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Mark Agnew

Climbing documentaries are inspiring whether you are a climber or not. Watching people determined to crush their goal is a sure way to fire you up.
There are a host of climbing programmes on a range of streaming services to get you started.
14 Peaks – Netflix
Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja was an unknown climber from Nepal who set an audacious goal. There are just 14 8,000m peaks in the world and the record for climbing them all was over seven years. Purja declared he would climb them all in just six months.
He uses his incredible journey to shine a light on the Nepalese climbing community, who are under appreciated and often the forgotten heroes of the mountaineering world, maligned as “just” porters.


Free Solo – Disney +
This is the only Oscar winner on the list, winning Best Documentary Feature in 2018. It follows Alex Honnold on his quest to climb El Capitan, without a rope.
The huge wall that rises high above Yosemite Valley in the US is an icon in the climbing world. But you do not have to be a climber to understand what is at stake. Honnold is set on climbing it, using nothing but his hands and feet. One mistake and all is lost.
Add into the mix a fledging love interest and you have yourself a story.


Touching The Void – Buy on Amazon Prime or Apple TV
This is an absolute classic and another award winner, earning itself a BAFTA. Released in 2003 it is still as gripping today as it was then. Joe Simpson and Simon Yates set out to climb a remote peak in Peru in 1988.
Simpson breaks his leg, and Yates tries desperately to get him off the mountain as a storm rages around them. Soon Yates is forced to decided to save himself or wait until they both perish.
This incredible recreation, accompanied with interviews with both Simpson and Yates, shows just what humans can endure when forced to fight for their lives.


Dawn Wall – Netflix
This documentary has all the twists, false dawns and hero’s journey touch points you would expect in a fictional film, except it really happened.
Tommy Cadwell was a teenage prodigy in the climbing world. He was set for big things. He and a group of other promising climbers went to Kyrgyzstan for a sponsored climbing trip.
The group were kidnapped by al Qaeda and Cadwell was forced to make a choice – them or us. He pushed his captor off a cliff, and saved his friends.
On returning to the US, he becomes obsessed with El Capitan. He projects all of his trauma and life’s problems onto the mighty wall. Eventually, he sets himself the target of climbing the featureless Dawn Wall, a seemingly impossible route up El Capitan.
It is more than a climb, but a character arc from tragedy to triumph.


Pretty Strong – Vimeo
You may have noticed, climbing documentaries are a male dominated genre. But that is not because there is a lack of elite women in climbing.
Pretty Strong follows eight of the world’s strongest climbers, as they crush their goals from multi-pitch ascents to tough boulders.
The sweeping cinematography will make your hands sweat, as you see these elite climbers hang by nothing more than their finger tips, suspended above nothing but air.
Prepare to feel motivated to go out and crush your own goals.




Why Taipei 101 climber Alex Honnold loves free soloing buildings and what he’s eyeing next

US climber conquers Taipei’s tallest building without safety gear

US climber hopes ascent of Taipei 101 inspires others to use time in ‘most meaningful way’

Nepal to clean up Mount Everest’s waste by limiting climbers, flying more drones

Climbing and mountaineering

Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon climbing films that rock, from 14 Peaks to Free Solo

Alex Honnold, the star of Free Solo, climbs with no rope. Photo: National Geographic/Jimmy Chin

Climbing guide says at least 100 people infected with coronavirus on Mount Everest

An expert climbing guide says a coronavirus outbreak on Mount Everest has infected at least 100 climbers and support staff. Photo: AP

Prayer flags flutter in the breeze at Mount Everest. An American man climbing Mount Everest has became one of the season's first casualties. (Kristy Durbridge/Dreamstime/TNS)

Mountain guide Lukas Furtenbach in Kathmandu, Nepal on Saturday. Photo: AP

Sport climber Au Chi-fung selected as flag bearer for 169-strong Hong Kong mission to National Games

Au Chi-fung of Hong Kong (left) competes with Chon Jong-won of South Korea at the 2018 Asian Games in Palembang, Indonesia. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa08286074 Iranian Daniyal Shabakhsh (blue) wins his Men's Featherweight bout against Yu Sing Tso (red) from Hong Kong, at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Boxing qualification tournament in Amman, Jordan, 11 March 2020. EPA-EFE/ANDRE PAIN

Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Cycling - Track - Women's Sprint - Medal Ceremony - Izu Velodrome, Shizuoka, Japan - August 8, 2021. Bronze medallist Lee Wai Sze of Hong Kong poses with her medal. REUTERS/Matthew Childs

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor officiates at flag presentation ceremony for HKSAR Delegation to 14th National Games of the People's Republic of China. 20AUG21 SCMP / Felix Wong

French climber pockets share of Mont Blanc jewels after 2013 find

Climbers walk on the Mont-Blanc Massif in the French Alps. Photo: AFP

From cook to elite climber: a Liuzhou native’s rise from ‘making rice balls and killing salmon’ to becoming one of China’s best

Lu Chunfeng climbing in Yangshuo. Photo: Handout

Lu Chunfeng in Yangshuo. Photo: Alex Reshikov

Lu Chunfeng climbs red sandstone in Liming, Yunnan Province. Photo: Handout

Lu Chunfeng making dumplings in Yunnan. Photo: Pavel Toropov

Lu Chunfeng climbing in her native Liuzhou, which has some spectacular karst rock formations. Photo: Xuan Niao

Lu Chunfeng doing traditional climbing in Liming. Photo: Handout

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We are in a golden age of climbing documentaries that will inspire you to chase your goals and resolutions
14 Peaks hit the screens recently and Free Solo won an Oscar, but there are others too that will blow your mind



We are in a golden age of climbing documentaries, with Oscar-winner Free Solo and the recently released 14 Peaks, but there are others that will blow your mind.


Disney+