Issue date: 24 Oct, 2005
Its been more than twenty years since the documentary series “Al filo de lo Imposible” (On the Edge of the Impossible) came on our screens from Televisión Española (TVE) enabling us to reach the most unknown corners of the planet Earth. Today, philately joins this programme, one of the biggest award winners in the history of TVE, with the issuing of a minisheet made up of six stamps and six vignettes with no postal value depicting some of the scenes shown on the programmes: real scenes experienced by the film makers.
The team is made up of a group of professionals that love sports, adventure and taking risks and who, with their effort and determination allow us to experience, through the television screen, feats and adventures otherwise unimaginable. Directed by Sebastian Alvaro, the team of “Al Filo de lo Imposible” has travelled the six continents, Antarctica being the last one, and their experiences are informatively told, linking the beauty of nature with the most spectacular scenes. We watched them reach Everest on live broadcast and without the help of oxygen; they climbed K2, the second highest mountain on Earth and considered to be the hardest to climb on each of it’s slopes; we’ve also seen Annapurna and the frozen mountains of Antarctica; the Cerro Torres in the Andes, Mount Cook in New Zealand, the Aconcagua in America and Kilimanjaro in Africa. To sum up, we can say that they have climbed the world’s 12 highest summits over 8,000 metres high. Besides their mastery in mountain climbing, they have explored the unknown canyon of Yarlung Tsangpo (at the far eastern end of the Himalayas), the Chinese dessert of Taklamakan and some ancestral villages in Tibet. The main characters of this issue have gone into the forbidden Himalayan kingdom of Mustang and also to Bhutan. In their journeys they have crossed the North Pole in Canada and into the Patagonian ice in South America. They have crossed the mountain range of the Andes and flown in paraglider and hang-glider from some of the highest volcanoes on Earth such as the Villarica, Popocatepetl and Stromboli. Unfortunately some of its main characters perished on the way but the beauty and magnificence of the programmed is not to be denied.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.