Most Olympic sports are institutions with decades of history in the summer and winter games. Simone Biles, the Dream Team, the Miracle on Ice — gymnastics, basketball, hockey, and other established sports have received enough mainstream attention that they and their stars occupy a place of cultural shorthand for American viewers. But sport climbing, added to the Summer Olympics in 2020? It’s new! You may not know as much about it! And we can help you learn.
In Tokyo, sport climbing debuted as one event combining three different indoor-climbing disciplines: lead climbing, in which you’re wearing a harness, climbing a longer route with the help of a rope, and clipping into ascending anchor points as you climb; bouldering, which has no harness or rope and instead involves shorter, more demanding problems; and speed climbing, in which you’re wearing a harness and using a rope to climb a specific route as quickly as possible. (If you’d like a breakdown of climbing’s specific terms, like how “route†differs from “problem,†here’s a glossary.) These three might all sound similar, but speed climbing is a fairly separate discipline; where lead climbing and bouldering are about deliberate problem-solving up the wall, speed climbing is essentially a dynamic sprint. Grouping them together was always a bit silly, and thankfully, the Olympics’ organizing committees realized their error. This year in Paris, sport climbing has been divided into two categories, with lead climbing and bouldering bundled together and speed climbing on its own. That separation means twice as many medal opportunities for the 68 competing climbers, 40 of whom are facing off in bouldering and lead climbing, and 28 in speed.
The semifinals start today and finals go through August 10, meaning you have time to learn more about those categories through this collection of 12 documentaries, series, shorts, and videos that together serve as a primer on climbing’s history, culture, current competitive field, and distinct rules. Three notes about the list. First, since the Olympics are limited to indoor climbing, we’ve avoided recommending too many documentaries that focus only on outdoor climbing; Meru and The Alpinist are great, but we’re trying to provide a more focused experience for your Paris viewing. Second, Everest is a bad movie, but you should probably start reading Jon Krakauer to expand your climbing knowledge base. And third, although we haven’t included Tom Cruise’s infamous rock-climbing scene from Mission: Impossible II or his Burj Khalifa ascent in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, we’re still hoping he shows up in the audience for the climbing events. Bestow your celebrity glow upon the sport, Tom! We’ll be watching.
The Dawn WallÂ
What will you learn? The Dawn Wall is a solid introduction to big wall climbing, in which climbers tackle routes that include numerous pitches (portions or segments) and can take one or more days to ascend. That isn’t exactly what you’ll be watching during the Olympics, but the methods and techniques that climbers need to learn and perfect to get to the games in the first place are on display in The Dawn Wall. An understated but immersive portrait of climbing pioneer Tommy Caldwell, whose life story comprises one absurd story after another — taken hostage during a climbing trip in Kyrgyzstan, cut off part of his finger using a table saw — The Dawn Wall specifically follows Caldwell as he and climbing partner, Kevin Jorgeson, try to map a new route on El Capitan’s southeast face in Yosemite. At numerous points in the documentary, the undertaking feels impossible, especially when the two reach a pitch that requires Jorgeson to make a horizontal leap and catch an indentation with the very tips of his fingers. It’s insane to watch, and the obsessive problem-solving, minute adjustments made after each failed attempt, and triumphant feeling when Jorgeson finally nails it are all that’s great about climbing. Available on Blu-ray.
Free Solo
What will you learn? This portrait of Alex Honnold was probably the biggest breakthrough moment for climbing in recent years, both because Honnold’s successful climb of El Capitan with no rope, no harness, and no protective equipment (aside from his shoes and chalk) was international news and because Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s film documenting the climb won Best Documentary Feature at the 2019 Oscars. Honnold’s ascent was a major deal, and Free Solo is simultaneously anxiety-inducing (every overhead shot of Honnold gripping onto the rock with nothing but his fingertips will make you want to throw up) and life-affirming (you’ll feel the filmmakers’ relief when he gets safely to the top). This is the documentary that made me start climbing, and it’ll teach you a lot about the basics of climbing as an activity (how climbers plan routes, how they look at rocks and see lines a layperson might not) and as an industry (how sponsorships help climbers make money and how involved certain companies, like Red Bull, are in funding extreme sports). Plus Honnold is kind of deranged and way too casual about the possibility of dying doing what he loves, and that’s a very compelling combination. Streaming on Disney+.
Valley Uprising
What will you learn? In the sliver of time between when climbing, as part of exploring, was a militarized, government-funded pursuit and when it became a commodified, corporatized thing, it was really a sport for proud dirtbags living off the grid, evading National Park Service employees, and climbing Yosemite’s cliffs on their own. This documentary narrated by Peter Sarsgaard uses archival footage of the insane things these climbing pioneers got up to (like tightrope walking across gigantic crevasses) and interviews with those generations of climbers to try and understand their interest in the rock, making for a comprehensive look at how the sport has changed over time. Climbing pioneer Steve Roper is pretty wry when he says he and his peers believed “only through climbing can you find yourself, bullshit like that,†but it’s a pretty succinct way to sum up why this sport’s demand for single-minded focus remains so appealing. Streaming on PlutoTV.
Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa
What will you learn? No, summiting Everest — a snowy, icy endeavor that has claimed countless lives and left tons of trash behind — doesn’t have a ton in common with Olympic sport climbing. But this documentary about climber Lhakpa Sherpa, who has summited Everest a history-making ten times, is still worth a watch for what it conveys about the sport’s history ( Nepali Sherpas have long been integral to foreigners’ attempts on the mountain with very little glory of their own) and its demands, the toll it takes on your body and how each ascent becomes a sort of obsession. There’s a little moment in the documentary — which documents the abuse Lhakpa suffered from her deceased husband, George Dijmarescu, also a renowned climber — when someone wonders whether climbing attracts or enables sociopaths, and that observation feels both cynical and thought-provoking given that we see Lhakpa’s strained relationship with her daughters because of her climbing but also her love for them and the sport. The question of whether someone can do a life-threatening activity while also maintaining a romantic relationship, a family, and a nine-to-five comes up a lot in climbing documentaries, but it feels particularly poignant here, since Lhakpa’s lived experience is so different from the more wealthy and recognized people on the rest of this list. Streaming on Netflix.
Here to Climb
What will you learn? Another “it’s different for women†entry, this documentary follows professional climber Sasha DiGiulian, a divisive figure in the industry for her prominence on social media and her numerous brand partnerships. Climbing has an anti-authoritarian, counterculture core that often feels at odds with how regulated and family-friendly the sport has become. Here to Climb gets at some of that tension through DiGiulian, who climber Cedar Wright describes in the documentary as the “OG millennial influencer pro climber.†DiGiulian is blonde, she’s pretty, she did an Agent Provocateur ad campaign where she climbed a wall in lingerie, and she got a ton of media attention for claiming to be the first female climber of a route that, in reality, another woman had successfully completed decades before; people love hating on her on social media and accusing her of not being authentic enough. Here to Climb doesn’t do a great job placing DiGiulian within the field of current competitive female climbers to convey exactly why she’s so good, but its secondary spotlight on legendary female climber Lynn Hill, and its globe-trotting around the world to showcase different insane climbs DiGiulian has done, make for an effective look at the different standards placed upon women (as always). Streaming on Max.
Resistance Climbing
What will you learn? The international nature of the Olympics reflects how sports transcend boundaries, an idea also brought to life in the somber, vibrant, and timely Resistance Climbing. In the documentary short, Palestinian American writer and climber Andrew Bisharat travels to the West Bank to meet with American Tim Bruns, who in 2012 visited Palestine alongside fellow Colorado College student Will Harris. Inspired and moved by their visit, the pair in 2014 decided to open Wadi Climbing, Palestine’s first indoor climbing gym. Years later, a climbing culture has grown in the West Bank, with activists and Bedouins climbing in nearby hills and rock formations, but Bisharat’s documentary explores how the omnipresence of the Israeli military and Israeli settlers impacts the community. Can climbing serve as a creative respite and physical diversion from an oppressive reality? Or does the promise of freedom through sports only go so far? Resistance Climbing is the most sobering entry on this list, but it also feels most linked to the equality-through-athletics ideal that the Olympics are supposed to represent. Streaming on Reel Rock’s website.
The Climb
What will you learn? You know an activity’s getting big when a reality show gets made about it. The Climb, an eight-episode competition series, was co-created by climbing enthusiast Jason Momoa, was hosted by respected climbers Chris Sharma and Megan Martin, and pitted eight climbers against each other on a number of challenges. This series is probably your best look at the overlaps between lead climbing and bouldering because it cycles the competitors through both disciplines, from a free solo climb along a waterside cliff (if you fall, you’re getting wet) to a steep, 70-foot-long route along an incredibly exposed face. Sixth episode “The Crack,†about how climbers can wedge their hands and feet into a crack in the rock to propel themselves upward, is probably the most informative for audiences new to the sport. Plus the locations (AlbarracÃn and Majroca, Spain; the Wadi Rum Valley, Jordan) basically help The Climb double as a travel show. Streaming on Max.
Cliffhanger
What will you learn? That Sylvester Stallone’s ’90s era really was an insane trip. If you want to marvel at Stallone’s muscle definition as he hangs off a cliff (LOL), think about how fantastic John Lithgow is at playing a villain, and persuade your friends to try climbing with a “Doesn’t this look wild and fun?†entertainment experience, Cliffhanger is the way to go. A crew member survived getting hit by lightning three times while making this movie. It’s the perfect “highly inaccurate yet highly hilarious†way to learn about climbing. Streaming on Pluto.
Magnus Midtbø’s YouTube channel
What will you learn? Magnus Midtbø was an award-winning climbing wunderkind who retired from competition in 2017 and has since focused his attention on his YouTube channel, which has more than 2 million subscribers and is a fount of knowledge on all things climbing. If you’re trying to wrap your mind around the difference between lead climbing and bouldering and the skills needed for each (endurance for the former, dynamism for the latter), Midtbø does a good job delineating the differences by showcasing climbing trips versus in-gym days and explaining how route-setting varies for each category. The key to his appeal, though, is how well Midtbø shares the spotlight with other climbers, like Adam Ondra, Anton Fomenko, and Will Bosi, each of whom have their own specialties and whose differences in style and strength come through in the various challenges Midtbø plans for them. You’ll come away from these videos with more technical knowledge about the sport than you had coming in. Streaming on YouTube.
Wired video about speed climbing
What will you learn? Speed climbing might be the climbing discipline with the least media made about it, though it’s probably the easiest and most approachable for a casual viewer. The climbers start at the bottom, the buzzer goes off, and they leap, jump, and bounce their way up to the top of the wall using a static set of holds. Where the routes in lead climbing and the problems in bouldering have variable levels of difficulty and different designs, the indoor speed-climbing route’s design and their holds’ size and shape are standardized and don’t change. That doesn’t make it easier, though, and this 2019 Wired video effectively explains what’s so hard about climbing 15 meters by pairing Alex Honnold with then-junior speed-climbing champion Jordan Fishman. Watching Fishman cruise this route in eight seconds while otherwise-exemplary climber Honnold takes nearly 30 demonstrates how this discipline is unlike other kinds of climbing but also why it’s so fun to watch — every little hand placement and every little vault off a hold matters in getting one’s time down. Wired’s Robbie Gonzalez is a good sport, too, doing better on the speed-climbing wall than most of us ever will. Streaming on YouTube.
The Nose
What will you learn? Here’s another good technical primer about speed climbing, but in an outdoor setting. Speed climbing up a set route isn’t exactly the same as standardized speed climbing inside, but the “go fast†principle is similar enough. This three-part series follows Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell as they pair up to take back the speed-climbing record of the Nose route on El Capitan, an endeavor that has them climbing way faster and more riskily than Caldwell would like (he’s the steady, methodical climber, as evidenced in The Dawn Wall) and hitting an array of obstacles that slow them down. These two have been titans in climbing for so long that it’s nice to see them face some competition, and friends for so many years that they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, which makes them a great team. Consider this like watching the climbing equivalent of a doubles tennis match. Streaming on Redbull.com (part one, part two, part three).
The scene in Alien: Covenant that’s an homage to Ridley Scott’s climber brother, Tony
What will you learn? If you, like me, came away from learning about climbing not just obsessed with doing the sport but also with finding out who else likes climbing, this one’s for you. There’s this moment in the beginning of Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant when Daniels (Katherine Waterston) is mourning the death of her husband, Jacob (James Franco), by gathering up his things, and she fully breaks down while watching a clip of him rock climbing. As he’s hanging off the mountain and recording himself — and his fellow climber in the background slips and nearly falls to his death — Jacob apologizes for climbing without her but implores her to join him. The purity of that, of finishing an ascent and wanting to share the view and the feat with someone you love only seconds after you confront the possibility of death, is both a really beautiful moment in an otherwise grueling and gory film and a little nod from Ridley to his younger brother and fellow filmmaker Tony, who died by suicide in 2012 and was, as Ridley shared in this New Yorker profile, an avid climber. It’s impossible to read the last few paragraphs of this piece, in which Ridley talks about Tony’s love for climbing and shares “a photo on the wall, showing a youngish Tony sitting on a craggy mountaintop, a cliff yawning behind him,†and not apply that knowledge to the thrilling, dynamic, gorgeously present feeling of Tony’s films. So no, Alien: Covenant doesn’t really have anything to do with the Olympics. But the vibe of that scene and what it captures about the euphoria of climbing fits. Streaming on Hulu.
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