Quake3World

Paging obsidian!

Saw this documentary just moments ago. It's about three mountaineers climbing the Shark's Fin route on Meru Peak in the Himalayas. Supposedly it's one of the most difficult climbs in the world.

The doc is worth a spec because it's visually very impressive and tells a very emotional story about the life of these three men.

My take on it? These three are batshit insane

I remember trying abseiling once when I was about 9. I don't do heights, so I quickly nopped out of doing it.

Climbing does not look like a hobby for me.

Yeah, I get vertigo just looking at that picture.

Yeah and it's not just the climbing. It's the circumstances you find yourself in at over 6km height as well. Freezing cold, winds, snow fall. All out to kill you.

Reminds me of this great NYT article I read last month about the death and recovery of three Indian climbers from Everest.


https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/201 ... eaths.html

Eraser, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Meru is my #1 favourite climbing movie and also one of my favourite documentaries. I've met one of the climbers (and director) of the film, Jimmy Chin. He gave me an autographed copy of the poster...





Conrad Anker is one of climbing history's biggest names, a living legend, and one of the most experienced alpinists alive. Jimmy Chin is famous as a strong and bold climber, and has shot photos and film for National Geographic, other publications and films. Renan Ozturk is the youngest and least experienced but made a name for himself doing some pretty wild free-solo ascents throughout the U.S.


Trailer:

[youtube]qdWzTqyMtSU[/youtube]

BTW, just bought my ticket for this one tomorrow night:

[youtube]rOBB_VOFQHI[/youtube]

Cool. Love those vista shots. Mountaineers appear to be a special kind of crazy.

So in the opening to Mountain there is a line which says something to the order of,

They who dance are thought mad
by those who hear not the music.

lol, yeah ok. And you know what? I sort of get it. I do. These people just can't not climb. In the documentary it's clear when Jimmy Chin feels like he shouldn't be skiing and climbing anymore after his avalanche incident and it ends up making him kind of depressed. Every fiber in my body would say "nope!" to doing a climb like that. But in people's minds it doesn't always work like that.

A big part of climbing is risk assessment. You say, these are the skills that I have and this is how strong I am. This is the task I have to take on and this is how much of a margin of error I have. Can I achieve my goals while remaining safe? In the beginning of the film, they are 100 metres from the summit! That is 99% of the way to the top, but they turn back because they just don't have the safety margin to continue and then rappel back down again in time. That's where your experience takes over, these guys aren't some random dudes looking for a kick of adventure like those people who join the conga line up Everest, these are among the best climbers in the world.

It's like driving. For someone who's never been behind the wheel, putting them on the highway is insane, but for most of us it's a mundane experience. These guys are like the F1 drivers of the climbing world. They've honed their skills, so what seems crazy to the rest of us, is really well within their ability.

It's like Alex Honnold who's notoriously famous for free soloing (climbing without rope or any gear) some super bold routes. It seems crazy to everyone including me, but then you realize that he routinely rope climbs 5.14's and for him to climb a 5.12 without a rope means he's going well well below his ability and it's on a route which he has practiced on a million times. So from his perspective, it's a walk in the park.

Skill can overcome danger, so your perception of it changes.

Since we're talking about personal interest films has anyone seen unReal? by far my favourite riding film. Now free to view on Redbull TV.

https://www.redbull.tv/film/AP-1NDH12BMW1W11/unreal

By far the best rider in the film.

[youtube]5ud5T5I4XcA[/youtube]

I'm away for a few nights tomorrow and plan to watch Meru. I have a close friend who's a big climber, he was stuck out at Everest on BC1 when that avalanche struck. True story.