Moonlight Sonata follows Taylor McNeill’s long pursuit of a groundbreaking first ascent in Joe’s Valley, where a single boulder problem becomes an all-consuming mission. Across seasons of attempts, the film captures the reality behind elite performance: repetition, setbacks, and the stubborn decision to keep coming back.
What makes this worth watching is its honest focus on the unglamorous grind—nearly 50 days of effort distilled into a tight, high-stakes story of belief under pressure. If you love hard bouldering and the mental battle of projecting at the limit, this is a pure dose of motivation.
Link Sar: The Last Great Unclimbed Mountain follows an elite team into Pakistan’s Karakoram to take on a peak with a reputation for shutting everyone down. With decades of failed attempts and a mountain that offers little margin for error, the film tracks the return of Graham Zimmerman, Steve Swenson, and Mark Richey as they commit to one more shot at the unscaled summit.
What makes this one so gripping is the constant tension of real alpine decision-making: unstable snow, avalanche exposure, and the slow grind of high altitude where every move has consequences. It’s a sharp, fast-paced look at modern expedition climbing—equal parts ambition and restraint—capturing why the world’s hardest objectives aren’t always about difficulty grades, but about surviving long enough to earn the chance.
Floating sauna? Check. Committing moves high above Finland’s biggest lake? Absolutely. Join Finnish climber Nalle Hukkataival for a short, atmospheric session of deep water soloing—where the only “pad” is cold, dark water waiting below.
Known for relentlessly creating new highball problems, Nalle brings that same calm, matter-of-fact mindset to a very different kind of risk. It’s a compact hit of Finnish-style adventure: clean movement, real exposure, and the uniquely freeing feeling of climbing above water where hesitation is the crux.
What does it take to send 5.15a on your very first go? In this Reel Rock short, Adam Ondra chases a goal that borders on the absurd: becoming the first climber to flash a 9a+ sport route. After years of plotting, learning, and coming up short on other contenders, everything comes down to one attempt on Alex Megos’ Supercrackinette in St Léger, France.
This film is a front-row seat to a rare kind of pressure—no do-overs, no “one more try,” just pure execution when it counts. You’ll see the strategy behind a flash at the highest level, the delicate balance of risk and precision, and the electric moment when preparation finally meets possibility.
Daniel Woods goes all-in on one of the fiercest bouldering projects on the planet: Return of the Sleepwalker. Building on Jimmy Web’s iconic Sleepwalker, this film follows the push to add a brutal sit-start and turn an already legendary line into a full-on battle at the very top of the grade.
What makes it so gripping is the raw, step-by-step fight: the failed attempts, the dialed details, the emotion, and the thin margin between progress and shutdown. If you like seeing what elite bouldering really demands—precision, obsession, and a willingness to go deep—this is a front-row seat.
In Black Diamond Presents: Big Walls to Low Balls, Alex Honnold steps away from the towering objectives he’s famous for and takes you into the smaller, subtler side of his climbing life in Red Rocks. What starts as expectations of endless big-wall grandeur turns into a tour of the compact projects he uses to stay sharp and expand his toolkit.
It’s a quick hit of Honnold’s mindset: confidence comes from range, not just reputation. Watch for the contrast between “big send” legend and everyday training sessions on sandstone—where precision, control, and comfort on the rock get built one low ball at a time.
Everest for Mountaineers is a feature-length expedition documentary following Brendan Madden and Patrick McKnight as they train, travel, and commit to a 2018 push toward the highest summit on Earth from the Chinese side.
More than a summit montage, it leans into the full arc of the objective: long preparation, hypoxic training, the logistics of base camp life, and the stark reality of moving and thinking in the death zone. If you like big-mountain process, decision-making under stress, and the pull of one more step upward, this one delivers.
Dean Potter’s “Free Solo Climbing With A Parachute” captures a rare moment in Yosemite history: a visionary climber pushing into his self-described “dark arts,” blending free soloing with the last-resort promise of a BASE rig. This remastered and extended cut revisits his 2008 FreeBASE ascent of The Rostrum, finishing through the infamous Alien Roof.
What makes it unmissable is the uneasy tension between mastery and consequence—moving fast and unroped on steep terrain, with only a parachute and commitment as backup. It’s a sharp portrait of a singular mind in the Valley, and a glimpse into a bold, controversial idea that still feels ahead of its time.
Chris Sharma’s first ascent of Es Pontás is a masterclass in imagination and persistence: a wildly aesthetic line climbing the underside of a freestanding limestone arch above the Mediterranean, where every mistake ends in a clean splash rather than a catch.
It’s worth watching for the sheer drama of psicobloc at its most committing—repeated falls, a huge dyno, and the final sequence that turns a dream into a modern classic. Beyond the send, the film captures why deep water soloing is so captivating: pure movement, high stakes, and a setting that feels almost unreal.
On May 10–11, 1996, a sudden storm turned Everest’s summit push into a desperate fight for survival. Storm Over Everest revisits that day through the eyes of renowned climber and filmmaker David Breashears, who returns to the mountain to reconstruct what happened when multiple teams were trapped high above Camp 4 in a brutal blizzard.
More than a disaster chronicle, this film digs into the split-second decisions, exhaustion, and thin margins that define high-altitude mountaineering. With a clear, step-by-step account of the descent into the death zone—and the human stories behind the headlines—it’s a gripping watch that leaves you thinking about risk, leadership, and what it really costs to stand on top of the world.
