South Africa is home to some of the world’s best rock climbing and attracts thousands of climbers each year from across the globe. Many films have documented this emerging paradise, but ZA (Zuid-Africa) stands to become a cult classic among the climbing community. Stunning landscapes are perfectly captured through expert time-lapses and ground-breaking drone footage. World-class climbers such as Daniel Woods, Nalle Hukkataival, and Dave Graham take on V15 first ascents and terrifyingly majestic highballs. Nina Williams battles and overcomes the elusive grade of V13, while supporting climbers bring camaraderie and color to the overall vibe of the film. Candid conversations and lifestyle shots are interspersed throughout, allowing the audience to connect with the climbers and routines of the trip. ZA gives a glimpse into the world of these professional climbers, their friends, and the reason why they keep coming back to South Africa.
This documentary follows the feats of high-altitude climber Jerzy Kukuczka and his ascent to higher heights before his death in 1989.
Blind climber Erik Weihenmayer and his team's highly successful ascent of Mount Everest along with four other remarkable milestones on the mountain. Time magazine called this the most successful Everest expedition of all time.
In the Finnish forests was an unclimbed route called the Lappnor project. It was considered to be the hardest climbing route in the world and perhaps impossible for a human. Nalle Hukkataival, a strong Finnish climber took up the challenge. It required almost four years of total commitment and his efforts were followed by hundreds of thousands of climbers around the world. When Nalle finally succeeded, it blew away the whole climbing world like nothing before. The first 9A boulder was climbed! The documentary follows Nalle's journey from the very beginning, all the way to the first ascent almost half a decade later. It captures the incredible dedication that was needed to deal with all the variables and to take that last step to open the next level of climbing.
The 2013 film from Alastair Lee is an epic to end all mountain epics se t in the stunning mountains of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. The feature documentary follows top adventure climber Leo Houlding with his tried and tested team of Jason Pickles and Sean ‘Stanley’ Leary as they attempt to make the first ascent of the NE ridge of 'the master piece of the range'; the majestic Ulvetanna Peak (2931m). One of the most technically demanding climbs in the world’s harshest environment. The film tells the story of a climber's life long dream reach one of the world's most remote and difficult summits, interweaved with the fascinating story of the mountain itself; which incredibly was only discovered in 1994. All set against the backdrop of the current age of mountaineering where few great lines remained unclimbed.
The biggest stories from the climbing world, told with humor, heart, and mind-bending action. Featuring Alex Honnold in Honnold 3.0, Chris Sharma and Adam Ondra in La Dura Dura, Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk in Shark's Fin, The Wide Boyz, Sasha DiGiulian, Daila Ojeda and more.
In late summer 2003, climbers from Britain, Sweden, and Finland descended upon the sleepy archipelago of Aland in the Baltic Sea to discover for themselves, its combination of spectacularly beautiful scenery and array of climbing problems. Baltic Sea Bouldering presents an insight into how climbers tackle this fresh and exciting bouldering destination. What we receive is a fascinating look at how some of Europe's best climbers tackle an unclimbed highball project that stretches mental strength to the limits.
This feature documentary follows a climbing couple and their team as they prepare for a unique wedding ceremony-the first ever performed on a ledge on El Capitan, the most famous mountain in Yosemite National Park.
An anthology of award winning climbing films, this collection chronicles a decade of adventures in both Yosemite Valley and Stoney Point. Two of the most historic climbing areas in America.
Trapped near the summit of K2, the world's second-highest mountain, Annie Garrett radios to base camp for help. Brother Peter hears Annie's message and assembles a team to save her and her group before they succumb to K2's unforgiving elements. But, as Annie lays injured in an icy cavern, the rescuers face several terrifying events that could end the rescue attempt -- and their lives.
An international team of climbers ascends Mt. Everest in the spring of 1996. The film depicts their lengthy preparations for the climb, their trek to the summit, and their successful return to Base Camp. It also shows many of the challenges the group faced, including avalanches, lack of oxygen, treacherous ice walls, and a deadly blizzard.
Two of Britain’s top free climbers decide to take on one of Yosemite’s most awesome lumps of granite: the thousand vertical metres of El Capitan – via it’s hardest line – with no experience of big walling whatsoever. Fired up on a diet of bagels, the climbers, Rich and Neil, set off to do battle with the dizzying exposure and raking crack lines of this historic face. The ensuing agony is captured in this spectacularly shot film, that exudes passion and humour and takes a refreshingly honest look at living 6 days in the vertical world.
The story of the first ascent of Rhapsody at Dumbarton Rock, the world's first E11 and hardest traditional rock climb. Huge falls, injuries, tears and eventually success!
Bouldering champion, Angie Payne, leaves everything she knows beyond as she ventures deep into the French Polynesian jungle with veteran climber and explorer, Mike Libecki. Their objective: to put up a first ascent on the south face of the Poumaka Tower. Directors Andy Mann and Keith Ladzinski capture blood, sweat, and tears as the team climbs through mud and fear, into the unknown.
After their success climbing the world’s hardest offwidth, the Wide Boyz, Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, embark on their next crack climbing mission. This time their sights are set on the thinner end of the crack climbing spectrum. Their goal is the mighty Cobra Crack in Squamish BC, considered to be the hardest finger crack in the world. First climbed by Canadian ‘rock star’ Sonnie Trotter after battling it out with Didier Berthod, the route hit the media spotlight in the film First Ascent. With no local hard cracks to train on, the Wide Boyz refit their underground training dungeon and commit to a year of torturous finger training. With only a short trip to Canada planned, the Boyz face their biggest challenge yet against the sharp granite bite of the mighty Cobra Crack!
Join Savage Films on an adventure in search of the best highball boulders on the West Coast of North America. Phenomenal cinematography takes you to five new world-class locales: Red Rocks NV, Leavenworth WA, Squamish BC, Cody WY, and Castle Rocks ID. Western Gold provides a thrilling view of the bouldering experience when climbers commit to harder moves higher and higher off the ground. From the hardest to the tallest the West Coast has to offer, get ready to see something new.
Every climbing reward comes at the cost of a potential risk, but when you are a climbing pioneer, driven by the unknown and unexpected, you are willing to risk whatever it takes for the chance to find the perfect first ascent line. This is a story of exploration and discovery, a journey of friendship and solitude, a quest to fuel an obsessive passion. Starring Paul Robinson, Jimmy Webb, Daniel Woods, Chris Sharma and Niky Ceria.
Are you tired of burning out on steep routes and unsure whether it’s due to lack of strength or poor technique? Do you still feel nervous about pushing above bolts or trusting your feet on slabs? If you’re fed-up with making the same old mistakes then why not settle the score using this two-part instructional video series, hosted by Britain’s leading climbing coach Neil Gresham. Whether you climb F5 or F7c, these films are packed with tips to help you improve every aspect of your climbing performance. Part 1 shows you how to develop your technique and how to train more productively and Part 2 shows you how to put it all together and get the most from yourself on the cliffs. There are right and wrong examples to help you identify your weaknesses and case studies from some of Britain’s best climbers. Those dream routes may be closer than you think and watching these films might be all you need to turn them into a reality.
Vertical Opera is a documentary film directed by Jean-Paul Janssen, with climbers Patrick Edlinger and Jean-Paul Lemercier in the Gorges du Verdon. The film opens with a training sequence of Patrick Edlinger then he links the routes with Jean-Paul Lemercier "L'Ange en décongelation" (7a), in which he falls voluntarily to demonstrate the usefulness of the rope, then "Le Septième Saut" (7b+). Finally, the final scene, an anthology, consists of a close-up of Edlinger who climbs free solo and barefoot the route "Débiloff", still in the Verdon, above hundreds of meters of void, all to lyrical music. It is "Wie Furchtsam Wankten Meine Schritte", the aria for alto voice from Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata BWV 33, music not unrelated to the subject of the documentary: "How faltering and fearful my steps were".
A "team of savages," as their boat captain Bob Shepton calls them, comprised of Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll, Olivier Favresse, Nicolas Favresse, and Ben Ditto, set off for Greenland to attempt a first big wall climb. Arriving in Asia by plane, they prepare the sailboat for two months of self-sufficiency. Accompanied by whales, seagulls, and icebergs, they train on various rock faces before beginning their ascent of the seemingly impossible wall. It takes them 11 days to complete the climb, braving bad weather, the rock itself, the wilderness, and three different bivouac sites—all accompanied by music, of course! The return journey is not without its challenges, as they must avoid a cyclone and cross the Atlantic to reach Oben in Scotland.