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COLUMN: In climbing films, stories are what connect the audience with the actions

More than just a reel of sick moves, the stories help us place ourselves inside the action
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Dan Osman, the original radster, on Atlantis in the Needles, California.

Climbing movies are usually divided into two groups. Before I go any further though, keep in mind that I’m 41. The two groups are movies pre- The Real Thing and Hard Grit and movies after those two seminal works. If you’ve never heard about these cinematic triumphs then get searching on YouTube because they will get you motivated to climb.

While this sounds like a joke, there are elements of truth here. What I really enjoy are climbing movies with a story. Why? Stories are literary handholds which writers and cinematographers set on the “walls” of their films to help relate their movie to their audience. Or, maybe the story is like the rope, which connects the two climbers up on the Stawamus Chief.

When I began climbing, the movies we watched over and over again were the Masters of Stone series by Eric Perlman. Episodes one through six showed us cutting edge, dangerous or speed ascents done mostly in North America, and they were machismo to the max. They had feathery guitar rock and metal, spandex, tank tops and the who’s who of out there and way rad characters and outlandish people doing things like soloing long routes in Yosemite, massive rope jumps off towers and terrifying aid walls on El Cap.

The best of this muscled genre was Painted Spider. This had elements that verged on stories, like Marie Braun and Deanne Grey swinging leads up Yosemite’s venerable Astroman. These two women climbed hard, took whippers and finally laughed their way to the top. However, what all these movies lacked was a cohesive story and so they faded into the background as the internet grew and new forms of media developed. Even as new forms of adrenaline-laced devilry grew — like wingsuit base jumping and proximity flying — watching the insane antics online wasn’t good enough and I found my attention span wavering.

The new breeds of climbing films born of media savvy superstars, bigger production crews and aimed at the net and social media outlets seem to have boiled down to amazingly talented climbers doing the hardest things with apparent ease. What could possibly go wrong with this formula? For a start, what they’re climbing is so hard that without a human drama running alongside to expand on the effort and commitment required, it comes up as completely unrealistic, or even bland. At 5.15c and V16, difficulty is pretty hard to comprehend unless you hear the years of failure, injury and work that accompany these filmed ascents.

Here are a few ideas for good modern climbing films that have, in my book, more staying power because of their stories. To start, Google “Lynn free ascent of The Nose on El Cap in 24 hours.” Her ascent was visionary and there are clips of her that show a genius at work.

Anything with the Dutch duo Sean Villanueva and Nico Favresse will likely be really bold, have hard free climbing in heinous conditions and a sense of humour second to none. The Prophet with Leo Houlding, including Canada’s Sonnie Trotter and Will Stanhope is a great film for high level trad climbing with a strong pair of friends, Dave McLeod’s film Valley Uprising on Netflix; these are a few films that don’t prescribe to the shock value of hard moves alone. Luckily, the future isn’t all Instagram stories and Facebook posts. There’s hope in the Dawn Wall film which may be coming soon, and finally, a Canadian historical throwback; Deadline. This film, directed by Paul Berntsen was shot on 16mm in 1992 on the Chief. I was in Grade 10. The crew filming and rigging was a who’s who of the Squamish climbing scene back then and the story gives us a look into a young logger’s scary past in climbing and shows us great aerial footage of the aid climb Uncle Bens on the Grand Wall of the Chief.

Get Googling and watch some great climbing dramas this week!

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