Extreme Climbing Trilogy | Free Solo, The Down Wall, Meru

Johnathon 2022-04-07 09:01:07

The first time I went to the town of Chamonix, France, the most impressive place was a small street to commemorate the people who passed away due to mountain climbing. The outdoor guide who has been living in the town of Chamonix told me with great emotion that it is like climbing a snow mountain. In such extreme sports, life is on the line, so it is very difficult to achieve longevity. For me, surfing and cross-country over 100 kilometers are already extreme sports. In fact, I have never really understood and experienced extreme sports. The trip to Chamonix was the first close contact with snow mountain climbing and alpine skiing. But after actually watching the real documentaries of these three extreme sports, I was deeply shocked. The limit of this reality is far greater than what I have seen and imagined before.

The small town of Chamonix, France, in the photo is Ueli Steck known as the "Swiss Machine" (1976-2017.04.30)

Little Ice Age ice sea glacier mer de glace at 2900 meters north of Mont Blanc

If you want to know the real record of extreme rock climbing watch Free Solo Guaranteed to see your palms sweating

If you want to know the real life story of extreme rock climbing, watch The Dawn Wall and you will be in tears

If you want to know about the real adventure of extreme climbing watch Meru Guarantee you have a new understanding of adventure

Free solo won this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary Film and received a lot of attention. Another important reason to put these three films together is that after free solo protagonist Alex and The down wall protagonist Tommy have gone through different stages of life, they met in the documentary free solo and became mentors and friends. And one of the protagonists of Meru is Jimmy, the director of Free solo. The characters of the three documentaries are intertwined through the three films.

The first Free solo : This is a true extreme rock climbing documentary . The photo is of the American mountaineering god Alex Honnold climbing Yosemite without protection alone, the kilometer rock wall El Cap. Free Solo means unprotected rock climbing. It is the most dangerous and extreme form of rock climbing. It sounds like suicide, which is completely beyond normal people's understanding of risk. Like fellow mountaineer Tommy's metaphor, it's an Olympic gold-medal-level event, but if you don't get the gold medal you die. Even the people who made the movie are several mountain climbing gods. In this film, Alex said a word from his heart: the purpose of life is not to be happy, but to pursue and achieve: Nobodyever achieved anything significant by being happy.

The second The Dawn Wall : This is an extreme rock climbing feature film. A feature film about Tommy's rocky climbing career. It tells the story of a stunted child growing into a mountaineering genius. And then in Kyrgystan was kidnapped and forced to kill to escape, completely changed Tommy's character, but also contributed to the union with his girlfriend Beth. In real life, there is no old age. The divorce with Beth inspired Tommy's obsession with climbing The Dawn Wall. Tommy spent 6 years researching the route, and later found his climbing partner Kevin Jorgesen to climb together. The most tangled part of the film is Kevin's numerous failures in Pitch 15. Under the watchful eyes of many media, Tommy's tenacity and tenacity of not giving up his partner and Kevin is also the most touching part of the film.

The third Meru: an incredible climbing route, a timeless climbing mentorship friendship , Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk. The protagonist Jimmy Chin in the film is the director of the first Free Solo, a real slasher, rock climber, photographer, and director. Because his extreme rock climbing is well known to the public, he has captured many wonderful moments of rock climbers. Jimmy is of Chinese descent. He is modest, firm, and rational. In desperate situations, he can best show a person's self-cultivation, and this kind of thing can inspire great energy. The three of them only took friendship and went to the place of shark fins in the mountaineering world. No one has ever reached the summit of Mount Meru. The natural environment here is very harsh. After the failure of the first climb, Renan was in distress, and for the second time, he brought Renan, who had recovered from injury, to embark on the Meru expedition again. Friendship and adventure are fully reflected in this documentary.

find fulfillment in life

In this Free Solo film, Alex said a word from his heart: the purpose of life is not happiness, but pursuit and achievement. Nobody ever achieved anythingsignificant by being happy. For fans of these extreme sports, climbing to the highest point is the sense of achievement in life. This moment is the intersection of heaven, hell and the world. Because of this, the only way to challenge yourself is to exercise. Only people with a sense of achievement in life can become the explorers and practitioners of extreme sports. Whether it is real extreme sports or inner extreme sports, I often joke with friends that practitioners in the primary market and secondary market are free solos in their hearts and find a sense of achievement in life.

self-exploration

No one knows where their limits are, whether it is an external challenge limit or an internal psychological limit, there is always something that drives this kind of exploration, just like where the limits of these extreme sports are, no one can answer, self. Where is the limit, no one can answer.

Achieve greatness with passion like first love and will like religious

Ordinary sports require a healthy body, persistent training, and mastering core skills, while extreme sports require courage + courage + concentration to give up everything. This is an abnormal expedition of abnormal human beings, and it has achieved such greatness with the enthusiasm of first love and the will of religion. Doing anything that pushes you beyond yourself and increases your odds of success requires the spirit of an extreme athlete.

It wasn't just a climb. It was all consuming.

It wasn't just a draw. It was all life.

Focus and objective, breathe and practice, dream big and do small.

Love

These three documentaries spend a lot of time talking about family, friendship, and love, which have played a vital role in them at different stages of life, starting for friendship, starting for love, starting for the love in their hearts, family, friendship and love The love in life gives the support and understanding of giving up everything to pursue the greatest, even giving up life to take risks. Love is what makes each other a better us.

In addition to emotional love, these extreme athletes showed me a broad-minded love. Alex set up a fund with one-third of his income to help more people.

Alex and tommy research climbing routes in Free Solo

tommy and his wife

Meru trio

Director Jimmy and his wife shot Free Solo together

Tommy and Kevin climb the Dawn Wall to push the limits of humanity

Conrad in Meru ascends to the top with the wish of his deceased once dearest friend

Before writing this article, I went to the rock climbing gym to experience indoor rock climbing. It is very difficult for me to find a balance under all kinds of equipment. There is no equipment, a flat rock wall, an extremely harsh environment, and a long time line. , Under the extremely boring and highly focused situation, the limit of human beings is broken again and again by such a group of people, and then tell us: forever young! never limit!

Note: The source of the pictures is personal shooting, online public posters, and video screenshots

The article comes from the public account "Miracle of Flight"

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Extended Reading
  • Ansley 2022-04-23 07:06:09

    Infinite romance, infinite cuteness.

  • Beaulah 2022-04-23 07:06:09

    I do not know what to say. If I hadn't seen these records with my own eyes, I simply don't believe anyone could have done this.