Review
THE ALPINIST – Review
Some people are driven to climb mountains, simply because they are there, as Sir Edmund Hilary famously said. There is a fascination with mountains and the few who actually scale them, people who travel to a rarefied world inaccessible to the rest of us. Well, until Go Pro cameras and drones changed all that, bringing us into that world for a vicarious experience, and amplified by social media.
Thanks to social media, climbers are stars, posting their exploits and amassing huge followings. While the popularity of climbing has grown, indoor and outdoor climbing walls have sprung up everywhere and climbing has even become an Olympic sport. It is no longer a solitary pursuit of elite athletes with specialized skills in the mountains.
Except it still is for some, those practicing mountaineering, or alpinism. Alpinists are those who still climb real, high mountains, and THE ALPINIST focuses on one alpinist who is more a throwback to an earlier era, someone even more apart, someone of astonishing skill who climbs solo, scaling peaks or faces others never attempted, yet has no cameras to record his exploits or social media presence to tout them, not even a phone. At 23-years-old, Canadian solo climber Marc-Andre Leclerc is at the top of the scale already, perhaps first grabbing attention among climbers when he beat Alex Honnold’s record for the fastest scaling of Yosemite – by accident. Although a legend among those in elite climbing circles, Leclerc is unknown to the rest of the world.
Although Honnold quickly retook his record, it illustrates why Leclerc caught the attention of filmmakers Peter Mortimer (The Dawn Wall) and Nick Rosen. While Leclerc is friendly and pleasant, he is more reluctant about having the film crew document his climbs, which he prefers do solo and even without anyone around. Leclerc quietly lives a nomadic life, camping out and climbing, no car and no phone. He and girlfriend, climber Brette Harrington, sometimes climb together and he has many friends among the climbing community, as he travels the world to climb the toughest peaks but he simply has no interest in posting his accomplishments on social media as others do.
It was an older, and purer, style of mountain climbing, as several of the interviewees point out, which was about personal skill rather than conquering mountains, something climbers call alpinism. Firsts are everything to alpinists, and they are to the ambitious Leclerc too, but he does not care if the rest of the world knows about them.
THE ALPINIST follows the elusive, off the radar Leclerc, something even having to track him down, and documents his amazing exploits. It is co-directed by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen, climbers themselves, and narrated by Mortimer. The documentary follows in the wake of a number of films about elite climbers, including director Mortimer’s own previous film DAWN WALL, which follows a pair of climbers attempting to conquer the Dawn Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. THE ALPINIST offers insightful commentary, about Leclerc but also about alpinism itself, from a number of top climbers, including Alex Honnold, the subject of FREE SOLO, Reinhold Messner, and Barry Blanchard, as well as interviews with Leclerc’s alpinist girlfriend Brette Harrington and others.
Clearly intelligent and an avid reader even as a child, Leclerc is an energetic, pleasant, smiling and likable fellow but a man of few words. The camera captures his impressive athletic ability even off the mountainside, as he turns flips on a trampoline and does complex turns with a hoola hoop while camping out with fellow climbers. He and his girlfriend live a nomadic life, living in tents wherever they are climbing around the globe. He has no car and no phone. At first, he is cooperative with all the shooting, but he grows increasingly restive, and then vanishes. He proves elusive for the filmmakers, becoming as invisible to them as to social media, as Leclerc preferred to pursue his peaks for his own personal reasons.
Unsurprisingly, the visual aspect of the film is breathtaking, with Go-Pro, drone footage and other footage that allows us to follow Leclerc’s wild adventures clinging to mountains. Footage of Leclerc just goofing around with fellow climbers at a group camp, turning flips on a trampoline and doing stunts with a hoola hoop, showcase his amazing athleticism even on the ground. But it is, of course, the footage of him clinging to the mountainside with just hands and climbing shoes that is most impressive. When he climbs ice walls on mountains, with his weight suspended from an ice ax, and more so when he climbs the even more difficult mix of ice, snow and rock, which requires him to switch equipment and styles while mid-climb, the view is simply jaw-dropping. In one harrowing moment, Leclerc is suspended from an ice ax and his climbing shoe spikes only, on an ice flow far out from the rock face, one of the most heart-stopping scenes.
Leclerc describes such climbs as “fun” or maybe even “memorable.” The documentary delves into Leclerc’s childhood growing up in rural British Columbia, surrounded by mountains, and his struggles with ADD/ADHD. Focusing often helps with that, and mountain climbing certainly demands focus. It also delves into Leclerc’s risk-taking nature, a plunge into drug use, and his recovery with the help of girlfriend and fellow climber Brette, and with the help of climbing itself.
While focused on Leclerc, the documentary also gives us deep insights into alpinism itself, the adventure of climbing of mountains, its history and its enduring appeal. At an earlier time, mountain climbing was about scaling peaks, conquering them with teams and cutting edge technology, like the summiting of Everest. But as peaks were conquered, the emphasis shifted to the sheer skill of the climber and the adventure of it, and climbing with less equipment. More recently, climbing evolved into something more like a sport, done indoors in gyms, while alpinists still preferred the mountains. Commentary by top alpinists like Reinhold Messner and Barry Blanchard, in particular, give us telling insights on the passion for mountains and climbing them, and a look at how the passion for exploring them has evolved, as well as expert insights on Leclerc in particular.
Alpinism, climbing mountains, is inherently risky and climbing solo, without ropes and little or no equipment, more so. Even with perfect skills and no mistakes, climbers are still at risk from chance events like extreme weather, avalanches and rock fall. Yet it is striking how calm and confident the best, like Leclerc, always seem. Leclerc’s goal is to combine athleticism with a knowledge of climbing techniques and the mountains themselves, to achieve what seems unachievable.
Yet, as Leclerc pushes himself farther and farther, he is climbing peaks and doing things that challenge even “the very best on their very best day” as Blanchard puts it. Soloing is risky and Leclerc prefers to climb with no one around. While working on the film, the directors notice Leclerc’s growing restlessness and discomfort with the camera. Then their subject vanishes, and they are forced to track him down by following rumors and glimpses. He resurfaces after yet another remarkable feat, which he tells them was an experience he wanted to keep for himself but gladly recreates for their camera. Then it is off to Patagonia, this time with filmmakers in tow, to solo an impossible peak, the nearly vertical spire of Torre Egger – in winter, the worst time of the year, an insanely difficult task. It is typical of Leclerc’s drive to push the very edge of the possible.
THE ALPINIST opens Friday, Sept. 10, at Marcus Ronnie’s 20 and Chesterfield 14, and select theaters nationally.
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
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