For the K8 Mountaineering Club of Alberta, a true summit is one that’s shared.
Highlighting the experiences of Filipino immigrants persevering both in the mountains and in life, Ahon, originally premiering at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, is making its debut at the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival on Nov. 9.
A story to be told
“For me, I think it was really important to tell [K8’s] story because what you see on screen at festivals doesn’t fully represent what’s happening in the mountains,” said Trixie Pacis, filmmaker and director of Ahon.
“I think there are so many people facing barriers to getting outdoors that not seeing yourself represented doesn’t need to be one more barrier on top of those things.”
A Calgary-based non-profit organization, for K8, it’s not about bagging peaks or ticking off summits; their mission is to build community and provide opportunities for Filipino Canadians to experience the joy of the mountains.
“When I joined K8, I realized that a vision of the group is going towards helping the community access the mountain safely, making it affordable for everyone, going as a team, not focusing on the summit,” said Leonard Maglalang, K8 member and co-producer of the film.
“When we are up in the mountains, we’re not afraid to go back … the mountains will always be there. For us, if … we’re climbing a mountain and we’re just … 100 metres away from the summit and then one of our members can’t move forward because of some emergencies, all of us in the team are on the same page. There’s no point in moving forward if one is actually not going with us.”
Moving to Canada from the Philippines at age five, Pacis learned about the mountaineering group through an article in a Mountain Life magazine.
“I had realized in that moment that I had never been outside with anybody else Filipino other than my sister and felt like I was missing out on the opportunity to share the mountains and also share my cultural heritage,” she said.
Becoming a member through the group’s Mount Yamnuska “induction climb”, the B.C. filmmaker realized the more she spent time with K8 members, the more she saw an important story that needed to be told.
“I think I was very aware the whole time that the priority [of the film] is amplifying their voices and their perspective and recognizing that even though I’m Filipino and speak the same language and share the culture, my experience is quite different because I grew up in Canada,” said Pacis.
Ahon’s significance to the community
Following the club through various mountaineering activities and social gatherings, the film brings to light the struggles of immigrants starting life in a new country — similar to the peaks and valleys the mountains throw our way.
“This film is not all about mountaineering or summiting; it’s also about the stories of immigrants on how they battle their journey to immigration,” said Maglalang.
For many Filipino Canadians there is an expectation to send money back home to family in the Philippines, so even if there is a desire to experience the mountains, Maglalang says that often falls to the bottom of the priority list.
“It’s not just the cost of living here and taking care of your family here, there’s also an obligation to send money back home — that is the cultural expectation, and so to then have crampons and an ice axe and Gore-Tex is out of reach for a lot of people,” said Pacis.
And it’s not just the cost of entry to outdoor activities, there is a steep learning curve that comes with an introduction to the mountains.
“The Philippines is a tropical country that doesn’t get any snow, so when you’re a new immigrant and you land somewhere like Calgary, all of a sudden you’re dealing with elements that are completely foreign to you,” said Pacis.
“I don’t think it’s talked about enough, but I think people do experience kind of anxiety or other mental health issues when it’s … a long, dark winter and you’re away from family and everything that you know.”
Starting a gear-sharing service, K8 provides gear for members without equipment of their own so they can still take part in club activities.
“What I really appreciate about this organization is they pay attention to those very first basic barriers but then also, there’s members of the organization that have mountaineering experience and are trying to push it in the mountains and are tackling some of those other challenges,” said Pacis.
“When you see the sense of accomplishment that they feel from successfully doing an activity and just seeing that people are learning and trying new things, it’s as if they summited Everest.”
Howse Peak expedition
A culmination of their skills, Banff National Park’s Howse Peak has become a test piece for the group.
“There’s a river crossing there and then you have to go up the back of the mountain and then go to the glacier [and] do a little bit of scrambling. It’s kind of those experiences that could sum up all the skills of the team,” said Maglalang.
Documenting K8’s first attempt to summit in the film, the group’s approach remains the same as every other climb: summit as a group or don’t summit at all.
“Their approach to being in the mountains and just their way of doing things. It’s very, very community-minded and it’s different from the kind of peak bag mentality that I had observed getting out into the mountains when I was younger,” said Pacis.
“I see a lot of individual pursuits rather than something that is as selfless as the approach they take.”
Making it just a few hundred metres short of the summit in another attempt on Howse Peak in September, with every summit push, the group’s mindset is on how to include other group members in the climb.
“We’re thinking of, ‘Oh, this part, can the average member do this challenge or this part of the climb?’ And then if not, what can we do after? Can we just try to develop their skills or maybe we can bring some equipment so that we can actually do this in a safe way?” said Maglalang.
Filmed with a Filipino Canadian cast and crew, Pacis says it was important to her that Filipino culture shined through the story, which drove her decision to make Ahon a bilingual film.
“It was important to me to that everybody in the film felt comfortable speaking, so I decided to make it a bilingual film to just to make sure that everyone could say what they really meant instead of being put on the spot to speak their second language,” said Pacis.
Maglalang says the group is grateful to pursue their passion for the mountains alongside each other. They plan to attempt Howse Peak again next season.
“Fighting their battles alone is very hard but when they are in the group, when we’re climbing together, you share the same passion with like-minded people and I think it helps a lot,” said Maglalang.
Ahon, meaning “to rise” in Filipino, premieres at the Banff Centre’s Max Bell Auditorium on Nov. 9 and is available to stream online Nov. 12.
“I hope that people see this film and that it sparks curiosity to connect with other people you might meet in the mountains that you might not normally connect with,” said Pacis.
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. The position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country. First published by The Canadian Press on Nov. 11, 2025.