He uses his incredible journey to shine a light on the Nepalese climbing community, who are under appreciated and often the forgotten heroes of the mountaineering world, maligned as “just” porters.
Free Solo – Disney +
This is the only Oscar winner on the list, winning Best Documentary Feature in 2018. It follows Alex Honnold on his quest to climb El Capitan, without a rope.
The huge wall that rises high above Yosemite Valley in the US is an icon in the climbing world. But you do not have to be a climber to understand what is at stake. Honnold is set on climbing it, using nothing but his hands and feet. One mistake and all is lost.
Add into the mix a fledging love interest and you have yourself a story.
Touching The Void – Buy on Amazon Prime or Apple TV
This is an absolute classic and another award winner, earning itself a BAFTA. Released in 2003 it is still as gripping today as it was then. Joe Simpson and Simon Yates set out to climb a remote peak in Peru in 1988.
Simpson breaks his leg, and Yates tries desperately to get him off the mountain as a storm rages around them. Soon Yates is forced to decided to save himself or wait until they both perish.
This incredible recreation, accompanied with interviews with both Simpson and Yates, shows just what humans can endure when forced to fight for their lives.
Dawn Wall – Netflix
This documentary has all the twists, false dawns and hero’s journey touch points you would expect in a fictional film, except it really happened.
Tommy Cadwell was a teenage prodigy in the climbing world. He was set for big things. He and a group of other promising climbers went to Kyrgyzstan for a sponsored climbing trip.
The group were kidnapped by al Qaeda and Cadwell was forced to make a choice – them or us. He pushed his captor off a cliff, and saved his friends.
On returning to the US, he becomes obsessed with El Capitan. He projects all of his trauma and life’s problems onto the mighty wall. Eventually, he sets himself the target of climbing the featureless Dawn Wall, a seemingly impossible route up El Capitan.
It is more than a climb, but a character arc from tragedy to triumph.
Pretty Strong – Vimeo
You may have noticed, climbing documentaries are a male dominated genre. But that is not because there is a lack of elite women in climbing.
Pretty Strong follows eight of the world’s strongest climbers, as they crush their goals from multi-pitch ascents to tough boulders.
The sweeping cinematography will make your hands sweat, as you see these elite climbers hang by nothing more than their finger tips, suspended above nothing but air.
Prepare to feel motivated to go out and crush your own goals.
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