free solo…

Blimey!
I went along to the Watershed this afternoon to see Jimmy Chin+Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s “Free Solo” documentary about free soloist climber Alex Honnoid as he prepared to achieve his lifelong dream of climbing the face of 3,200ft El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, USA in 2017… without a rope.
I have to tell you that, for me, watching this film was a very brave thing to do(!) because I’m absolutely petrified of heights. And yet, despite this fear, I have to admit a deep fascination for mountains and for mountaineering books.
It’s an utterly compelling film – beautiful scenery, stunning views and wonderful photography (undertaken by a remarkable group mountaineer/cameramen and the odd drone), but coupled with the drama of the preparation, Honnoid himself and the other characters involved (including his girlfriend, mother and other mountaineering friends).
Rest assured that the knowledge that one single mistake would cost Honnoid his life – not to mention the memory of three of his free soloist friends who had previously lost their lives on various similar expeditions – was never far from the audience’s minds (a pretty full cinema watched in utter silence!).

I had assumed that the entire documentary would be step-by-step footage of Honnoid’s breathtaking ordeal but, in fact, much of the film was taken up with preparation, rehearsal (with ropes) and making copious notes – literally writing out and learning his own script of the precise movements, specific hand and foothold shifts/balance. Seeing him making numerous attempts (whilst roped) of several impossible-looking manoeuvres… and frequently failing/falling.  

Watching Honnoid climb a sheer mountain face that seemed to lack ANY hand/footholds was absolutely spellbinding... obviously, you KNEW he was going to succeed (but actually he had apparently agreed for the film to be completed even if he’d perished) and, in some ways, that removed some of the tension. But you were just left watching in awe… seeing someone achieve the ‘impossible’ (well, that’s how it was for me).
A remarkable athletic feat and a remarkable film.
It gave a completely new meaning to ‘hanging on by your fingernails’.