Extended footage of Honnold soloing El Sendero Luminoso, yellow shoe rubber?

El Sendero Luminoso - Alex Honnold solo in Mexico footage

First off, here's a bit more footage of Honnold's solo in Mexico. pretty cool to see more, but a lot of fluff if you ask me. If we watched the whole climb with this type of cinematography, his ~3 hour ascent would take 13 weeks to view on the big screen. Just my 2 cents.

I'm curious if anyone knows what the deal is with the yellow shoe rubber on his Miuras?

The current trend in climbing movie production is awful. I haven't seen a good climbing movie in a while, we are stuck in out of focus movie-shorts hell right now.

mountainproject.com/v/miura…

Ray Pinpillage wrote:The current trend in climbing movie production is awful. I haven't seen a good climbing movie in a while, we are stuck in out of focus movie-shorts hell right now.

I think the Reel Rock extra film showing Sharma and Ondra's ascents of La Dura Dura was really well done. Fluff was kept to a bare minimum, and the sends were shown with almost no editing. We just got to watch them climb.

Seth Cohen wrote: I think the Reel Rock extra film showing Sharma and Ondra's ascents of La Dura Dura was really well done. Fluff was kept to a bare minimum, and the sends were shown with almost no editing. We just got to watch them climb.

I thought the Bro-Brah back slapping was lame. The video seemed very self important. And again, blurry short-film hell.

mountainhick wrote:I guess some people like watching their heros eating cereal.

They must cause that sort of thing seems to be about 80% of the content of a modern climbing film. How much of the Honold solo was actual climbing? Color me unimpressed, I don't care about Cedar Wright or his artistic vision of cactus viewed from a small town.

I believe that the film was short because I have heard Alex mention in a different interview that he really does not like cameras rolling while he is doing a solo as intense as this climb obviously was. They probably shot what they could were it was safe and convenient for the film crew. That must be a hard location to shoot.

While the footage was sparse I thought the shots that they did get of him climbing were pretty mind blowing. Despite being short it told the story quite well, the climb was dangerous and making one mistake means one thing. It didn't need to be long to be impressive.

I agree that I like to see climbing in climbing videos, but if you have ever tried to get footage of a one time event, it can be tough. I would bet that doing retakes was not going to happen. We should be glad we get any footage at all!

Yellow Vibram

I wish they would have shown the crux. I'm curious what the 12+ section is like. The 12a section looked pretty freaking insecure.

Darren in Vegas wrote:I agree that I like to see climbing in climbing videos, but if you have ever tried to get footage of a one time event, it can be tough. I would bet that doing retakes was not going to happen. We should be glad we get any footage at all!

I can see that being the case here, but when he did Fine Jade for the Goal Zero commercial, he reshot sections multiple times.

Darren in Vegas wrote:I agree that I like to see climbing in climbing videos, but if you have ever tried to get footage of a one time event, it can be tough. I would bet that doing retakes was not going to happen. We should be glad we get any footage at all!

Watch the video again and count the camera angles. They had a remote helo-camera. The climb took 3+ hours and they showed roughly 1 minute of film and 5 minutes extraneous commentary and production value.

I don't meant to criticize just this film, rewatch the Sharma film mentioned. It's the same thing. I get that climbing can be a little boring to watch but the current trend in climbing films is minimal climbing and lots of hotair and artistically blurry chop.

Well that footage isn't from his actual 3hr ascent. Read the Q&A here:
Honnald Q&A

From the Article...
"I saw the photo of you getting into your harness on the wall. What was going on there?"

[Laughs] Well that's how you film the soloing process. We did a lot of documenting up there. I had just soloed a whole pitch to that block, and it just marked a natural end and a good spot to put my harness on. [During] one of the other pitches I soloed, Renan Ozturk hung an aider on a bolt. I just hung on it and stepped in. That's the thing with filming soloing, it's just filled with shenanigans.

It fed the rat so I liked the video, but then I've been stuck in cold snowy conditions for 3 weeks straight.

I completely disagree with all of the negative chatter in regard to the short El Sendero Luminoso film. The photography is breathtaking, the slo-mo works great, you get a great feeling for the airiness, loneliness, and diceyness of Alex's position on that wall, and Cedar Wright adds a nice human element.

I think that what some people refer to as "fluff" might also be called "good film-making." Some viewers would prefer a move-by-move video of a three-hour climb? No thanks. I know Alex a little bit, and he's a relatively humble, normal guy, and I think that this also comes across in the film. (Lord knows there are already enough egocentric jerks in climbing these days . . .)

I thought the film was really well done. Some of the cinematography was breathtaking.
Kudos to the guys/gals who put in the effort and produced a cool product.

Nick Grant wrote:I think that what some people refer to as "fluff" might also be called "good film-making."

Couldn't agree more. Climbing is about more than just doing technical moves, I can't stand videos that are nothing more than a camera aimed at someone climbing.
If you are not interested in Wright and Ozturk's artistic vision then don't watch the video, in the long run Honnold's climb is just a physical act, the vision behind it is what makes it interesting.

What's with all the bad chi, bros?

I think some of you may be focusing on the wrong parts of this video. i.e.; the film maker's creative vision, instead of Honnold's bold accomplishment.

Anyway, I thought it was good as far as climbing videos go. It tells a story... That's what film as a medium is supposed to do. Some of my favorite climbing videos do the same thing this one does; provide an bit of insight into the climber in question's world as a whole, not just what it looks like when they are climbing.

Nick Grant wrote:I completely disagree with all of the negative chatter in regard to the short El Sendero Luminoso film.

+1

All this talk about wish we could have seen the crux or who wants to watch him eat cereal is downright disrespectful. We are lucky enough to even hear about Alex's ascents, not to mention watch footage of him soloing.

Take a deep breath and think about what you just watched...no, I mean really think about it. We got to see Alex, arguably the boldest climber on earth, purely in his element from the comfort of our homes. In a way, we got to share it with him. In regards to something of this scale, it is Alex that should be given the space needed to absorb such an experience. Imagine soloing something in the ballpark of your limit (and not a crack, but a dicey face) and then picture a camera man hanging out above you. Would that make you uneasy? He's willing to compromise by allowing some footage of him on difficult terrain. Is that not enough???

Mitch Musci wrote: +1 All this talk about wish we could have seen the crux or who wants to watch him eat cereal is downright disrespectful. We are lucky enough to even hear about Alex's ascents, not to mention watch footage of him soloing. Take a deep breath and think about what you just watched...no, I mean really think about it. We got to see Alex, arguably the boldest climber on earth, purely in his element from the comfort of our homes. In a way, we got to share it with him. In regards to something of this scale, it is Alex that should be given the space needed to absorb such an experience. Imagine soloing something in the ballpark of your limit (and not a crack, but a dicey face) and then picture a camera man hanging out above you. Would that make you uneasy? He's willing to compromise by allowing some footage of him on difficult terrain. Is that not enough???

Here's a little something for your spank-bank.

My comment has been partially mistaken. I think the footage surrounding the climbing is great and really builds the story. I also agree that move by move, uncut documentation gets a bit old... I think that there is fine balance between raw, uncut footage and 10 feet of climbing displayed in 10 minutes of slow motion film. All in all I enjoyed the piece, but I think the coverage of the climbing could have been better. I enjoyed the footage of Honnald's Yosemite triple (watkins, half dome, el cap) much more. I felt more 'gripped' I believe because of the difference in filming style. Granted, the helicopter does provide a unique perspective which provides the viewer an appreciation of the exposure involved in the climb.