There were a couple of films this year at the Banff MountainFilm Festival that inspired and motivated me to plan my next climbing or mountaineering trip – and one that made me never want to climb again.
The one that jumps out immediately is “Crossing the Ice” – a film by two amateur adventurers, Aussies Justin Jones and James Castrission, who attempted to become the first team to walk from the edge of the Antarctic continent to the South Pole and back, entirely on their own steam.
No one had ever done it before, and they decided they would try. Of course they had to learn how to ski first, and prep for deadly cold temperatures, winds and completely unfamiliar terrain.
Jonesy and Cas are used to taking on massive challenges. In their previous effort they crossed the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand in a sea kayak, achieving another record with the nearly 1,400-kilometre journey.
But this was new territory for two Aussies with essentially no experience in the cold. And making matters worse, as their departure approached they learned that Norwegian exploration legend Aleksander Gamme was planning to attempt the same project at the exact same time. They were even on the same plan to the Antarctic.
While their mission seemed ill-fated to begin with – their food arrived late and Gamme gets a head start he really doesn’t need – you couldn’t help but root for the likable Aussies as they head out into the great white nothing, towing two giant sleds loaded with all their provisions and gear.
Days and days of whiteout conditions, blasting headwinds, fresh snow that made it possible to move their sleds just inches at a time, and a shortage of food are among the challenges they encounter. But their friendship, grit and willingness to just keep going is truly impressive.
When the pair celebrates Christmas, and Cas secretly decorates the tent with balloons, dons a Santa hat and presents his gift to Jonesy – weeks of meat rations that he has been saving for his friend – you can’t help but be touched.
And when Jonesy breaks down in tears, emotionally raw and physically battered from weeks on the ice, you feel his pain and just want to help.
Though the guys are ostensibly competing with Gamme (though really, it’s not a competition since he is just so much stronger and faster) a friendship also somehow develops, and they begin communicating by satellite phone, encouraging each other along the way.
When the end of the journey approaches, Cas and Jonesy essentially out of food and days and days overdue, there’s a beautiful moment when they see a speck far out and the ice and realize Gamme has waited for them.
Inspiring and epic – what a film.
Honnold 3.0
At the opposite end of the spectrum was “Honnold 3.0,” a climbing film featuring Alex Honnold, who has quickly become one of the world’s most famous climbers since his successful free solo climb of Yosemite’s El Cap. That accomplishment led to a cover story in National Geographic, a 60 Minutes special and even a credit card commercial featuring Honnold and his girlfriend.
But despite all of that, he’s still a somewhat shy, nerdy climber used to living out of a van and travelling around looking for good crags to climb with no one really paying any attention to him.
The film begins with Honnold taking some time off to boulder and essentially “hide out” from any public attention. At the same time, of course, he’s sending massive bouldering routes and climbing like a fiend.
But before long Honnold, who admits he’s not a great boulderer and can only compete by taking on terrifyingly hard routes that most climbers won’t touch, returns to his stomping grounds – Yosemite -- and begins preparing for his next challenge.
He wants to do the Yosemite Triple, climbing Mt. Watkins, El Cap and Half Dome, all in a 24-hour period, meaning much of the climbing will be done at night, without ropes or support.
For much of the climbing, Honnold uses a long daisy chain – a nylon loop attached to his harness and used to connect into a bolt on the route. But since he has no rope with him, it’s a constant process of reaching a bolt, clipping in, feeling safe for a moment, then unclipping and moving on towards the next bolt.
He explains in the film that one of the hardest parts of the project was the constant emotional pendulum swing between being protected, and unprotected.
When the unclipping occurs thousands of feet off the ground, with dizzying exposure and massive drops out into nothing lying just one slip away, it’s enough to turn your stomach.
It’s just so scary. No one should climb like that, and Honnold is so likable and humble that quite honestly, you don’t want so see him die.
In the crux of one of the climbs, he unclips from a bolt and is attempting to reach the next safe point, stretching, but conscious of the fact he is becoming more unbalanced with every inch.
And then his foot slips. The entire audience at the Bloor Cinema held their breath, and somehow in that Alex Honnold way he refused to get excited, took a breath, regained his balance and finished the move perfectly.
Here's what it looked like:
Here's what it looked like:
Then he smiled at the camera in a “wow, I almost died….but I didn’t” kind of way and keeps climbing, eventually finishing the mission in 19 hours.
A friend told me every climbing film she saw at the Reel Rock festival inspired her to get out and climb, but “Honnold 3.0” made her never want to climb again. I didn’t feel quite the same way, but it definitely gave me a new appreciation for a rope.
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