Get psychologically prepared for The Alpinist with these adrenaline-inducing extreme sports documentaries, covering free solo climbing, mountain biking, high-wire walking, mountaineering, and more.
THE DOWN WALL
In the middle of Yosemite National Park towers El Capitan, a huge block of granite whose smoothest side, the Dawn Wall, is said to be the most difficult rock climb in the world. Tommy Caldwell didn’t see inhospitable terrain, but rather a puzzle almost a kilometer tall. In The Dawn Wall, we follow him and Kevin Jorgeson in their historic ascent to the summit.
free solo
From award-winning documentary filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi and world-renowned photographer and mountaineer Jimmy Chin, the directors of Meru, comes Free Solo a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world’s most famous rock...the 3,200-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park...without a rope. Celebrated as one of the greatest athletic feats of any kind, Honnold’s climb set the ultimate standard: perfection or death. Succeeding in this challenge places his story in the annals of human achievement.
touching the void
In 1985, two young climbers, Joe Simpson (Brendan Mackey) and Simon Yates (Nicholas Aaron), set out to be the first to reach the summit of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They succeed, and the two embark on the treacherous descent down the mountain -- only to meet with disaster when Simpson breaks his leg in a fall, leaving Yates to lower him the rest of the way with ropes. When a storm threatens both their lives, Yates must decide whether to cut the rope and risk Simpson's likely death.
man on wire
On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.
maiden
Maiden is the story of how Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook in charter boats, became the skipper of the first-ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World in 1989. Tracy’s inspirational dream was opposed on all sides: her male competitors thought an all-women crew would never make it, the chauvinistic yachting press took bets on her failure, and potential sponsors rejected her, fearing they would die at sea and generate bad publicity. But Tracy refused to give up: she remortgaged her home and bought a secondhand boat, putting everything on the line to ensure the team made it to the start line. Although blessed with tremendous self-belief Tracy was beset by crippling doubts and was only able to make it through with the support of her remarkable crew. With their help she went on to shock the sport world and prove that women are very much the equal of men.
the man who skied down everest
This Oscar-winning documentary tells the story behind Japanese daredevil Yuichiro Miura's 1970 effort to ski down the world's tallest mountain. Miura's trek to the top of Everest provides much of the film's drama, as several members of his climbing team die in the process. The arduous trek gives way to footage of Miura's stunning descent, which requires him to use a parachute to control his speed. The action is supplemented by passages from the journal Miura kept during the adventure.
mountain
A unique cinematic and musical collaboration between the Australian Chamber Orchestra and BAFTA-nominated director Jennifer Peedom, Mountain is a dazzling exploration of our obsession with mountains. Only three centuries ago, climbing a mountain would have been considered close to lunacy. The idea scarcely existed that wild landscapes might hold any sort of attraction. Peaks were places of peril, not beauty. Why, then, are we now drawn to mountains in our millions? Mountain shows us the spellbinding force of high places - and their ongoing power to shape our lives and our dreams.
finding traction
Finding Traction presents the inspirational story of ultra runner Nikki Kimball and her quest to become the fastest person in history to run America's oldest hiking trail, the 273-mile Long Trail. The documentary asks what drives her to attempt such an incredible feat, and follows Nikki's journey from its beginning - training and racing in the Rocky mountains - to her actual record attempt through Vermont's beautiful but brutal Green Mountains.
accomplice
It’s a moment time-stamped in our brains. Maybe it was a birthday gift. Or perhaps you saved paycheck after paycheck to finally purchase one. However you met your first bicycle, it was the pedal strokes that came afterward that hooked you onto something intangible. Adventure. Connection. Freedom. From the producers of UnReal and the director of Where The Trail Ends comes Accomplice, an homage to all the crazy adventures and crazier comrades that result from our finest sidekick. On the surface, Accomplice takes you to mind blowing locations across the globe with the world’s top riders. But beyond that, Teton Gravity Research’s latest film celebrates how the bicycle is more than just a mode of transportation - it’s a vehicle for the human spirit.
meru
Three elite climbers struggle to find their way through obsession and loss as they attempt to climb Mount Meru, one of the most coveted prizes in the high stakes game of Himalayan big wall climbing.