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    ‘Arctic Ascent With Alex Honnold” Is as Anxiety-Inducing as It Gets

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    On “Arctic Ascent With Alex Honnold,” big-wall climbers set out to make history. Their tense conversations give a peek inside the interpersonal dynamics of those who regularly risk death.Spoilers follow.About halfway through the new National Geographic three-part docuseries “Arctic Ascent With Alex Honnold,” a vibe shift starts to creep in.Honnold is one of the greatest living big-wall climbers, whose fame ballooned after his historic ascent of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot climb in Yosemite National Park that was chronicled in the 2018 Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo.” Here, he is outnumbered by his five adventure-mates as they cross the Renland ice cap, a vast sheet of ice in Greenland, the first known time it has been traversed by foot.They are in the thick of a harsh 100-mile, six-week trek to Ingmikortilaq, an untouched sea wall that measures nearly 4,000 feet — about the height of three Empire State Buildings. Honnold and two of the team members, Hazel Findlay and Mikey Schaefer — both superstar big-wall climbers themselves — are planning to scale it. For any elite mountaineer, it would be a daunting, perilous and most likely inadvisable undertaking. Honnold told CNN that he had “never done a first ascent of that magnitude, of a wall of that size.”About 90 minutes into the day’s march across the ice cap, whiteout conditions and howling winds bear down on them, zapping all visibility and prompting a pointed back-and-forth.Honnold wants to continue even as they approach the center of a crevasse field, where giant cracks in the surface, some hundreds of feet deep, are hard to spot until they’re nearly underfoot. “My goal for the day is to get all the way across the ice cap,” Honnold says. When Schaefer suggests the group set up camp until the weather clears, Honnold can’t believe what he’s hearing. “Are you kidding?” he asks.The team crosses the Edward Bailey Glacier in Greenland. They would soon encounter a blizzard and have to decide whether to wait it out or continue. “I don’t like stopping if I don’t have to,” Honnold says. “I’d much rather keep moving.”Pablo Durana/National GeographicWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Wild Life’ Review: Their Land Is Our Land

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      This documentary looks at the efforts of Kristine McDivitt Tompkins and Douglas Tompkins to preserve stretches of land in Argentina and Chile.“Wild Life,” the latest eco-conscious documentary from the filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (“Free Solo,” “Meru”) is a rickety helicopter tour of a fascinating marriage; nearly every scene makes you want to stop and explore in more detail. Things move fast with barely a beat of introduction. Those unfamiliar with the American philanthropists Kristine McDivitt Tompkins and her husband, Douglas Tompkins, may feel in the film’s opening minutes as disoriented as if they’ve been dropped in the wilderness. One catches on that the Tompkins purchased a lot of it: more than one million acres in Argentina and Chile, with the goal of gifting the land back as recognized national parks. The scale of the couple’s ambition teeters on the surreal. Asked in archival footage about a massive snow-flocked volcano on the horizon, Doug casually replies, “Yeah, that came with it.”The film doesn’t do much besides pair snippets of the Tompkins’ biographies with staggeringly beautiful shots of Patagonia’s natural splendors. An early effort to structure the running time around Kris’s first summit of a mountain named in her honor by her husband, who died in 2015, unspools clumsily and is eventually set aside. Chin, a climber himself, joined Kris on the trek and must have decided the footage was less interesting than the story that brought her and Doug to Chile in the first place — an unusual adventure in 20th-century capitalism that begins in 1968 with Doug and his friend Yvon Chouinard embarking on a nine-month van expedition through South America and returning home to each start apparel companies: one would found Esprit; the other, Patagonia.These two mountaineers on the precipice of great wealth were also free-spirited “dirtbags,” a word Chin uses with reverence. Yvon doesn’t disagree, explaining, “If you want to understand the entrepreneur, study the juvenile delinquent.” Yvon would soon hire a teenage Kris to work at Patagonia as an assistant packer; she rose to become chief executive. In her 40s, Kris met and married Doug, completing the loop.Chin and Vasarhelyi, married themselves, understand the unity and isolation couples experience when spurred by a shared goal. The details of negotiating this staggering land donation with Chile’s former president Michelle Bachelet include a moment of suspense that’s hard to follow. (The filmmakers seem too shy to ask questions about costs and legal clauses.) But what is clear is the Tompkins’ twin passions for nature and romance, which merge in the metaphors Kris uses to describe her husband’s effect on her life: “You get hit by lightning,” she beams, adding later, “Once, I was a pebble in a stream. Not anymore.”Kris and Doug’s moving love story should be the emotional foundation of the documentary, but it’s edited in a bit too late. Paradoxically, however, we also crave more scenes of their individual transitions from bohemians to business titans. We’re tantalized by a glimpse of Patagonia meetings held barefoot and cross-legged on the corporate carpet, an allusion to Yvon and Doug’s competition to run the most ethical company (though there’s no need for the klutzy needle-drop of the Tears for Fears hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”), and a hasty mention of Doug’s efforts to course-correct the environmentally destructive fast-fashion industry with a 1990 Esprit advertisement asking mall rat teenagers whether their clothes are “something you really need.” I’d watch a real-time documentary on just that next board meeting.Wild LifeRated PG-13 for brief strong language. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘The Last Mountain’ Review: Impossible Summits

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      This documentary from Chris Terrill struggles to make emotional sense of its story, involving a mother and a son who both died on climbs.Even viewers accustomed to mountain-climbing documentaries, in which climbers routinely concede a willingness to face death, may struggle to adjust to the grim stakes of “The Last Mountain,” a documentary that involves two fatal climbs in one family.In 1995, the British mountaineer Alison Hargreaves died, at 33, on descent after summiting K2. In 2019, her son, Tom Ballard, died at 30 making a run at Nanga Parbat nearby in the Himalayas. Like his mother, he was a world-class climber, maybe even born to do it. (In archival audio, Ballard says Hargreaves climbed the Eiger in Switzerland while she was six months pregnant with him.)“The Last Mountain” draws on footage that the director, Chris Terrill, shot of the family over the long term, beginning in the 1990s, when Tom and his sister, Kate, were children. While the film jumps around chronologically, the present action follows Kate to Nanga Parbat after Tom’s death. Near the end, she explains that she “wanted to see what he’d seen.”Terrill doubles back to reconstruct Tom’s final climb, using video and online posts from the expedition, including a moment in which Tom says that it’s “time to go down.” Karim Hayat, a member of the team who turned back, considers why Tom pressed on. The movie raises the possibility that Tom’s climbing partner, Daniele Nardi, was a bit of a daredevil who overcame Tom’s better instincts, but also pushes back on that theory.There are no real answers for anyone in “The Last Mountain.” If Terrill never finds a clear narrative or emotional through line for this account, it’s not entirely a surprise. The material resists attempts at uplift.The Last MountainRated R. Icy deaths. Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

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      ‘Torn’ Review: A Climber’s Son Explores His Father’s Legacy

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      This documentary on the life and death of the mountaineer Alex Lowe demonstrates how unexpected bonds can form around those in grief.Within “Torn,” a brutally intimate documentary on the life and tragic death of the mountaineer Alex Lowe directed by his son, Max, there’s little focus on the world-renowned climber’s many impressive feats to the summit, or even the psychology behind what made him push his body and stamina to their limits. Rather, the film turns its gaze to those who knew Lowe best — or, in the case of his three children, those who barely got the chance to know him at all.It’s a stark tonal shift away from “Free Solo,” one of National Geographic’s previous (and much-lauded) documentaries on a climber, which built a character study around Alex Honnold’s exhilarating free solo climb of El Capitan. Max Lowe, who was only 10 when his father was killed in an avalanche in Tibet, aligns his project closer to “Stories We Tell,” Sarah Polley’s 2013 exploration of her own family history that puts as much emphasis on digging up the truth as the truth itself.Though there are no real secrets to be uncovered regarding Alex Lowe’s motivations for climbing, nor his infectiously exuberant personality in life — which, as seen in the many archival tapes that Max gets access to, could occasionally cause frustration to those around him — the film unavoidably feels confessional and cathartic. The director’s conversations with his mother, Jennifer; his younger brothers, Sam and Isaac; and his stepfather, Conrad Anker, who was once Alex Lowe’s most trusted mountaineering partner, all straddle the line between interview and healing circle, trying to reconcile the real, mortal Alex with the Superman that they and the public at large saw him as. Learning to not only see but embrace that humanity is the central thread of “Torn,” which, by its quiet ending, has demonstrated how unexpected bonds can form around those in grief.TornNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible’ Review: Climbing at a Breakneck Pace

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      A documentary follows the Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Pirja as he tries to add cultural depth to the sport’s highs.As the mountaineering genre continues its ascent into the mainstream, there’s a thesis awaiting a graduate student about male climbers and their mothers, wives or partners. Touched on in the Oscar winner “Free Solo” and summer’s “The Alpinist,” those relationships get screen time in “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible,” about the Nepalese climber Nirmal Purja, known as Nimsdai, and his attempt to summit the world’s 14 highest peaks in seven months. (The previous record was seven years.) While his wife, Suchi Purja, charmingly attempts to explain her husband’s embrace of risk to civilians, it’s his ailing mother who underscores more tender lessons about her son’s drive but also about the mortality we all face.As a young man, Purja enlisted in his country’s legendary armed forces, the Gurkhas, and later joined the United Kingdom Special Forces. He seized on the climbing endeavor, which he called “Project Possible,” as a way to highlight the contributions of Nepalese mountaineers, who are more than the Sherpas to Western expeditions. Early on, the project’s four other climbers — Mingma David Sherpa, Geljen Sherpa, Lakpa Dendi Sherpa and Gesman Tamang — get introduced as vital characters. They are as devoted to Purja’s seemingly mad mission as he is.Much of the documentary’s climbing footage was taken by Purja and his team. The director Torquil Jones uses those images, as well as fresh interviews (the alpine legend Reinhold Messner waxing beautifully existential) and some vivid animation to craft a documentary exploring themes of generosity, danger, drive and national character.In widening its aperture — from the ascents to visits to Purja’s childhood home as well as brief dives into Nepal’s history — “14 Peaks” expands a genre often focused on the feats of individuals to celebrate lessons about vast dreams and communal bonds.14 Peaks: Nothing Is ImpossibleNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

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      ‘The Alpinist’ Review: Dizzying Heights

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      This documentary tries to shed light on the attitude of a Canadian rock climber it describes as “elusive.”In a podcast excerpted at the start of “The Alpinist,” the rock climber Alex Honnold, from the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” is asked to name a climber who impresses him. He cites Marc-André Leclerc, a Canadian whom Honnold says takes on some of the sport’s most difficult challenges in “such a pure style.” Honnold’s remarks suggest Leclerc would happily ascend in obscurity, keeping his accomplishments between him and the mountains.“The Alpinist” — directed by Peter Mortimer (who narrates) and Nick Rosen, both specialists in climb documentaries — tries to pin Leclerc down. The difficulties go beyond filming him at great heights on rock faces covered with ice or snow. While the lanky, curly haired, almost goofy Leclerc proves an affable screen presence — after we’ve watched him ax his way up an icicle wall in the Canadian Rockies, he describes it nonchalantly as “a really good day out” — his commitment to the documentary is tenuous. At one point, he ditches the filmmakers. When they reconnect, he points out that the camera’s presence interferes with the notion of climbing alone: “It wouldn’t be a solo to me if somebody was there.”The movie could stand to demystify how some of its most terrifying early shots were filmed. (Later on, we’re told Leclerc agreed to carry a small camera himself to shoot part of a conquest in Patagonia.) But it does capture its subject’s philosophy. As with Honnold in “Free Solo,” the film raises the prospect that Leclerc was innately predisposed toward thrill-seeking. In Argentina, he says he eats every pre-climb dinner as if it might be his last.The AlpinistRated PG-13. Dangerous climbs. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. In theaters. More