekers. I did a psychological profile for him a while ago.
"He did point out the similarity between criminals and thrill-seekers, but where both groups scored highly in regards to novelty-seeking, they differentiated in their level of self-direction. That's what helps keep you on the straight and narrow.
"I think when you have adventure sports running through your blood, it's something you need to do; it makes you feel more complete. Everyday life doesn't give you the same kick."
Feast of films, feats at festival
Auckland film-maker Jon Forder's effort Airborne, The Life Of Chuck Berry, which won the Best New Zealand-made film award at the 10th annual New Zealand Mountain Film Festival, is one of several Kiwi efforts screening this year.
Others include Queenstown film-maker Guillaume Charton's Funky Kingston and Scott Simper's Reliving an Epic Adventure, which follows Steve Gurney and Steve Moffatt as they retrace the 1890 journey of pioneers Guy Mannering and Marmaduke Dixon who (nearly) climbed Mt Cook and then paddled canoes more than 200km to the east coast. Gurney does it with modern gear and gadgets as Moffatt (with the odd concession to safety) uses the equipment available in 1890.
The New Zealand Mountain Film Festival, which runs in Wanaka from July 6 to July 11 and in Queenstown on July 8, features 70 adventure films, which range in length from a few minutes to an hour and a-half.
"The films don't have to be about extreme adventure. They go from tramping to mountain climbing. It is also about looking after the environment," festival co-ordinator Mark Sedon explains.
"The screenings are bunched into sessions of three to four hours. People can come along and see four to six films and there are speakers as well." This year's event has attracted British professional climber and base-jumper Tim Emmett, who made headlines earlier this year with his ascent of the most difficult ice-climb in the world, a 200m, 45-degree overhanging ice cave behind an unfrozen waterfall at Helmcken Falls in British Columbia. After his talk in Wanaka, Emmett plans to return to the Himalayas to attempt the first para-alpine* ascent of the Nameless Tower on Trango, Pakistan.
(*Para-alpinism is a sport in which the participant climbs with a base-jumping rig and, on reaching the summit, simply jumps off to get back down.)Other speakers at the event include Christine Byrch, of Queenstown, who will talk about her mountaineering trip with sister Pat Deavoll to Afghanistan; Mal Haskins, of Wanaka, who will discuss his attempt to climb, ski and speed-fly from Nepal's 8000m Mt Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain in the world; and Aucklander Michael Archer, who will describe his recent expedition in which he skied from the coast of the Antarctic to the South Pole, then kite-skied back to the coast.
The festival
The 2012 New Zealand Mountain Film Festival runs from July 6-11 in Wanaka and in Queenstown on July 8.
Airborne, The Life Of Chuck Berry screens at 9.15pm, Saturday, July 7, Lake Wanaka Centre and at 7.45pm, Sunday, July 8, Queenstown Memorial Hall.
Note: The film comprises one segment of larger sessions that include other films and a talk by British adventurer Tim Emmett (starting at 7.30pm in Wanaka and 6pm in Queenstown).
For more information, visit: www.mountainfilm.net.nz.
