VIEWERS WILL be able to see the work of a Fife cameraman when the follow-up to the BAFTA- winning film Touching the Void is screened for the first time tonight.

The Beckoning Silence, which is to be shown on Channel 4, tells the true story of four climbers whose 1936 ascent of the Eiger was struck by tragedy.

Keith Partridge (41), of Lower Largo, was one of two cameramen who shot the 90-minute documentary on the mountain’s notorious north face.

His camera work for Touching the Void helped make the tale of mountaineers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates’ disastrous descent of the Suila Grande, in the Andes, a huge hit, stunning cinema audiences around the UK.

Touching the Void was based on Mr Simpson’s book by the same name which describes his amazing brush with death in 1985 as he crawled alone for three days with a shattered leg before making it to safety against the odds.

The Beckoning Silence was also written by Mr Simpson and is about climbers Toni Kurz, Andreas Hinterstoisser, Edi Rainer and Willy Angerer, who died after being stranded on the side of the mountain by an avalanche.

Their story is considered one of the most compelling and saddest in mountaineering history, with Kurz, who was the last to die, left hanging from a rope within reach of his rescuers.

Mr Partridge, who started his career with the BBC but has worked freelance for the last 17 years, spent three weeks in March filming on the Eiger with Jeremy Hewson.

Mr Partridge is the more experienced climber, and his skills came to the fore when shots were needed from more difficult to reach locations.

He told The Courier, “Some of the days were good, a lot of the days were less good and some of them were downright gnarly.

“We had spin drift avalanches pouring down on us, wind chill of minus 30 degrees, very poor visibility and very heavy snow.”

He and the rest of the crew were working at 10,000ft, but he said, “The height is neither here nor there if the conditions are controllable.

“It is less controllable when you are in the middle of the north face looking down a 2000ft drop.”

Mr Partridge told how, on one of the key days of filming, the crew had to be winched by helicopter on to a tiny ledge in the Hinterstoisser Traverse.

He said, “It’s not the easiest place to get to.

“You are aiming for a ledge the size of a single stair tread 2000ft vertically from the ground, with the rotor blades inches from the rock.

“There is absolutely no room for error.”

He added, “I don’t think in these situations you can ever afford to be scared— that’s when you would lose control and accidents can happen.

“But it was a pretty exciting commute!”

Mr Partridge saw the completed version of the film for the first time on Thursday at a private screening in London.

He said, “I was blown away. It really is stunning.

“The story is incredibly powerful and emotional and the pictures are outrageous.

“It gives you a real sense of the dangers this mountain can throw at you, but it also gives an insight into why people do these things.”

Mr Partridge also had special praise for the Swiss mountain guides who play the four climbers.

He said, “They are absolutely at the top of their game.

“They are very young, very fiery, world class. You can ask them to do something you would never get an actor to do.

“Those four guys know what it would have felt to be there on the face at that time and those conditions.

“They had all climbed the north face before several times on some of the hardest routes.”

Mr Partridge admits he has a nervous excitement as he awaits the public reaction to the film.

He said, “The success of Touching the Void was so enormous. In many respects this is the follow-up to that.

“It’s a different story—it’s a much more complicated story.

“Everyone involved just hopes we have done it justice.”

*The Beckoning Silence is on Channel 4 tonight from 9-10.35pm.