MIT Lecture Series Committee

October 30, 2012

unrated
120 minutes

view trailer

format: digital

Reel Rock 7 (2012)

This special event is sponsored by the MIT Outing Club and hosted by LSC! Tickets are $5 with an MIT ID if purchased online, or $10 for the general public and at the door. Online tickets can be purchased through the MITOC page.

The Reel Rock film tour brings the best in climbing and adventure films to local audiences across the globe. From battling Himalayan peaks to a battle on Spanish limestone to establish the world's first 5.15c, from the non-conformist world of offwidth climbing to the new found fame of the boundary-pushing sport of free soloing, this year's films are nothing short of intrepid tales that will get your palms sweating from beginning to end.

The Dura Dura

Chris Sharma has been the "king" of sport climbing for 15 years, and has created a mecca for hard routes near his home in Catalunya, Spain. Now, the Czech wunderkind, 19-year-old Adam Ondra, has come to Sharma's home turf to take the torch. Sharma and Ondra battle to establish the world's first 5.15c, while Sasha DiGiulian and Daila Ojeda shred women's standards with strong ascents of their own.

The Shark's Fin

Legendary alpinist Conrad Anker nurtured a 20 year obsession with The Shark's Fin, a spectacular unclimbed granite buttress on the 6,310-meter Mt. Meru, in India. In 2008 Anker, with Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk, endured a grueling 18 day push to get within hundreds of feet of the summit, only to be turned back. Three years later, the trio makes tough decision to return, despite Anker's deep family ties, and Ozturk's ski accident just six months before the trip, which resulted in a fractured skull, a broken neck, and serious doubts about going back.

Wide Boys

American offwidth climbing has spawned a counter-culture of rough and tumble characters who aren't afraid to bleed their way up a route. So when two proper British lads, Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker, crossed the pond to eat up the gnarliest wide cracks in the West -- including the first ascent of the world's hardest offwidth known as Century Crack -- it came as quite a shock.

Honnold 3.0

Alex Honnold has become known as the boldest soloist of his generation. In this dangerous game, how does he balance pure ambition with self-preservation? From highball boulder first ascents to 5.13 free solos, from far-flung trad climbing adventures, to speed records on The Nose, Honnold wrestles with this question in preparation for his biggest adventure yet -- the Yosemite Triple. In under 19 hours he climbs Mt. Watkins, El Cap, and Half Dome, 95% of it free solo.

[reelrocktour.com]