I attended a showing of the Reel Rock Film Tour this weekend at Climbmax Gym. They showcased clips from various climbing movies as well as some amateur shorts, but the star of the show was a full length showing of Sender Films’ new climbing dvd: The Sharp End.
The film follows various climbers around the world who are, in their opinion, pushing the limits of climbing. Climbing is a very demanding sport, and requires the climber to excel in three areas in order to succeed: technical, physical, and mental. The Sharp End focuses on climbers who are pushing their mental limits. How do you make climbing harder, mentally? By making it more dangerous!
Dangerous, scary and committed climbing is the name of the game here. The film showcases climbers doing dangerous R/X routes, free soloing thousands of feet off the deck, sending insane high-ball boulder problems, taking nasty whippers into the wall, ripping through piece after piece of gear, and free soloing with a base rig (AND falling). This is the kind of shit that makes my palms sweaty just watching.
The Sharp End is a well filmed movie, as we’ve come to expect from Sender Films. The commentary is great, and ties into the visuals perfectly. The overall quality is amazing, making you feel like you’re there.
The thing I really hate about this movie, and ultimately the reason why I will pass on buying this dvd, is the fact that they make it feel like the way to push climbing as a sport is to do things that are more dangerous. There was no real focus on doing things that are pushing the number grade limits of climbing. Making climbing harder, mentally, is one way of pushing the sport but not the only.
This film is probably the biggest climbing film of the year, and I hate the fact that new climbers will watch it and love it. I dread the thought of some climber getting hurt because she tries to be cool like Lisa Rands and send some super high-ball problem. The climbers in this film are going to be role models for future climbers. Why focus on making dangerous climbing seem cool and so badass when the sport is progressing in so many other ways and can be awesome without being dangerous?
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE scary climbing that pushes you mentally, but I’m not a fan of dangerous climbing. All of this is of course just my opinion. Climbing Narc did a review of the movie as well, definitely check it out as well for a different perspective.
7 Comments
The fact that this movie will be seen by more general audiences and not just hardcore climbers due to the RRT definitely underscores your point. I hadn’t thought about it that way. Always nice to read some different perspectives!
Thanks! I think the topic of dangerous climbing and pushing the mental bounds of climbing would have been a good segment of the movie, but NOT the main focus.
Ya know Ben I saw this too up in Flagstaff, I agree with most of your sentiments shared here. But climbing is inherently dangerous and long dangerous scary whippers are sexy and sell DVD’s….
So does Dean Potter free soloing the north face of the fuckin EIGER with only a rig on his back….
and Chris Sharma with his shirt off Deep-water-soloing throwing for 9ft. dynos over the ocean in Spain….
…what I’d be more distraught about if I were you was the lack of Asian-climber representation in this film. I mean they could have at least filmed one segment with Tommy Caldwell in a nail salon and you woulda had your asian quota 10 times over….
I guess what I’m trying to say is man up and grow a pair like me…move to the east coast where there is no rock for 3 states, wear a suit and tie all day, and pull on plastic till you rip a tendon then brag about how hardcore your skill is…
…I’ve bouldered highball in California and Lisa Rands can have my kids despite her severe “4 beer” facial issues….
Lol… well put Tim. For you personally, I will film my own climbing video containing 50% asian with a “2 beer” facial issue limit on all females in the movie.
No offense, Ben, but you’re kind of a 2 or 3 beer man yourself. I agree that the Sharp End showcases a lot of dangerous new limits, but everything we do now was that dangerous when it started. Think back to the 40s. Hemp ropes, hiking boots, protecting by tying yourself to as many partners as possible, that’s at least as dangerous as Potter’s BASE solo. Someone’s gotta push the limits, and it’s always dangerous for the first one.
Good point Angus. I agree, pushing new limits will always be dangerous no matter if it’s happening now or back in the 40s or whenever. The question is whether or not it is responsible for the RRT to be showcasing this to a wide audience who will probably see this kind of climbing as cool and badass.
Appreciate the info guys, thanks