Ice Climbing
13 amazing climbing films you can watch any time you like
Check out our selection of the best climbing movies that you could be watching right now online, on Red Bull TV or via download.
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There are lots of good films about climbing out there, but the ones on this list will blow your mind. Most climbing movies combine spectacular scenery with amazing feats and genuine drama – but these focus on the human side, getting right to the heart of some of climbing’s greatest legends and stories.
Every one is worth a couple of hours of your attention, whether you’re into climbing or not.
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01
Momentum
21 min
Momentum: Angie Scarth-Johnson
Spend a year touring the world with Australia’s Angie Scarth-Johnson as she pushes the boundaries of climbing.
- Director: Liqen Studio
- Length: 20 minutes
- In a nutshell: Exploring the talents of Aussie climbing prodigy Angie Scarth-Johnson
This film follows the journey of Australian climbing prodigy Angie Scarth-Johnson as she tours the globe pushing the boundaries of rock climbing. Angie has been creating waves on the climbing scene ever since the age of nine when she scaled a major 8b grade climb. More achievements have followed since, including the successful ascents of three 9a grade climbs in Victimas del Futur, Victimas Perez and Pornographie in her latter teen years. Her rapid progress has been so quick that it's left the climbing community wondering what she'll conquer next.
02
Tribute to Failure
1 h 6 min
Tribute to Failure
Four Swiss alpinists attempt the first ascent of a new route on the 6,543m Shivling in India.
- Director: Jochen Schmoll
- Length: 66 minuties
- In a nutshell: Success isn’t always about being on top of the mountain
In 2021, four Swiss mountaineers – Nicolas Hojac, Jonas Schild, Andy Schnarf and Stephan Siegrist – made an attempt to try a new route up India's legendary Mount Shivling. If they succeeded, it would be the first accession of the mountain on its south side. A decision was ultimately made to abandon the attempt when Schnarf suffered a high-altitude pulmonary edema and had to be taken off the mountain. Tribute to Failure shows the boundless courage and unconditional solidarity of Hojac and his colleagues in the face of adversity.
03
Gigante de Pedra
37 min
Gigante de Pedra
Brazilian climber Felipe Camargo climbs the world's largest cave mouth at PETAR in the interior of São Paulo.
- Director: Rafa Calil
- Length: 37 mins
- In a nutshell: Climbing the world's largest cave
Thought to be the largest cave mouth in the world, the Casa de Pedra in the PETAR state park, near São Paulo, was unsurprisingly on the radar of Brazilian climber Felipe Camargo as a potential place that he wanted to climb. Years in the planning, the opportunity to get on site finally came in 2022 when he and team of five other climbers made the first ascent of the cave wall.
04
Dawn Wall
The Dawn Wall
Free climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson attempt to scale the 915m Dawn Wall of El Capitan, California.
- Directors: Peter Mortimer, Josh Lowell
- Length: 100 minutes
- In a nutshell: The hardest big wall climb in the world
When Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson completed their epic 19-day ascent of Dawn Wall in California's Yosemite National Park in 2015, their story went viral across the world. Dawn Wall chronicles not just the successful ascent, but Caldwell's seven-year obsession with the route and the drivers that led he and Jorgeson there.
05
Red Bull Dual Ascent
36 min
Red Bull Dual Ascent
Sixteen world-class athletes on eight teams battle to be the fastest up a wall of six gruelling pitches.
- Director: Oliver Martin
- Length: 37 minutes
- In a nutshell: The world's best climbers competing against each other
In 2022, some of the best climbers in the world came together for an outdoor climbing competition which broke boundaries in terms of man-made-route climbing events. Red Bull Dual Ascent involved eight teams battling it out to be the fastest up a wall of gruelling six pitches up Switzerland’s Verzasca Dam. The teams competed on two exact routes, side-by-side on a 180m-high route.
The film tells the story of that first event and features climbing talent that includes Sasha DiGiulian, Domen Škofic, Petra Klingler, Angie Scarth Johnson, Helmut Putz, Shauna Coxsey, Matty Hong, Jernej Kruder, Cedar Wright, Louna Ladevant, Jacopo Larcher and Alberto Gines López.
06
Valley Uprising
1 h 39 min
Valley Uprising
Join Alex Honnold for an inside look into how climbers carved out a counterculture lifestyle in Yosemite.
- Directors: Peter Mortimer, Nick Rosen and Josh Lowell
- Length: 90 minutes
- In a nutshell: Yosemite National Park’s counterculture climbing scene up close
Valley Uprising is the riveting and unforgettable tale of the bold rock climbing tradition in California's Yosemite National Park: half a century of struggle against the laws of gravity -- and the laws of the land.
Get to know how climbers carved out a counterculture lifestyle of dumpster-diving and wild parties that clashed with the conservative values of the National Park Service in the shady campgrounds of Yosemite valley.
07
360 Ascent
48 min
360 Ascent
Climbers Janja Garnbret and Domen Škofic scale the tallest artificial multi-pitch route in the world.
- Director: Kunstkollectiv
- Length: 48 minutes
- In a nutshell: Slovenian pair climb the tallest chimney in Europe
For six years, the chimney at Trbovlje Power Station has stood dormant and during that time Domen Skōfic has set about trying to ascend what is the tallest chimney of its kind on the continent.
Finally, he gets the all clear and teams up with fellow Slovenian climber Janja Garnbret for a marathon ascent unlike anything either of them have experienced on the World Cup circuit. 360 Ascent lives through the thrills, falls and race against the fading light to reach the summit in a gripping adventure.
08
Beneath the Ice
17 min
Beneath the Ice
Will Gadd uses his unmatched ice climbing skills and knowledge to lead a scientific expedition into a previously unexplored territory beneath the Greenland ice sheet.
- Director: Will Gadd
- Length: 17m
- In a nutshell: Experience the extreme depths of the Greenland ice sheet.
Will Gadd uses his unmatched ice climbing skills and knowledge to lead a scientific expedition into a previously unexplored territory beneath the Greenland ice sheet.
"I've been to some of the craziest places on Earth and climbed some pretty insane stuff, but this is another level," said Gadd.
With temperatures plunging down to -30C, it's an inhospitable environment for Gadd and his partner on the trip, glaciologist Jason Gulley, to do their work, but through their efforts new information is gleaned about the Greenland ice cap and how it melts.
09
Lunag Ri
35 min
Lunag Ri 2nd Attempt
David Lama and Conrad Anker make a second attempt to climb the 6,907m Himalayan peak, Lunag Ri.
- Directors: Michael Ginthoer and Martin Hanslmayr
- Length: 35m
- In a nutshell: A drive to climbing the unclimbed
David Lama and Conrad Ankermake a second attempt to climb the 6,907m Himalayan peak, Lunag Ri. Weather capers, technical challenges and health problems are just a few of the challenges Lama and Anker face as they attempt to make it to the summit.
Of the climb, Lama said: "There are still plenty of unclimbed mountains, but in contrast to Lunag Ri, many of them aren't very attractive from a mountaineering point of view."
Ultimately this second attempt failed, but Lama was able to make a third solo attempt in 2018 and did make it to the summit.
10
Claim Freedom
53 min
Claim Freedom
Four adventurers push themselves physically, mentally and spiritually to conquer what once seemed impossible.
- Directors: Various
- Length: 52m
- In a nutshell: A climber gets to explore the far reaches of his imagination
In Claim Freedom, four adventurers are given the opportunity to take on once-in-a-lifetime challenges. In the climbing segment, big-wall climber Gareth Leah's search for 'supervillain lairs' leads him on an odyssey to São Tomé, an island off the west coast of Africa, to climb the towering Pico Cão Grandé.
11
K2: The Impossible Descent
1 h 6 min
K2 The Impossible Descent
Andrzej Bargiel reaches Pakistan to descend K2, the world's second-highest peak after Mount Everest, on skis.
- Director: Slawomir Batyra
- Length: 1hr 5m
- In a nutshell: Andrzej Bargiel descends K2 on skis
Polish ski mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel made history in June 2018 by skiing down the second-highest mountain in the world, K2, at an altitude of 8,611m. Join Bargiel on this epic journey from Poland to Pakistan and find out more about the project here.
12
Terra Incognita
23 min
Terra Incognita
In 2018 Austrian climber Kilian Fischhuber led an expedition to one of the most remote parts of Siberia.
- Director: Corey Rich
- Length: 23m
- In a nutshell: Kilian Fischhuber goes well and truly off the grid in Siberia
Terra Incognita – literally not mapped. That's exactly what Kilian Fischhuber and his team got when they set out to find and climb a cluster of granite towers in the extremely remote and barely visited Ulakhan-Sis region of Siberia.
Only spotted and photographed for the first time in 2016, no one even knew if the team could find the towers, let alone climb them when they set off on a true adventure for the modern age.
13
The Last Ascent
45 min
The Last Ascent
Will Gadd embarks on a mission to have one last shot at climbing the glaciers of Mount Kilimanjaro.
- Director: Tom Beard
- Length: 45m
- In a nutshell: Will Gadd ice climbing on Kilimanjaro's vanishing snowcap
Sadly, the world's few tropical ice caps are melting rapidly, non more so than Africa's iconic Mount Kilimanjaro, which is losing it's glaciers and ice fields at a frightening rate. Before the ice disappears for ever, renowned ice climber Will Gadd returns to make one last ascent of a mountain he first visited six years earlier in a poignant and thought-provoking film from the top of a continent.
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