Ryan Phillippe has Summit Fever

[spoony]

i enjoyed touching the void, and also thought meru was good.
i have not seen the alpinist, the dawn wall, or solo, but have had others recommend all 3.

The Alpinist was freaking amazing. And massive hype notwithstanding, I did like Free Solo.

[seano]

This movie finally came out on Hulu. Def giving Vertical Limit competition for the best worst climbing movie.

What do you think the best climbing/mountaineering movies are? (not being sarcastic, honestly curious to see if I've missed any)

Touching the Void, Valley Uprising, and Dawn Wall are the first three that come to mind. Free Solo is skippable.

[disentangled]

I've watched Touching the Void a few times and found it very compelling, more so than some of the others mentioned.

[Gene913]

What do you think the best climbing/mountaineering movies are? (not being sarcastic, honestly curious to see if I've missed any)[/quote]

It might be on Prime, not sure, but Fine Lines is pretty watchable. Title is derived from the statement in the movie, "there is a fine line between bad ass and dumb ass."

[Cygnus X1]

Definitely recommend Meru

[maff]

Some good ones include: Meru, Valley Uprising, Dirtbag: the Legend of Fred Beckey, Touching the Void, the Alpinist, Dawn Wall, Sherpa, Mountain, The Summit, Fine Lines, Gasherbrum: Le Montagne Lumineuse (The Dark Glow of the Mountain) (Herzog), The Sanctity of Space, yes Free Solo (well made, great footage, a great feat, still good even if it has wider appeal), K2 & the Invisible Footmen, Torn.

I can add some that I didn't think were anything special, but I'd get through these first.

[CaptainSuburbia]

John Wick Conundrum

[Monster5]

I watched Summit Fever last night and was pleasantly surprised. As far as mainstream Hollywood fictions go, it had some realistic portrayals of group dynamics, motivations, and, most surprising, climbing skillsets.

While overall far more "true" to climbing than Vertical Limit and such, some specifics:

- Biggest gripe: Lightning dynamics. Not much else need be said there without spoilers.
- Second biggest gripe: Lacked the Chamonix hordes up high. They somewhat showed the crowds during the penultimate storm with rescues every which way.
- With respect to technical skills: overall anchors, equipment and ropework were quite reasonable for film, and a heck of a lot better than what you might actually witness out in use around there. The haul systems were a bit weak and nitpicky, but not for dramatic purposes. The general elevated technical proficiency makes sense as they likely had a healthy guide ratio. The length of the traverse fall was quite dramatic, sure, and they clearly showed a harness belay with a rope anchor. The harness follower belay is also reasonable for a moderate snow traverse trying to keep up with a partner. Also, assisted breaking devices seem a bit rare in the Euro hills as double ropes are common anyways. There are some lightweight devices out that accommodate double ropes on lead, but they aren't mainstream. I personally dislike rope anchors as it limits contingency options, but hardly a major issue.
-The geography and route ascents/descents were logistically a bit off around Mt. Blanc, but nobody really cares. They maximized footage around Cosmiques, Helbronner, and Vallee Blanche, which makes total sense from a filming logistics standpoint.
- People dying everywhere: I've spent maybe 15 days in the hills outside of Chamonix and saw 1 dead body and 4 heli rescues triggered by a quick cell phone call. Rappelling accidents still account for the majority of deaths. While a bit dramatic, the film depiction isn't exactly eyebrow raising.
- Sponsor pressure and motivations: I once had an accident where a member of a team above us thought we died in an avalanche. A member of that team turned on their Go-Pro to catch their partner's reaction as he told him we died. The guy was partially sponsored on the trip and owed someone a story. Raw footage outweighed the reality. When someone dies, the individual response is also quite variable. Some want the social comfort, and others want to grieve and mourn more discretely. Just human nature.
- Irrational and illogical decisions plus high tempers up high: totally real.
- Summit fever go/ no go: totally real. JP was actually more accommodating and reasonable than some partners I've had. The successful alpinists plow through the rational doubts that would turn most parties around.
- Calling the party above you amateurs for dropping rocks despite you being the noob party climbing below another party on an alpine route where loose rock is part of the game: totally real.

[justiner]

Scream of Stone. It's about an old trad dad whose long term project is threatened to be onsighted by a climbing gym team kid - with the twist that some dirtbag has already climbed it before any of them.



Also stars Donald Sutherland and Donald Sutherland's mustache. Directed by Werner Herzog.

Any other movie is just playing dress up.

[cedica]

^ Haven't seen that with Cyrillic subtitles yet, which obviously make everything better.

Also didn't know back in '91 that Herzog's mother was Croatian by birth, we were just poor folks without Wikipedia, ya know.

And finally, this was way before Bad Lieutenant P.O.C, after which I will never complain about any movie he made, no matter how ludicrous it looks at the first glance.