In the city of Guarda, near Serra da Estrela, lives Vítor Baia, the Weather Man. Vítor Baia makes weather forecasts for mountaineers who prefer a method he developed himself to other more sophisticated ones.
Victor Baia, a native and resident of Guarda, is a great expert on Serra da Estrela and has been mountaineering since 1981 and paragliding since 1990. Vítor Baia has been involved in meteorology since 1996 due to the need for the best weather forecasts for paragliding. Years later, at the suggestion and request of his friend João Garcia, he began to study and prepare weather charts for climbing the highest mountain peaks. Currently, 20 years later, he accompanies dozens of mountaineers from around the world who use his forecasts based on Tefigrams and a technical vocabulary he developed for sending messages by satellite phone, such as: SMS “GOOD” – The weather is good for climbing. SMS “CLEAR MORNING AND CLOUDY AFTERNOON” – normal weather in the mountains. SMS “IMPOSSIBLE” – Do not climb.

Filmmaker details: Eduardo Pires

Eduardo Pires (b. 1968) is a Materials Engineer, graduated from Instituto Superior Técnico, with a Master’s degree and PhD in Materials Science from the University of Manchester. He has been a guest lecturer at Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Universidade Católica Portuguesa. His career has been marked by scientific research and technological entrepreneurship, having founded and led biotechnology companies, coordinated and participated in several scientific projects, and published numerous articles and patents. Although cinema was his original vocation more than forty years ago, only now has he been able to fully dedicate himself to filmmaking. In 2025, he completed the KinoDoc program, marking the beginning of his journey in documentary cinema. He is currently finishing an advanced film course and completing his first feature-length documentary in Nepal. His work is driven by an interest in narratives that intersect science, memory, and the observation of reality.