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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:41,207 --> 00:00:42,333 Hello, boys and girls. 2 00:00:42,417 --> 00:00:44,687 This is Tim Ferriss, and welcome to "The Tim Ferriss Show". 3 00:00:44,711 --> 00:00:48,548 In this episode, we have one of the most recognized climbers in the world, 4 00:00:48,673 --> 00:00:50,258 Alex Honnold. 5 00:00:50,383 --> 00:00:52,927 - Welcome to the show. - Thanks for having me. 6 00:00:53,010 --> 00:00:55,638 Alex, who impresses you right now? 7 00:00:57,056 --> 00:01:01,227 This kid Marc-André Leclerc. This Canadian guy. 8 00:01:01,310 --> 00:01:03,790 Hardly anyone has heard of him because he's so under the radar. 9 00:01:03,896 --> 00:01:07,358 He's been doing, like, all kinds of crazy alpine soloing. 10 00:01:07,442 --> 00:01:11,446 - What makes it so crazy? - He just goes out and climbs 11 00:01:11,571 --> 00:01:15,116 some of the most difficult walls and alpine faces in the world. 12 00:01:15,241 --> 00:01:18,995 The most challenging things that anyone's ever climbed, really. 13 00:01:19,078 --> 00:01:21,038 So he's just next level? 14 00:01:21,122 --> 00:01:24,208 Yeah, it's, like, so crazy. Like, I don't know. 15 00:01:25,376 --> 00:01:28,254 And for those people who want to see visuals on this stuff, 16 00:01:28,379 --> 00:01:31,132 we'll grab some video and links... 17 00:01:31,257 --> 00:01:33,092 An interesting thing about Marc-André 18 00:01:33,217 --> 00:01:35,571 is I don't know if there is video of most of the stuff he's doing. 19 00:01:35,595 --> 00:01:36,721 Oh, really? 20 00:01:36,888 --> 00:01:39,182 Yeah, he's just going out and climbing for himself 21 00:01:39,348 --> 00:01:42,977 in such a pure style. It's pretty full on. 22 00:02:30,191 --> 00:02:35,029 At 23 years old, Marc-André Leclerc 23 00:02:35,113 --> 00:02:39,659 was already one of the boldest alpinists of his generation. 24 00:02:44,372 --> 00:02:47,458 But he was almost completely unknown. 25 00:03:03,433 --> 00:03:07,687 I spent two years following this elusive climber, 26 00:03:12,567 --> 00:03:15,194 trying to document his ascents, 27 00:03:17,238 --> 00:03:21,576 and understand his wild vision of adventure. 28 00:03:43,931 --> 00:03:45,725 Throughout my journey with Marc, 29 00:03:46,684 --> 00:03:51,481 I kept coming back to these mysteries at the heart of climbing 30 00:03:51,564 --> 00:03:54,942 that have gripped me since I was a kid. 31 00:03:57,528 --> 00:04:01,365 Growing up as a young climber in Colorado, 32 00:04:01,491 --> 00:04:06,037 I idolized the legendary free-soloist Derek Hersey, 33 00:04:07,497 --> 00:04:10,875 scaling the cliffs above town with no rope. 34 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,546 Just a chalk bag and a pair of old climbing shoes. 35 00:04:17,632 --> 00:04:19,384 You can look down and just, 36 00:04:19,467 --> 00:04:21,427 you know, take in the exposure. 37 00:04:23,721 --> 00:04:27,141 Oh, this is cool! 38 00:04:29,811 --> 00:04:33,731 But one day, Derek was out soloing 39 00:04:33,856 --> 00:04:35,817 and he fell. 40 00:04:36,609 --> 00:04:38,569 Derek Hersey was killed last week. 41 00:04:38,736 --> 00:04:41,948 Some people thought he had a death wish, but he said, 42 00:04:42,115 --> 00:04:45,201 "There's nothing else that makes me feel so alive." 43 00:04:47,370 --> 00:04:49,539 Ever since then, I've been fascinated 44 00:04:49,622 --> 00:04:52,250 by these larger-than-life figures... 45 00:04:52,375 --> 00:04:53,375 Getting ready. 46 00:04:53,459 --> 00:04:56,629 ...who push the limits of adventure in the mountains. 47 00:05:04,679 --> 00:05:06,639 I've seen some amazing things... 48 00:05:06,764 --> 00:05:10,309 Tommy Caldwell attempting to free climb the Dawn Wall. 49 00:05:10,435 --> 00:05:12,478 ...and been left to grieve... 50 00:05:12,562 --> 00:05:14,439 Dean Potter lost his life. 51 00:05:14,564 --> 00:05:16,941 ...when friends died pursuing their passion. 52 00:05:17,108 --> 00:05:19,485 One of the world's best-known mountaineers. 53 00:05:19,610 --> 00:05:22,405 Ueli Steck has died in an accident. 54 00:05:22,572 --> 00:05:25,491 After 20 years of filming, 55 00:05:25,658 --> 00:05:29,704 I'm not sure I've gotten any closer to understanding at all. 56 00:05:29,871 --> 00:05:31,164 Fucking hell. 57 00:05:31,289 --> 00:05:34,167 Check out the no-hands knee bar, baby. 58 00:05:34,292 --> 00:05:35,793 Alex, why take the risk? 59 00:05:36,335 --> 00:05:38,546 - Why not use a rope? - Uh... 60 00:05:38,629 --> 00:05:40,965 Those are just dumb questions. 61 00:05:43,634 --> 00:05:47,972 Meanwhile, the sport of climbing has changed a lot. 62 00:05:48,056 --> 00:05:49,974 Let's head to the gym! Boom! 63 00:05:50,099 --> 00:05:52,393 What was once a rogue activity 64 00:05:52,518 --> 00:05:57,190 for misfits and vagabonds has hit the big time. 65 00:05:57,315 --> 00:05:59,442 Rock climbing makes its Olympic debut. 66 00:05:59,525 --> 00:06:02,195 Climbers have become superstar athletes... 67 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:04,120 It's raised my profile a little bit, for sure. 68 00:06:04,197 --> 00:06:07,200 ...with armies of social media followers. 69 00:06:07,784 --> 00:06:10,203 And their ascents are celebrated and hyped. 70 00:06:10,328 --> 00:06:12,808 Professional climbers are sharing Snapchat videos from Everest. 71 00:06:12,914 --> 00:06:16,417 This is hair by Everest. It's a new hashtag, it's a thing. 72 00:06:16,542 --> 00:06:18,294 - Hair by Everest. - It's a thing. 73 00:06:20,505 --> 00:06:24,759 So I was surprised to come across an obscure blog post 74 00:06:24,884 --> 00:06:28,012 about an unknown young Canadian climber 75 00:06:28,221 --> 00:06:30,890 by the name of Marc-André Leclerc. 76 00:06:33,559 --> 00:06:38,231 He had climbed a 4,000-foot route of rock and ice 77 00:06:38,356 --> 00:06:41,109 in one of the harshest environments on Earth. 78 00:06:42,527 --> 00:06:44,070 And all by himself. 79 00:06:45,154 --> 00:06:47,490 This was a monumental feat, 80 00:06:47,615 --> 00:06:52,578 but it was just a handful of close observers freaking out about it online. 81 00:06:55,790 --> 00:06:57,542 So, who was this guy? 82 00:07:00,420 --> 00:07:05,341 To find out, I headed up to Squamish, British Columbia, 83 00:07:05,466 --> 00:07:08,761 the heart of the Canadian climbing scene. 84 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:14,600 Weird-looking donuts, guys. 85 00:07:14,726 --> 00:07:16,352 We got some fresh bites for you. 86 00:07:16,477 --> 00:07:17,913 - You wanna buy a donut? - Yeah, sure. 87 00:07:17,937 --> 00:07:20,064 Full donut's two bucks. 88 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,492 When I first met Marc, I didn't know what to make of him. 89 00:07:33,369 --> 00:07:36,038 This is called "a sky hump into a front flip". 90 00:07:40,418 --> 00:07:41,418 Wow. 91 00:07:41,502 --> 00:07:42,795 You want one? 92 00:07:44,005 --> 00:07:45,173 All right. 93 00:07:47,508 --> 00:07:52,138 He was clearly unaccustomed to being in front of the camera. 94 00:07:52,305 --> 00:07:54,640 Whoa. That's a crazy light. 95 00:07:55,308 --> 00:07:56,684 Clap in front of your face. 96 00:08:00,438 --> 00:08:04,776 Cool. So tell us how old you are, where you're from, and what you do. 97 00:08:04,901 --> 00:08:08,029 Cool. I'm Marc-André Leclerc 98 00:08:08,154 --> 00:08:11,908 and I'm from the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, 99 00:08:11,991 --> 00:08:13,785 lived in BC my whole life. 100 00:08:13,868 --> 00:08:16,079 I'm 23 years old 101 00:08:16,162 --> 00:08:19,999 and I'm a climber, generally speaking. 102 00:08:22,043 --> 00:08:25,630 Yeah, as a young climber growing up in western Canada, 103 00:08:25,755 --> 00:08:28,841 Squamish was, like, the place to go. 104 00:08:30,218 --> 00:08:34,639 The most accessible big steep cliff with super-rad hard routes, 105 00:08:34,764 --> 00:08:38,226 the center of the climbing universe, I guess. 106 00:08:39,143 --> 00:08:42,939 Marc had moved to Squamish, fresh out of high school, 107 00:08:43,064 --> 00:08:47,360 eager to join the ranks of the hard-core local climbers. 108 00:08:47,485 --> 00:08:50,488 Right away, as soon as he moved to town, he was pretty hard to miss 109 00:08:50,613 --> 00:08:54,992 because of his crazy, youthful exuberance and stoke. 110 00:08:55,118 --> 00:08:56,953 Come down and switch the rope. 111 00:08:57,078 --> 00:08:59,122 I think I was, like, pretty dorky. 112 00:09:01,165 --> 00:09:04,627 Like, super psyched. 113 00:09:05,086 --> 00:09:07,130 And I was always sort of chomping at the bit, 114 00:09:07,213 --> 00:09:08,464 like, gotta get up early, 115 00:09:08,589 --> 00:09:11,217 like, climb until my fingertips are bleeding. 116 00:09:13,845 --> 00:09:16,389 He was not afraid to jump right into the deep end. 117 00:09:18,641 --> 00:09:20,935 Oh, no! Oh, shit. 118 00:09:21,060 --> 00:09:22,854 Crazy. 119 00:09:22,937 --> 00:09:25,022 He came in just all guns blazing. 120 00:09:25,148 --> 00:09:29,235 I was like, "This kid's a really special breed." 121 00:09:30,737 --> 00:09:32,280 He was a bit young and brash. 122 00:09:33,531 --> 00:09:36,033 You know, it's like, "I'm here," you know what I mean? 123 00:09:36,159 --> 00:09:39,829 But if you're not young and brash between 17 and about 24, 124 00:09:39,912 --> 00:09:41,414 you might as well shoot yourself, 125 00:09:41,539 --> 00:09:43,219 cos that's when people are young and brash. 126 00:09:45,418 --> 00:09:49,255 Marc was just a true dirtbag. Like, seriously broke. 127 00:09:50,256 --> 00:09:53,468 He didn't have a car, he didn't even have a phone. 128 00:09:53,634 --> 00:09:54,969 I had a phone for a while. 129 00:09:55,094 --> 00:09:58,014 Left it in a stuff sack with some smoked salmon 130 00:09:58,139 --> 00:10:00,475 and then the phone was stolen by a wild fox. 131 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:01,934 No way! 132 00:10:02,477 --> 00:10:05,271 I feel like maybe I'm just better off without one. 133 00:10:05,438 --> 00:10:08,691 For a couple of summers there, he was, like, living in a stairwell. 134 00:10:09,901 --> 00:10:12,528 It was surprising when he managed to find a cute blonde girl 135 00:10:12,653 --> 00:10:14,989 to live in the stairwell with him. 136 00:10:15,114 --> 00:10:18,659 His stairwell was just, like, a small futon 137 00:10:18,785 --> 00:10:21,454 at the bottom of the stairwell, like, an entryway. 138 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,957 The longer time I spent there, the more it became decorated. 139 00:10:25,041 --> 00:10:27,293 So then, like, he had tapestries and pictures. 140 00:10:27,460 --> 00:10:30,380 His stairwell became, like, the lounge. 141 00:10:31,506 --> 00:10:33,591 There was no need to live luxuriously, 142 00:10:33,966 --> 00:10:36,636 because we have what we want, which is climbing. 143 00:10:37,011 --> 00:10:42,141 It was easiest just to live as cheaply as we could. 144 00:10:43,810 --> 00:10:47,814 And then we decided to just move into a tent in the forest. 145 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:50,483 I was attracted to him 146 00:10:50,608 --> 00:10:52,735 because he was so different than anyone I'd ever met. 147 00:10:52,860 --> 00:10:54,862 He was also super socially awkward. 148 00:10:57,990 --> 00:11:00,701 But I didn't care, cos, like, that's who he is 149 00:11:00,827 --> 00:11:03,621 and I love him for that. 150 00:11:03,746 --> 00:11:05,039 - Going on? - Look, there he is. 151 00:11:05,164 --> 00:11:07,667 Your timing's perfect, guys. You nearly missed me. 152 00:11:08,042 --> 00:11:09,293 They call me Hevy Duty. 153 00:11:09,460 --> 00:11:12,505 It's a nickname that's been with me since the early '70s. 154 00:11:12,630 --> 00:11:16,175 I'm more like Light Duty now than Hevy Duty. Or Old Duty. 155 00:11:16,300 --> 00:11:19,637 Hevy is kind of, like, the mayor of Squamish rock climbing. 156 00:11:20,054 --> 00:11:22,014 He's also, like, a hula hoop expert. 157 00:11:22,140 --> 00:11:24,308 I went to some big rave out in the woods 158 00:11:24,434 --> 00:11:27,186 and we got talking and I spin hoops, and he spun hoops, 159 00:11:27,311 --> 00:11:29,522 and that's kind of how I got in with Marc. 160 00:11:32,859 --> 00:11:35,570 And you talk to him, what he's climbed and what he's done. 161 00:11:35,695 --> 00:11:38,489 It was like, whoa, and you never heard of him or anything. 162 00:11:40,491 --> 00:11:43,244 I see young climbers everywhere, millions of people, 163 00:11:43,369 --> 00:11:47,999 "Look how good I am," stroking themselves on Instagram. 164 00:11:48,082 --> 00:11:52,879 The modern world can be a bit bland but Marc, he belongs in a different era. 165 00:11:52,962 --> 00:11:56,841 He belongs in the '80s, the '70s when it was, like, wild. 166 00:11:56,966 --> 00:11:57,967 All right. 167 00:11:58,426 --> 00:12:00,428 He's a man out of his own time, isn't he? 168 00:12:00,595 --> 00:12:03,765 That's why he's so special, he's a breath of fresh air. 169 00:12:07,393 --> 00:12:09,645 See, I got him going this time. 170 00:12:11,022 --> 00:12:12,482 I am the hoop guy. 171 00:12:15,985 --> 00:12:17,570 Yeah, tell me about Marc-André. 172 00:12:17,695 --> 00:12:19,614 I can tell Marc-André stories all day. 173 00:12:19,739 --> 00:12:20,740 Please do, yeah. 174 00:12:20,865 --> 00:12:23,034 My first memories of Marc-André 175 00:12:23,117 --> 00:12:25,870 was seeing him come running out of the forest in Squamish, 176 00:12:25,995 --> 00:12:27,163 barefoot with no shirt. 177 00:12:27,288 --> 00:12:29,540 He just broke my speed record on the Grand Wall 178 00:12:30,083 --> 00:12:31,793 and I was just like, "Who is that guy?" 179 00:12:31,918 --> 00:12:34,670 The Grand Wall might be the most iconic route in Squamish. 180 00:12:35,421 --> 00:12:38,633 I'd climbed it the fastest bottom to top. 181 00:12:38,758 --> 00:12:39,758 Speed records are a game. 182 00:12:39,842 --> 00:12:42,922 They're not the most important thing in climbing, but I do love speed records. 183 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:47,183 And then this local kid, who I'd never heard of, did it faster. 184 00:12:47,308 --> 00:12:49,268 I was soloing the route quite regularly, 185 00:12:49,394 --> 00:12:52,605 and one time, I just decided to see how long it would take me. 186 00:12:52,730 --> 00:12:54,565 I got to the top and checked the time, 187 00:12:54,690 --> 00:12:58,486 I was, like, two or three minutes faster than the established record. 188 00:12:59,362 --> 00:13:02,365 And suddenly, Alex Honnold came back to Squamish 189 00:13:02,490 --> 00:13:05,326 to get his record back on the Grand Wall 190 00:13:05,493 --> 00:13:08,830 that I had kind of, like, unintentionally broken. 191 00:13:08,955 --> 00:13:11,874 I was like, "Oh, man, I'm gonna go fast." 192 00:13:14,127 --> 00:13:17,130 He totally destroyed it. He cut my time in half. 193 00:13:17,255 --> 00:13:19,006 I think I did quite a bit faster. 194 00:13:19,132 --> 00:13:21,843 Here I am in a god ray. Ah! 195 00:13:21,968 --> 00:13:26,055 Enough so that it discouraged Marc from ever wanting to try again. 196 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:32,061 Marc is a very, very driven climber, but he doesn't care about accolades. 197 00:13:32,145 --> 00:13:34,439 He doesn't even care if anybody knows what he's climbing. 198 00:13:34,647 --> 00:13:37,150 I've always approach climbing from an athletic background. 199 00:13:37,233 --> 00:13:39,503 I grew up climbing in the gym and I think of it more as a sport. 200 00:13:39,527 --> 00:13:43,281 But he cares about, I don't wanna say the spiritual component, 201 00:13:43,406 --> 00:13:46,325 but he cares about the experience in the mountains, and the journey, 202 00:13:46,451 --> 00:13:48,470 and just wants to have a good time while he's out there. 203 00:13:48,494 --> 00:13:51,831 And I really respect that. It's a... 204 00:13:51,956 --> 00:13:56,044 I mean, obviously, it contributes to him performing at such a crazy level. 205 00:14:01,257 --> 00:14:03,760 The first climb we filmed with Marc 206 00:14:03,926 --> 00:14:07,138 was a solo ascent of the Grand Wall. 207 00:14:15,396 --> 00:14:20,026 It's always nerve-racking to film someone climbing without a rope. 208 00:14:21,694 --> 00:14:25,239 But for Marc, this was just part of his daily routine. 209 00:14:26,657 --> 00:14:29,160 When I'm soloing rock climbs, 210 00:14:29,243 --> 00:14:31,871 I don't really like to feel like I'm pushing myself. 211 00:14:32,038 --> 00:14:35,208 That's not the reason for soloing rock for me. 212 00:14:35,333 --> 00:14:39,170 I don't like to feel like I'm doing something intense and scary or... 213 00:14:39,295 --> 00:14:40,338 So then why do it? 214 00:14:41,547 --> 00:14:45,802 Like, more just to have a casual fun adventure 215 00:14:45,927 --> 00:14:49,722 and... cruise around. 216 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:12,245 And when you watch him climb, he's just magic on the rock. 217 00:15:16,332 --> 00:15:20,545 He's got style, he doesn't lunge, he's very precise. 218 00:15:22,255 --> 00:15:24,257 There's not the slightest margin for error 219 00:15:24,340 --> 00:15:26,509 from the minute you set off, is there? 220 00:16:00,293 --> 00:16:04,297 Watching Marc move so beautifully up the wall, 221 00:16:05,506 --> 00:16:09,510 it was clear this goofy, unassuming kid 222 00:16:09,635 --> 00:16:11,971 was a master of his craft. 223 00:16:37,789 --> 00:16:40,625 I really love just watching him climbing. 224 00:16:43,461 --> 00:16:48,049 Marc is a very calm and, like, steady, controlled climber. 225 00:16:48,132 --> 00:16:51,010 Hey, Marco, I missed you. 226 00:16:51,135 --> 00:16:54,138 Yeah, I missed you, too. 227 00:16:55,306 --> 00:16:58,309 I get the fact that he wants to solo, because I love it, too. 228 00:16:58,393 --> 00:17:01,604 I'm feeling really, like, calm and good with soloing, too, 229 00:17:01,687 --> 00:17:04,732 so I would be psyched on going and climbing... 230 00:17:05,942 --> 00:17:08,486 It puts you directly in the present. 231 00:17:08,611 --> 00:17:11,114 You can't be thinking about anything else. 232 00:17:13,449 --> 00:17:17,078 And you're interacting and improvising in the moment. 233 00:17:18,579 --> 00:17:21,416 And you're just in control. 234 00:17:29,924 --> 00:17:31,926 When I first met Brette, 235 00:17:32,051 --> 00:17:34,804 she definitely had a pretty big impact on me. 236 00:17:36,097 --> 00:17:40,601 At that time, I'd lost touch with the whole climbing portion of my life. 237 00:17:42,353 --> 00:17:45,273 There is a really lively party scene in Squamish. 238 00:17:46,774 --> 00:17:49,569 Definitely got hard into the partying. 239 00:17:49,652 --> 00:17:53,781 At the beginning, it was pretty, like, basic experimentation, 240 00:17:53,948 --> 00:17:59,537 like, it was really fun to experience all these different states of mind. 241 00:18:00,997 --> 00:18:03,416 It's almost like a parallel to climbing. 242 00:18:03,541 --> 00:18:07,712 My friends like to explore a little bit, and sometimes I like to explore a lot, 243 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,423 and it was the same with the partying. 244 00:18:10,548 --> 00:18:15,636 Everyone would wanna take a tab of acid and hang out and have a good time, 245 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,807 and I'd wanna take six tabs of acid and disappear for 20 hours. 246 00:18:23,686 --> 00:18:26,373 But I got to the point where I felt like I couldn't really do anything 247 00:18:26,397 --> 00:18:28,107 without taking drugs. 248 00:18:30,943 --> 00:18:33,362 Which isn't a healthy place to be. 249 00:18:34,447 --> 00:18:35,740 I remember that. 250 00:18:35,907 --> 00:18:38,451 When Brette and I started climbing together, 251 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:40,745 she was just totally going for it. 252 00:18:41,996 --> 00:18:45,833 Hanging out with her reminded me of what I'd lost, 253 00:18:45,958 --> 00:18:49,712 what it was like to be... spirited. 254 00:18:54,092 --> 00:18:56,427 - Fun. - Yeah, super fun, hey? 255 00:18:56,552 --> 00:18:57,804 Yeah. 256 00:18:58,638 --> 00:19:03,434 I could see how Marc could have easily slid down that path, 257 00:19:03,518 --> 00:19:05,853 the dark side of drug life. 258 00:19:10,566 --> 00:19:13,277 - Have a good day, guys. - Thanks, guys. 259 00:19:15,822 --> 00:19:19,575 Marc is interested in intense experiences 260 00:19:19,700 --> 00:19:21,285 and living to the fullest. 261 00:19:22,370 --> 00:19:26,999 Drugs can provide some version of that, but it's not genuine. 262 00:19:27,166 --> 00:19:32,004 And I think he recognized that climbing is the real experience. 263 00:19:32,672 --> 00:19:34,841 - Nice, Brette. - It's so cool. 264 00:19:34,966 --> 00:19:36,759 I know, isn't it beautiful? 265 00:19:38,386 --> 00:19:40,805 - What a fun route. - See? 266 00:19:41,431 --> 00:19:43,015 I know for Marc, 267 00:19:43,141 --> 00:19:46,769 rock climbing in Squamish is all about having fun. 268 00:19:48,563 --> 00:19:54,444 But Marc's vision is more towards soloing big alpine faces 269 00:19:54,527 --> 00:19:56,696 on beautiful mountains. 270 00:19:56,779 --> 00:20:01,159 He loves the mountains and he is definitely ambitious. 271 00:20:01,868 --> 00:20:05,163 He wants to improve upon what's been done before 272 00:20:05,288 --> 00:20:09,042 to make his contribution to the history of alpinism. 273 00:20:15,048 --> 00:20:20,344 Alpinism, the discipline of climbing big technical mountains, 274 00:20:20,470 --> 00:20:22,138 is more than just a sport. 275 00:20:22,263 --> 00:20:26,350 It's an ideal that has evolved over generations. 276 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:31,606 In the first half of the 20th century, 277 00:20:31,773 --> 00:20:37,236 large-scale expeditions used lots of equipment and manpower 278 00:20:37,361 --> 00:20:39,530 to conquer the world's highest peaks. 279 00:20:39,614 --> 00:20:43,701 They stand victorious on the windswept roof of the world. 280 00:20:45,953 --> 00:20:47,580 By the 1950s, 281 00:20:47,663 --> 00:20:51,584 it was no longer about getting to the top of the mountain, 282 00:20:51,667 --> 00:20:53,503 but how you got there. 283 00:20:55,171 --> 00:20:56,631 In the European Alps, 284 00:20:56,798 --> 00:21:02,387 there was a revolution in climbing technique and philosophy. 285 00:21:02,470 --> 00:21:05,515 Smaller teams using less gear 286 00:21:05,598 --> 00:21:09,310 tackled steeper and more dangerous faces. 287 00:21:09,435 --> 00:21:13,106 That was the next step in the evolution of alpinism. 288 00:21:13,231 --> 00:21:17,110 Climbing harder, climbing faster and climbing in better style. 289 00:21:17,235 --> 00:21:21,572 A rope, a rack, and the pack on your back, that's all you get 290 00:21:21,697 --> 00:21:23,991 and you have to make it work with that. 291 00:21:25,952 --> 00:21:28,413 When you look through the history of alpinism, 292 00:21:28,538 --> 00:21:31,082 climbing was a form of freedom. 293 00:21:33,626 --> 00:21:38,131 It was physical freedom, but it was also a philosophical freedom. 294 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:43,803 And the ultimate experience of freedom was to climb alone. 295 00:21:45,054 --> 00:21:49,475 Unfettered, unleashed, absolutely solo. 296 00:21:51,352 --> 00:21:55,690 Solo climbing on a high level is an expression of art. 297 00:21:55,815 --> 00:22:00,361 The art of surviving in the most crazy situations. 298 00:22:01,779 --> 00:22:05,366 While solo alpinism may be the purest, 299 00:22:05,491 --> 00:22:07,827 most adventurous form of climbing, 300 00:22:09,162 --> 00:22:11,372 it's also the deadliest. 301 00:22:11,497 --> 00:22:17,962 Maybe half of the leading solo climbers of all times died in the mountains, 302 00:22:18,171 --> 00:22:23,551 and this is tragic and it's difficult to defend. 303 00:22:25,970 --> 00:22:28,431 But this is the philosophy. 304 00:22:29,223 --> 00:22:31,768 If you're going in an adventure, you need difficulties. 305 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:34,437 You need danger. 306 00:22:34,562 --> 00:22:39,901 If death was not a possibility, coming out would be nothing. 307 00:22:40,068 --> 00:22:41,986 It would be kindergarten. 308 00:22:43,237 --> 00:22:47,158 But not an adventure and not an art. 309 00:22:56,709 --> 00:22:59,712 A few months after our shoot in Squamish, 310 00:23:00,963 --> 00:23:03,508 we followed Marc to the Canadian Rockies 311 00:23:05,009 --> 00:23:08,596 where he'd come for the world-renowned ice climbing. 312 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:10,848 There's always a point 313 00:23:10,973 --> 00:23:13,643 where I just cannot wait for ice-climbing season. 314 00:23:14,102 --> 00:23:17,271 I'm just ready to go climb frozen waterfalls. 315 00:23:18,731 --> 00:23:23,236 Ice climbing is a crucial skill in alpinism. 316 00:23:23,319 --> 00:23:28,491 Over the years, it's developed into its own highly technical sport 317 00:23:28,616 --> 00:23:32,036 and the ice in Canmore is a proving ground. 318 00:23:33,871 --> 00:23:35,581 By the time we arrived, 319 00:23:35,706 --> 00:23:38,543 Marc had already been there for a few weeks, 320 00:23:38,668 --> 00:23:40,837 camping outside of town 321 00:23:40,962 --> 00:23:44,048 and climbing things that had the locals talking. 322 00:23:44,132 --> 00:23:46,092 First time I heard about Marc-André, 323 00:23:46,217 --> 00:23:49,095 he was living in a snow cave on the parkway or something. 324 00:23:50,096 --> 00:23:53,099 And he was, like, soloing all these ice routes all day long. 325 00:23:54,308 --> 00:23:57,770 I was like, "Here's somebody who's just going after it and pushing things 326 00:23:57,895 --> 00:24:00,815 that is pretty much unknown." 327 00:24:08,698 --> 00:24:13,536 Ice climbing, solo, it's not something many people do. 328 00:24:15,371 --> 00:24:17,331 You're climbing frozen water 329 00:24:19,542 --> 00:24:21,794 with just a few centimeters of your ice tools 330 00:24:21,919 --> 00:24:24,297 and crampons in the ice. 331 00:24:30,636 --> 00:24:32,513 It's a very ephemeral medium. 332 00:24:37,101 --> 00:24:40,313 Climbing something that wasn't there maybe a few weeks earlier 333 00:24:40,396 --> 00:24:43,107 and that might not be there the next day 334 00:24:43,232 --> 00:24:45,610 if the thing you're climbing on decides to collapse. 335 00:24:51,115 --> 00:24:53,576 People think the free soloing that I'm doing seems crazy, 336 00:24:53,701 --> 00:24:55,036 but what I'm doing is on rock. 337 00:24:55,161 --> 00:24:57,872 It's safe in a lot of ways. The medium is super solid. 338 00:24:59,123 --> 00:25:02,293 And then I see Marc-André free soloing on ice and snow. 339 00:25:03,419 --> 00:25:07,173 It just shows so much experience on such different kinds of terrain. 340 00:25:13,179 --> 00:25:15,515 In all my years of climbing, 341 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:22,188 I don't think I've seen another climber quite as hungry for it as Marc-André. 342 00:25:26,818 --> 00:25:30,363 He's got this headspace that nobody else seems to have. 343 00:25:34,283 --> 00:25:36,077 Nothing fazes him. 344 00:26:02,186 --> 00:26:07,233 Marc doesn't just solo the ice, he goes out and solos mixed routes. 345 00:26:09,944 --> 00:26:12,113 With mixed climbing, it's the whole mentality 346 00:26:12,196 --> 00:26:16,284 of the ice doesn't have to be fully formed to be climbed. 347 00:26:17,618 --> 00:26:20,913 Instead of embedding your picks in the ice, 348 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,958 you're just kind of placing them on these little rock edges. 349 00:26:25,251 --> 00:26:28,087 That adds another dimension of insecurity. 350 00:26:50,568 --> 00:26:56,074 Filming Marc on this insecure terrain was terrifying. 351 00:27:00,495 --> 00:27:03,664 But he couldn't have been more relaxed. 352 00:27:03,831 --> 00:27:05,583 Holy shit, dude. 353 00:27:06,709 --> 00:27:09,212 Then he took it up a notch 354 00:27:09,337 --> 00:27:13,883 by climbing solo on the notorious Stanley Headwall. 355 00:27:15,259 --> 00:27:19,347 The Stanley Headwall is the centerpiece of Rockies mixed climbing. 356 00:27:20,473 --> 00:27:22,892 None of the ice is a hundred percent continuous. 357 00:27:22,975 --> 00:27:27,230 It forms in blobs, and pillars and hanging daggers. 358 00:27:27,313 --> 00:27:31,943 You have to climb steep, overhanging rock just to get to the ice. 359 00:27:33,820 --> 00:27:36,948 And so it makes for really good, engaging climbing. 360 00:27:42,870 --> 00:27:45,081 There's a high degree of craftsmanship 361 00:27:45,206 --> 00:27:50,001 that has to go into the mixed-climbing equation. 362 00:27:50,127 --> 00:27:54,256 The pick of an ice ax can hang on to just the smallest of edges. 363 00:28:01,596 --> 00:28:04,725 But you don't have nerves going to the end of the ice ax. 364 00:28:06,143 --> 00:28:09,771 You have to evaluate and test. 365 00:28:13,358 --> 00:28:17,404 The difference between having your pick solidly seated on a hold 366 00:28:17,571 --> 00:28:22,659 and having that pick explode off of it is very, very small. 367 00:28:32,919 --> 00:28:36,757 I don't know if I've seen someone climb bare-handed with ice tools 368 00:28:38,675 --> 00:28:40,802 in the freezing temps, being able to improvise 369 00:28:40,927 --> 00:28:44,139 between pulling on the rock and pulling on ice tools. 370 00:28:45,724 --> 00:28:48,602 He's just combining all these unconventional tactics. 371 00:31:18,919 --> 00:31:23,173 Marc soloing the Stanley Headwall, it's just like, "Wow! 372 00:31:23,256 --> 00:31:26,468 I never thought of that in my wildest dreams." 373 00:31:28,220 --> 00:31:32,140 - How was it? - It was super fun. Yeah. 374 00:31:32,224 --> 00:31:34,768 - Scary? - No, not particularly. 375 00:31:36,978 --> 00:31:42,192 - Just another day out? - A really good day out. Yeah. 376 00:31:42,275 --> 00:31:44,778 Definitely a memorable day out. 377 00:31:44,903 --> 00:31:49,574 Marc-André soloing those routes was pretty stunning. 378 00:31:49,741 --> 00:31:52,202 I think right there that made me sit up and go, "Wow! 379 00:31:52,911 --> 00:31:54,746 Who is this guy?" 380 00:32:06,550 --> 00:32:09,136 I grew up near a town called Chilliwack. 381 00:32:10,554 --> 00:32:13,140 In Chilliwack, you become completely desensitized 382 00:32:13,223 --> 00:32:15,892 to the smell of cow manure, 383 00:32:16,017 --> 00:32:18,478 but it's surrounded by beautiful mountains. 384 00:32:19,438 --> 00:32:22,649 When we were growing up, my dad was doing construction jobs 385 00:32:22,858 --> 00:32:25,610 and my mom was serving in restaurants. 386 00:32:25,777 --> 00:32:27,529 Aren't you and your mom really close? 387 00:32:27,612 --> 00:32:28,612 Yeah. 388 00:32:28,655 --> 00:32:33,410 My mom, she's definitely been a big influence on me. 389 00:32:33,535 --> 00:32:34,828 It's kind of hard to explain. 390 00:32:34,911 --> 00:32:38,582 We've just been really good friends my whole life. 391 00:32:38,707 --> 00:32:41,334 Marc-André did have some challenges as a kid. 392 00:32:41,460 --> 00:32:44,421 He certainly didn't come into this world 393 00:32:44,546 --> 00:32:46,590 as a square peg ready to fit into a square hole. 394 00:32:47,299 --> 00:32:50,510 And he had a diagnosis of ADHD. 395 00:32:50,635 --> 00:32:52,846 So, he didn't sit still for very long 396 00:32:52,971 --> 00:32:58,560 and he didn't fit easily into the typical educational environment. 397 00:32:58,685 --> 00:33:01,688 Kindergarten was awesome, like, that first year. 398 00:33:01,855 --> 00:33:07,277 You build things out of blocks, and do art, and that kind of stuff. 399 00:33:07,402 --> 00:33:11,323 When it started into actual first grade, and we had to sit at our desks, 400 00:33:11,406 --> 00:33:14,868 it turned into hell for me. 401 00:33:15,035 --> 00:33:17,913 For a kid who had a ton of energy, who loved to learn, 402 00:33:18,038 --> 00:33:22,626 he was losing his, his joy in learning, you know, to be in school, 403 00:33:22,751 --> 00:33:27,172 so I made the leap and I schooled him at home for a while. 404 00:33:27,297 --> 00:33:32,094 We'd do some schoolwork for a while. Usually it would finish at lunchtime. 405 00:33:32,177 --> 00:33:34,304 And we would do cool things together 406 00:33:34,388 --> 00:33:37,516 like go explore the forest and identify plants, 407 00:33:37,641 --> 00:33:40,435 instead of just always sitting at your desk. 408 00:33:40,519 --> 00:33:44,189 If you're never given free rein to have little adventures as a kid, 409 00:33:44,314 --> 00:33:46,691 you never really learn who you are, 410 00:33:46,817 --> 00:33:49,444 you don't learn what your strengths or your weaknesses are, 411 00:33:49,569 --> 00:33:52,364 and you never learn that you're capable. 412 00:33:53,323 --> 00:33:56,993 She wanted me to discover what I wanted to do 413 00:33:57,119 --> 00:34:01,373 rather than pick out what she thought I should do with my life. 414 00:34:01,498 --> 00:34:03,542 We may not have had two cents to rub together, 415 00:34:03,667 --> 00:34:07,587 but we always had books and Marc-André was a voracious reader. 416 00:34:09,089 --> 00:34:12,467 He was really captured by adventure, 417 00:34:12,592 --> 00:34:15,137 so we had a house full of those kind of books. 418 00:34:15,262 --> 00:34:18,222 And the more interest he showed in them, the more books I provided for him. 419 00:34:18,265 --> 00:34:20,517 I must have been, like, eight years old. 420 00:34:20,684 --> 00:34:25,689 It was this big, awesome picture book with stories from all these expeditions. 421 00:34:27,691 --> 00:34:31,111 And the ones about mountains always really captured my attention. 422 00:34:32,904 --> 00:34:35,991 Looking at pictures of big snowy peaks, 423 00:34:36,116 --> 00:34:39,035 guys with ice axes trying to climb these things, 424 00:34:39,161 --> 00:34:40,481 I don't know, it seemed really... 425 00:34:41,663 --> 00:34:42,998 brave. 426 00:34:43,081 --> 00:34:47,586 I was so inspired by all of these climbers of the past 427 00:34:47,711 --> 00:34:49,379 and I wanted to be a part of it. 428 00:34:50,756 --> 00:34:53,508 Like, carrying on the tradition or something. 429 00:34:57,471 --> 00:35:00,098 At first, it was just jeans, running shoes, 430 00:35:00,223 --> 00:35:02,309 a few granola bars in the pocket. 431 00:35:02,434 --> 00:35:06,104 Always off trail, never had a rope or anything. 432 00:35:07,606 --> 00:35:11,443 At times, I was concerned something could happen to him out there, 433 00:35:11,568 --> 00:35:13,945 but he had a great sense of direction, 434 00:35:14,071 --> 00:35:16,990 and he was very confident when he was out and about. 435 00:35:18,241 --> 00:35:21,828 After, like, a couple of years of scrambling around by myself, 436 00:35:21,995 --> 00:35:25,332 it just naturally progressed to technical climbing. 437 00:35:26,083 --> 00:35:28,502 When I'm in the mountains on a big adventure, 438 00:35:28,627 --> 00:35:30,420 life is so incredibly simple. 439 00:35:32,089 --> 00:35:33,673 I'm, like, totally focused. 440 00:35:33,799 --> 00:35:38,095 I don't feel that squirrel-brained, twitchy sort of stuff. 441 00:35:40,180 --> 00:35:44,851 And I have the feeling of clarity and calmness and control. 442 00:35:46,603 --> 00:35:50,941 The whole climbing part of my life, everything was falling into place. 443 00:35:51,066 --> 00:35:54,069 But then, like, I went back to school for high school. 444 00:35:55,695 --> 00:35:59,533 He eventually had to go back to the standard curriculum at school. 445 00:35:59,658 --> 00:36:01,827 I think to him it was like a form of incarceration. 446 00:36:02,411 --> 00:36:03,412 Help me! 447 00:36:03,495 --> 00:36:05,497 He was never looking for trouble, 448 00:36:05,622 --> 00:36:08,583 but he certainly seemed to find it. 449 00:36:08,709 --> 00:36:10,377 Firecrackers explode! 450 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:26,226 It was clear he was never going to get 451 00:36:26,309 --> 00:36:28,520 a standard nine-to-five job or life. 452 00:36:28,645 --> 00:36:31,022 He was never wired that way. 453 00:36:31,148 --> 00:36:35,485 Hi, I'm Marc-André Joseph Leclerc. You might have heard of me. 454 00:36:35,569 --> 00:36:38,488 I am doing some of the biggest walls in the world. 455 00:36:38,572 --> 00:36:43,160 When he graduated at 16, he was doing drywall, making some money. 456 00:36:43,285 --> 00:36:47,330 He didn't have a real clear purpose or plan at that point. 457 00:36:47,456 --> 00:36:50,917 I told him, "If you want to do this climbing thing, 458 00:36:51,084 --> 00:36:52,502 what are you waiting for?" 459 00:36:53,712 --> 00:36:58,050 And off he went. Marc-André found freedom to be himself. 460 00:36:58,216 --> 00:37:01,928 He's going to go as far as he can take it. 461 00:37:03,805 --> 00:37:06,600 - We got it! - Yeah, yeah. 462 00:37:07,100 --> 00:37:09,704 - Can you just do a kind of blank...? - I'm gonna look like an idiot. 463 00:37:09,728 --> 00:37:10,854 Smile. 464 00:37:13,315 --> 00:37:16,943 Marc's plan to become a full-time climber 465 00:37:17,110 --> 00:37:19,112 certainly seemed to be working out. 466 00:37:20,155 --> 00:37:23,241 He'd recently landed his first sponsorship. 467 00:37:24,409 --> 00:37:27,829 And here we were making a film about him. 468 00:37:27,913 --> 00:37:29,790 - Serious. - Really serious? 469 00:37:29,915 --> 00:37:31,833 Really serious, like your passport. 470 00:37:33,001 --> 00:37:36,338 But Marc had little patience for posing. 471 00:37:37,464 --> 00:37:39,341 And he was getting restless. 472 00:37:40,801 --> 00:37:45,389 As we were planning the next shoot, Marc just suddenly dropped off the radar 473 00:37:47,766 --> 00:37:49,726 to who knows where. 474 00:37:53,897 --> 00:37:57,484 We'd even bought him a phone to keep in contact... 475 00:37:57,609 --> 00:37:59,486 - I'm sorry. - ...but he wasn't picking up. 476 00:37:59,569 --> 00:38:02,322 The person you called has a voicemail box that has not been set up. 477 00:38:02,447 --> 00:38:05,575 It's just a frustrating situation. 478 00:38:05,700 --> 00:38:07,744 You've got Marc somewhere in the backwoods. 479 00:38:07,869 --> 00:38:10,622 He just disappears and doesn't call us for months on end, 480 00:38:10,747 --> 00:38:13,500 having all of us waiting and on hold. 481 00:38:13,625 --> 00:38:15,794 My bags are packed. Everyone's bags are packed. 482 00:38:15,877 --> 00:38:18,088 If we don't hear from Marc, we might not do the shoot. 483 00:38:18,672 --> 00:38:22,092 We started seeing him in other climbers' social media posts. 484 00:38:23,927 --> 00:38:27,848 It's day six on the wall and day five of the storm. 485 00:38:27,973 --> 00:38:30,016 Brette was posting these videos. 486 00:38:30,183 --> 00:38:33,603 - What are you doing, Marc? - I'll just get a T-slot my for skis 487 00:38:33,729 --> 00:38:35,939 so I can lower Brette over this cliff. 488 00:38:36,148 --> 00:38:37,274 Oh, man. 489 00:38:38,233 --> 00:38:41,445 We saw they'd gone all the way out to Baffin Island. 490 00:38:41,570 --> 00:38:43,905 - This is so awesome. - Whoo! 491 00:38:45,157 --> 00:38:47,659 Then Marc was in Scotland 492 00:38:47,784 --> 00:38:52,080 where he knocked off a string of solos like they were nine holes of golf. 493 00:38:52,247 --> 00:38:53,957 All righty. All righty, then. 494 00:38:54,082 --> 00:38:55,751 You know, he's on a roll, yeah. 495 00:38:56,668 --> 00:38:58,754 He's climbing route after route. 496 00:39:01,506 --> 00:39:03,759 He's just driven at the moment. 497 00:39:04,134 --> 00:39:05,844 Marc has a fire that burns inside. 498 00:39:05,969 --> 00:39:07,888 It just burns. 499 00:39:07,971 --> 00:39:10,640 At one point, I was climbing in South America, 500 00:39:10,724 --> 00:39:14,603 we could see this tiny, tiny speck on this 4,000-foot wall. 501 00:39:14,728 --> 00:39:18,023 We could look over and be like, "That is Marc-André, by himself, 502 00:39:18,190 --> 00:39:19,983 on this fricking journey to the gods." 503 00:39:20,108 --> 00:39:23,236 I was like, "This is messed up. I cannot believe he's soloing that." 504 00:39:25,822 --> 00:39:28,950 Finally, we heard Marc was back in Canada, 505 00:39:29,076 --> 00:39:31,661 climbing in the remote Ghost Wilderness. 506 00:39:33,038 --> 00:39:36,458 In an act of desperation, I called a filmmaker from the area 507 00:39:36,625 --> 00:39:40,212 to go into the backcountry and track Marc down. 508 00:39:40,295 --> 00:39:41,296 Sender Films, 509 00:39:41,380 --> 00:39:43,799 they said they have lost their rock-star climber. 510 00:39:44,841 --> 00:39:49,471 Off the grid and they can't get in contact with him. 511 00:39:49,596 --> 00:39:52,891 They want me to go and see if I can find him. 512 00:39:57,062 --> 00:40:02,359 He shows up, and Marc is out there with Brette and a friend, 513 00:40:02,484 --> 00:40:05,737 and they're putting up hard first ascents 514 00:40:05,904 --> 00:40:07,823 on these huge walls, 515 00:40:09,741 --> 00:40:12,369 having the time of their lives. 516 00:40:15,288 --> 00:40:16,748 Nice, Brette. 517 00:40:24,423 --> 00:40:25,549 Falling! 518 00:40:27,509 --> 00:40:29,636 Hey, Marco, how is it down there? 519 00:40:30,637 --> 00:40:31,930 It's great. 520 00:40:34,266 --> 00:40:35,267 Here we go. 521 00:40:39,563 --> 00:40:42,482 I think it's so cool that you're making a movie about Marc. 522 00:40:43,608 --> 00:40:47,821 But honestly, he doesn't care about movies. 523 00:40:47,946 --> 00:40:50,240 He's not gonna put the time and energy 524 00:40:51,283 --> 00:40:54,995 into making his own climb significant to the world. 525 00:40:56,788 --> 00:40:59,041 He's out climbing, he's too busy climbing. 526 00:41:03,628 --> 00:41:05,464 Pretty incredible, the weather. 527 00:41:06,757 --> 00:41:10,260 He's different than any climber we've ever dealt with. 528 00:41:11,511 --> 00:41:14,097 He doesn't share any information with us. 529 00:41:14,806 --> 00:41:18,935 It's frustrating, but at the same, it's pretty noble. 530 00:41:20,145 --> 00:41:24,608 Marc just kind of follows his own path. He's a free spirit. 531 00:41:24,733 --> 00:41:27,402 And that can be difficult to plan around. 532 00:41:27,527 --> 00:41:30,530 Kind of makes him lovable in this weird way, you know? 533 00:41:30,655 --> 00:41:32,282 He doesn't give a fuck. 534 00:41:33,909 --> 00:41:37,037 This whole time, chasing Marc around, 535 00:41:37,162 --> 00:41:40,832 it was clear he was building up to something big. 536 00:41:42,167 --> 00:41:45,003 But we had no idea what it would be. 537 00:41:46,338 --> 00:41:48,340 Then the news broke. 538 00:41:50,425 --> 00:41:56,848 He had made the first-ever solo of the Emperor Face on Mount Robson. 539 00:41:56,932 --> 00:42:00,352 And it sent shockwaves through the climbing world. 540 00:42:00,519 --> 00:42:03,063 When I heard that Marc had soloed the Emperor Face, 541 00:42:03,146 --> 00:42:08,193 it was one of those like, "Holy shit! Marc soloed the Emperor Face." 542 00:42:08,318 --> 00:42:12,239 That is absolutely outstanding and probably the greatest solo ascent 543 00:42:12,406 --> 00:42:15,367 of anything that's been done in North America. 544 00:42:18,995 --> 00:42:21,915 Robson is the king. 545 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:25,001 It's the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies. 546 00:42:27,087 --> 00:42:30,632 It's like three El Caps. 547 00:42:30,799 --> 00:42:33,093 But Robson is not Yosemite. 548 00:42:34,261 --> 00:42:38,890 It's got glaciation, it's got crevasses, it's got avalanche. 549 00:42:39,850 --> 00:42:44,187 You're climbing rock, ice and snow all at the same time. 550 00:42:44,855 --> 00:42:49,735 It's a legendary, mythical objective, even with a rope. 551 00:42:52,946 --> 00:42:57,659 I was frustrated that Marc had made this historic ascent 552 00:42:57,784 --> 00:43:00,662 and he hadn't even let us in on his plan. 553 00:43:02,956 --> 00:43:07,461 Eventually, we reached Marc and asked him why. 554 00:43:07,586 --> 00:43:09,796 When you guys approached me about doing a film, 555 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:11,590 it seemed like a cool experience, 556 00:43:11,715 --> 00:43:15,927 but I've never let you guys come and shoot one of my real solos. 557 00:43:16,053 --> 00:43:17,054 Why not? 558 00:43:17,137 --> 00:43:21,058 Because it wouldn't be a solo to me if somebody was there. 559 00:43:22,642 --> 00:43:27,189 Yeah, I mean, I guess that's true. 560 00:43:27,314 --> 00:43:31,318 It's just a completely different experience if somebody comes with you. 561 00:43:31,485 --> 00:43:33,487 Yeah, even if they don't help you. 562 00:43:34,946 --> 00:43:39,618 It just wouldn't even be remotely close to the adventure that I was looking for. 563 00:43:39,743 --> 00:43:42,871 The only way I was interested was actually doing it fully by myself. 564 00:43:42,954 --> 00:43:46,291 And if that happened, I'd be OK to go back and film. 565 00:43:47,793 --> 00:43:50,670 I had this really awesome experience. 566 00:43:50,796 --> 00:43:53,632 Now, I'm actually ready to share it with people. 567 00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:00,931 So Marc invited us back up to film on Mount Robson 568 00:44:02,724 --> 00:44:08,480 so we could see first-hand his approach to solo alpinism. 569 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,071 For me, the very best climbs 570 00:44:16,196 --> 00:44:19,282 are when you can walk up to a mountain with nothing 571 00:44:19,408 --> 00:44:22,911 except for your ability to climb, and that's it. 572 00:44:27,541 --> 00:44:31,878 Being by yourself out there, immersed in your environment, 573 00:44:33,255 --> 00:44:36,133 tuning in to the rustle of the leaves... 574 00:44:37,634 --> 00:44:39,970 ...the sound of the wind across the ridge, 575 00:44:42,055 --> 00:44:44,975 the aura that the mountain has. 576 00:44:47,728 --> 00:44:52,107 On his big mountain solos, Marc follows a simple set of rules. 577 00:44:53,650 --> 00:44:56,361 He carries no communication device 578 00:44:56,528 --> 00:45:00,490 that could be used as a lifeline if things go wrong. 579 00:45:02,492 --> 00:45:04,453 And he climbs on sight, 580 00:45:04,578 --> 00:45:07,581 meaning he's never been on the mountain before, 581 00:45:07,664 --> 00:45:10,000 never rehearsed the route. 582 00:45:11,835 --> 00:45:14,796 He has to figure it out on the fly. 583 00:45:18,258 --> 00:45:22,637 The gold standard of alpinism is the on-sight solo. 584 00:45:22,804 --> 00:45:28,143 A climber approaches a mountain without any prior knowledge 585 00:45:28,268 --> 00:45:31,813 and just climbs it. 586 00:45:35,150 --> 00:45:39,154 But it's only for the very best climbers on their very best days. 587 00:45:39,279 --> 00:45:40,781 You know, it's such a deadly game. 588 00:45:43,325 --> 00:45:46,078 The goal is to climb as safely as possible. 589 00:45:47,162 --> 00:45:49,372 But when you step into the mountains, 590 00:45:51,458 --> 00:45:53,627 and there's stuff that's beyond your control. 591 00:45:56,671 --> 00:45:58,507 You control what you're doing, 592 00:45:58,673 --> 00:46:00,801 but you can't control what the mountain's doing, 593 00:46:00,884 --> 00:46:04,054 and that's by far the biggest danger in my mind. 594 00:46:04,137 --> 00:46:07,766 The mountains are alive all around you and you're kind of at their mercy. 595 00:46:09,643 --> 00:46:11,728 You have to think about avalanches, 596 00:46:12,687 --> 00:46:15,190 seracs that can collapse at any time. 597 00:46:16,149 --> 00:46:20,404 You have to learn to read the signals that the mountains are sending you. 598 00:46:22,114 --> 00:46:27,119 The conditions of the snow, the ice, what time of day is it gonna get sun, 599 00:46:27,244 --> 00:46:30,997 what the weather's gonna do. It's like a game of chess. 600 00:46:32,749 --> 00:46:34,418 You have this ultimate goal, 601 00:46:34,584 --> 00:46:38,046 but then unpredictable things are going to happen. 602 00:46:46,638 --> 00:46:51,351 I think that interaction with the environment, with the mountain, 603 00:46:51,518 --> 00:46:55,897 is, like, a huge part of what makes alpine climbing so interesting. 604 00:46:58,024 --> 00:47:01,528 And if you're smart and you, like, make the right moves, 605 00:47:01,695 --> 00:47:07,200 you can, sometimes against the odds, pull off a great climb. 606 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:18,420 One of the coolest feelings 607 00:47:18,587 --> 00:47:22,174 that a human can experience is, like, to feel so small 608 00:47:23,258 --> 00:47:25,302 in a world that's so big. 609 00:47:40,734 --> 00:47:44,154 Moving over the mountain unencumbered 610 00:47:44,279 --> 00:47:46,990 is about as close as you're gonna come as a climber 611 00:47:47,115 --> 00:47:51,161 to sprouting wings and being totally free. 612 00:47:54,873 --> 00:47:58,293 Absolutely awake, absolutely alive. 613 00:47:59,127 --> 00:48:02,964 Receiving any kind of impulse that's coming in 614 00:48:03,090 --> 00:48:05,884 and reacting to it almost instinctively. 615 00:48:08,178 --> 00:48:09,930 It's a great dance. 616 00:48:32,077 --> 00:48:36,373 Marc is doing things that people thought could never be done. 617 00:48:36,498 --> 00:48:39,292 He's redefining what's possible. 618 00:48:39,376 --> 00:48:41,753 This is the evolution of alpinism, 619 00:48:41,878 --> 00:48:43,922 and it's happening right now in our backyard, 620 00:48:44,089 --> 00:48:46,049 and it's happening with that young guy. 621 00:48:57,144 --> 00:49:01,815 But I am definitely concerned for Marc-André 622 00:49:01,940 --> 00:49:06,278 and anyone else pushing the limit of what's been accomplished soloing. 623 00:49:06,361 --> 00:49:11,283 The place he is in is such a special, finite place, 624 00:49:11,408 --> 00:49:13,577 and such an incredibly risky place. 625 00:49:14,828 --> 00:49:18,290 Marc-André is playing with a pretty heavy deck right now. 626 00:49:18,457 --> 00:49:23,712 He is walking relatively close to the edge in big environments. 627 00:49:23,879 --> 00:49:26,882 And I think he can do a fair amount of that and get away with it, 628 00:49:27,007 --> 00:49:28,550 but sooner or later, 629 00:49:29,676 --> 00:49:31,053 it's gonna bite him. 630 00:49:31,178 --> 00:49:34,681 He is gaining recognition because of his solo climbing, 631 00:49:34,848 --> 00:49:38,810 and all of this is wonderful for him, and it's exciting to hear about, 632 00:49:38,935 --> 00:49:41,021 and read about and watch. 633 00:49:43,065 --> 00:49:47,069 But... I mean, maybe it's just an age thing, 634 00:49:47,152 --> 00:49:50,030 but I find it a little bit scary. 635 00:49:50,155 --> 00:49:52,407 I just... You know, I just hope he's careful. 636 00:49:52,532 --> 00:49:57,412 He's really comfortable in mountainous terrain. 637 00:49:57,537 --> 00:50:02,334 Sometimes I wonder if he's just almost too comfortable. 638 00:50:02,417 --> 00:50:06,463 One could say that it's crazy and irresponsible 639 00:50:06,588 --> 00:50:11,718 to place yourself in that kind of danger for what? 640 00:50:11,885 --> 00:50:13,470 Kicks, glory? 641 00:50:13,595 --> 00:50:16,390 I think that free soloing is a very emotionally charged subject 642 00:50:16,515 --> 00:50:18,600 and so it draws strong reactions from everybody. 643 00:50:18,725 --> 00:50:21,228 If you fall and die, everybody thinks you're an idiot, 644 00:50:21,353 --> 00:50:24,731 you're a risk-taker, daredevil, like, "What an idiot." 645 00:50:24,898 --> 00:50:27,442 If you succeed, everyone celebrates you as a big hero. 646 00:50:27,567 --> 00:50:29,647 But the reality is you're the same person either way. 647 00:50:33,448 --> 00:50:35,700 People are always freaking out about soloing, 648 00:50:35,867 --> 00:50:38,787 "It's such an unacceptable risk. People shouldn't be doing this. 649 00:50:38,954 --> 00:50:40,872 What kind of example does this set?" 650 00:50:41,498 --> 00:50:43,667 I mean, I know it's dangerous. 651 00:50:43,834 --> 00:50:47,879 I'm not, like, deluding myself that it's not dangerous to go soloing, 652 00:50:48,004 --> 00:50:53,427 but I probably just have a different view of everything, I guess. 653 00:50:53,552 --> 00:50:57,347 You know, like, to me, it's not really an unacceptable risk. 654 00:50:58,265 --> 00:51:01,351 I'm still so young. There are so many things I wanna do. 655 00:51:02,978 --> 00:51:05,772 I've really had to think about it within our own lives, 656 00:51:05,981 --> 00:51:07,941 because we do put ourselves in situations 657 00:51:08,066 --> 00:51:10,277 that anything could happen. 658 00:51:10,402 --> 00:51:12,779 Like, an avalanche could take you out randomly. 659 00:51:12,946 --> 00:51:14,906 The more times you put yourself in that situation, 660 00:51:14,990 --> 00:51:17,325 the more likely it's gonna happen. 661 00:51:17,409 --> 00:51:23,081 And yeah, sometimes it's concerning the amount of soloing he wants to do. 662 00:51:24,041 --> 00:51:28,503 He has an insatiable desire to do more at an extreme level. 663 00:51:29,713 --> 00:51:33,216 I worry for him, of course. 664 00:51:45,020 --> 00:51:49,191 A few months after Robson, Marc set off for Patagonia 665 00:51:49,941 --> 00:51:52,944 at the far southern tip of South America. 666 00:51:54,237 --> 00:51:58,241 His objective was a climb that had never been attempted. 667 00:51:58,366 --> 00:52:04,998 A winter solo ascent of Torre Egger, the most difficult peak in the range. 668 00:52:06,166 --> 00:52:08,460 Patagonia's jagged summits 669 00:52:08,543 --> 00:52:12,214 are a proving ground for serious alpinists, 670 00:52:12,339 --> 00:52:15,425 who gather each summer in the village of El Chaltén. 671 00:52:17,260 --> 00:52:22,057 But in the winter, the mountains are lashed by vicious storms 672 00:52:22,182 --> 00:52:24,851 and El Chaltén is a ghost town. 673 00:52:31,149 --> 00:52:35,570 To go winter climbing in Patagonia solo, 674 00:52:35,695 --> 00:52:37,739 he's definitely upping the game by a lot. 675 00:52:37,864 --> 00:52:41,868 Going to Patagonia in the winter! It's just mind boggling. 676 00:52:42,035 --> 00:52:43,662 The weather is horrific. 677 00:52:44,371 --> 00:52:46,623 Avalanche hazards can be extremely high. 678 00:52:46,748 --> 00:52:49,292 And trying to solo Torre Egger on sight. 679 00:52:49,418 --> 00:52:52,504 I mean, Torre Egger is a coveted peak. 680 00:52:52,629 --> 00:52:55,882 Some people consider it the hardest peak in the Americas. 681 00:52:57,092 --> 00:52:59,302 People ask me, "Don't you worry he's not coming back?" 682 00:52:59,428 --> 00:53:00,762 I just shake my head, 683 00:53:01,471 --> 00:53:04,516 "Marc will be coming back. He's got this sixth sense." 684 00:53:09,730 --> 00:53:14,317 Soloing Torre Egger had long been a dream of Marc's. 685 00:53:14,443 --> 00:53:17,237 So he obviously didn't want a big film crew. 686 00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:22,075 But this time, he was willing to bring one cameraman, 687 00:53:22,200 --> 00:53:25,203 his climbing buddy, Austin Siadak. 688 00:53:25,328 --> 00:53:27,456 I'm gonna basically just try to keep up, 689 00:53:27,539 --> 00:53:29,916 tag along, and document as best as I can along the way. 690 00:53:30,584 --> 00:53:33,128 I don't wanna, like, impose on his experience. 691 00:53:34,379 --> 00:53:37,466 Austin would hang with Marc in town 692 00:53:37,549 --> 00:53:41,011 and shoot some climbing on the lower sections of the route. 693 00:53:43,472 --> 00:53:47,350 But for the summit push, Marc would climb alone 694 00:53:47,517 --> 00:53:52,147 and bring a small camera to capture what he could in real time. 695 00:53:53,065 --> 00:53:55,275 Yeah, this is Torre Egger. 696 00:53:57,694 --> 00:54:03,033 I've been thinking about this climb for the better part of a year. 697 00:54:03,700 --> 00:54:05,869 If there's ice, it might be quick 698 00:54:06,036 --> 00:54:09,372 to go straight up this ice gully under the serac and then... 699 00:54:09,498 --> 00:54:13,001 Torre Egger is this 1,000-meter rock pillar 700 00:54:13,126 --> 00:54:17,130 rising up out of the glacier with an ice arête in the middle. 701 00:54:17,214 --> 00:54:23,345 You know, not always perfect rock and capped with ice mushrooms. 702 00:54:24,179 --> 00:54:26,390 I could look at it on paper and be like, 703 00:54:26,515 --> 00:54:30,602 "OK, like, this is totally mathematically, like, feasible." 704 00:54:31,728 --> 00:54:34,564 But at the same time, it still seems a little bit out there, 705 00:54:34,648 --> 00:54:37,943 like, "Whoa, this is the next step for me." 706 00:54:39,069 --> 00:54:42,280 I spent the majority of the last year doing things 707 00:54:42,406 --> 00:54:44,282 that would prepare me for this climb. 708 00:54:44,366 --> 00:54:47,619 A ton of mixed climbing, and a ton of ice climbing, 709 00:54:47,744 --> 00:54:49,913 and then the Emperor Face. 710 00:54:50,122 --> 00:54:55,001 It was all sort of preparation with Egger in mind. 711 00:54:58,922 --> 00:55:01,633 Just gonna check weather models. 712 00:55:01,717 --> 00:55:04,803 I check all these models multiple times a day. 713 00:55:04,928 --> 00:55:08,432 Friday morning, the wind rolls in, with precip. 714 00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:14,688 When the lines are close together, that means a lot of wind. 715 00:55:16,314 --> 00:55:18,942 The peaks right now are just getting nuked. 716 00:55:19,109 --> 00:55:22,738 We have to hang out in town and wait for a weather window. 717 00:55:24,865 --> 00:55:27,409 Coming down here by yourself in the winter time... 718 00:55:29,161 --> 00:55:32,414 ...you become immersed in the El Chaltén life. 719 00:55:35,167 --> 00:55:37,044 Hanging out with the locals. 720 00:55:37,210 --> 00:55:40,213 And they're making you part of the family. 721 00:55:43,925 --> 00:55:47,763 Yeah, it's actually like a big part of the whole experience. 722 00:56:11,078 --> 00:56:15,374 I know a lot of the best climbers in the world. 723 00:56:15,540 --> 00:56:18,335 Marc is a really unique person. 724 00:56:22,923 --> 00:56:26,635 He has an incredible humility. 725 00:56:26,718 --> 00:56:29,596 One hundred percent positive, very peaceful, 726 00:56:29,679 --> 00:56:32,099 and always treating the world with lots of love. 727 00:56:34,726 --> 00:56:41,024 It's like the mountains have elevated his consciousness to another level. 728 00:56:51,493 --> 00:56:53,703 Just checking the latest meteogram. 729 00:56:54,621 --> 00:56:57,666 Looks good, like, Tuesday, Wednesday. 730 00:56:57,749 --> 00:57:00,585 - What does that mean? - Means we're going climbing. 731 00:57:06,967 --> 00:57:09,177 Part of the crux of soloing in these mountains 732 00:57:09,302 --> 00:57:11,430 is the amount of stuff that you have to carry. 733 00:57:11,555 --> 00:57:12,973 It's pretty heavy. 734 00:57:13,098 --> 00:57:15,058 Like, when you have to put everything on your back 735 00:57:15,142 --> 00:57:16,893 and just, like, solo with the pack on. 736 00:57:17,060 --> 00:57:20,981 This bag, like, ripped open. I've taped it shut. 737 00:57:21,106 --> 00:57:24,609 It's lost half its insulation. It just means it's even lighter. 738 00:57:25,777 --> 00:57:27,779 It's even more super light. 739 00:57:29,489 --> 00:57:31,074 What's your general diet 740 00:57:31,158 --> 00:57:33,785 for getting ready for the mountains there, Marc? 741 00:57:33,869 --> 00:57:38,832 Well, I don't wanna sound grim or fatalistic, 742 00:57:38,999 --> 00:57:44,004 but it's, you know, undeniable that every time you go to the mountains, 743 00:57:44,171 --> 00:57:46,631 it could be your last time, 744 00:57:46,757 --> 00:57:50,802 so all these things that you love you have to appreciate. 745 00:57:54,890 --> 00:57:57,434 Whatever dinner you'd want to possibly be your last dinner, 746 00:57:57,559 --> 00:57:59,061 you have to eat it. 747 00:58:00,645 --> 00:58:04,191 Cos you're going to the mountains. 748 00:58:06,485 --> 00:58:07,819 Yeah. 749 00:58:28,507 --> 00:58:30,842 The whole game is very simple. 750 00:58:37,766 --> 00:58:40,852 We go somewhere that we should not go. 751 00:58:43,397 --> 00:58:47,818 Where our own instinct is telling us, "Do not go there." 752 00:58:53,365 --> 00:58:54,741 Many things can happen. 753 00:58:57,452 --> 00:58:59,037 We can fall. 754 00:59:00,455 --> 00:59:02,582 The storm can take me away. 755 00:59:03,333 --> 00:59:05,877 We know that we could die up there. 756 00:59:11,925 --> 00:59:14,803 But still, we go there. 757 00:59:16,847 --> 00:59:20,809 We try to make real our dreams. 758 00:59:21,977 --> 00:59:23,687 Our visions. 759 00:59:27,232 --> 00:59:30,610 I had spent a whole year imagining this climb, 760 00:59:30,736 --> 00:59:33,905 and I felt like I had the skills to do it, 761 00:59:33,989 --> 00:59:35,907 and it would require all of them. 762 00:59:36,616 --> 00:59:39,161 But I don't know the route whatsoever. 763 00:59:39,286 --> 00:59:44,291 No idea how this is gonna go. Like, no idea what to expect. 764 00:59:46,501 --> 00:59:49,796 Conditions are definitely tough right now. 765 00:59:49,880 --> 00:59:50,960 You can see my trail there. 766 00:59:51,048 --> 00:59:53,884 I was literally digging through a trench, 767 00:59:53,967 --> 00:59:56,928 through chest-deep snow with wind slab on top, 768 00:59:57,012 --> 01:00:01,808 and I think there could be a lot of this kind of snow 769 01:00:01,933 --> 01:00:03,685 on the hanging glacier in the gully. 770 01:00:03,810 --> 01:00:05,687 And not only is it really hard work, 771 01:00:05,812 --> 01:00:09,566 I think avalanche conditions could be quite dangerous. 772 01:00:09,649 --> 01:00:13,904 So I'm gonna go over and see how the rock is 773 01:00:13,987 --> 01:00:15,906 and see if that goes. 774 01:00:17,532 --> 01:00:21,828 I started on really snowed-up rock, which took quite a long time. 775 01:00:21,953 --> 01:00:27,667 Well, two pitches of climbing and it's kind of heinous, actually. 776 01:00:27,793 --> 01:00:28,960 Here's my tracks. 777 01:00:31,171 --> 01:00:33,131 I have to go tack along the edge of that serac 778 01:00:33,256 --> 01:00:35,509 and bivvy on top of it. 779 01:00:35,634 --> 01:00:39,846 The climbing was hard and slow. Conditions were awful. 780 01:00:39,930 --> 01:00:42,057 I think the route goes up there. 781 01:00:46,311 --> 01:00:48,730 I had to keep taking my gloves off. 782 01:00:48,855 --> 01:00:51,566 My hands were numb because of the cold. 783 01:00:53,318 --> 01:00:55,487 Almost on top of the glacier. 784 01:00:56,947 --> 01:00:59,658 Definitely challenging so far. 785 01:01:00,575 --> 01:01:02,953 There's my backpack that I'm hauling up. 786 01:01:03,036 --> 01:01:04,246 Check out my hands. 787 01:01:04,413 --> 01:01:09,251 My fingers were bleeding and everything was just kind of gnarly. 788 01:01:10,043 --> 01:01:13,588 Well, here I am at the top of the hanging glacier 789 01:01:13,755 --> 01:01:16,091 and I'm settled in for the night. 790 01:01:16,216 --> 01:01:19,219 I originally hoped to be six pitches higher than this 791 01:01:19,344 --> 01:01:22,973 on the snow arête. Not going as fast as I wanted to. 792 01:01:30,188 --> 01:01:33,024 You split left off of that hanging glacier 793 01:01:33,150 --> 01:01:37,028 and that brings you to the snow arête in the middle of the east pillar. 794 01:01:39,114 --> 01:01:40,615 I've come a good ways now. 795 01:01:40,741 --> 01:01:44,453 Here's the snow arête that I wanted to make it to yesterday, 796 01:01:44,578 --> 01:01:46,621 but, you know, it just goes how it goes. 797 01:01:46,747 --> 01:01:49,374 There's the upper headwall, so we'll see. 798 01:01:49,541 --> 01:01:52,753 I might be able to keep going even if I have to make one extra bivvy, 799 01:01:52,836 --> 01:01:54,087 one more than planned. 800 01:01:55,672 --> 01:01:59,885 You're switching constantly between boots, crampons and rock shoes. 801 01:02:01,344 --> 01:02:03,096 You'll climb an ice pitch 802 01:02:03,221 --> 01:02:07,434 and then all of a sudden, you're on a rock pillar climbing 5.10. 803 01:02:10,937 --> 01:02:13,774 Or mixed climbing 804 01:02:13,899 --> 01:02:17,027 through some narrow gully filled with ice. 805 01:02:25,035 --> 01:02:28,163 It's just, like, everything in the repertoire. 806 01:03:10,163 --> 01:03:12,332 Well, I'm in the upper ramp, 807 01:03:12,457 --> 01:03:14,876 looking down the route. 808 01:04:00,213 --> 01:04:05,177 When you encounter a situation where you're like, "OK, this is real. 809 01:04:09,473 --> 01:04:13,185 I can either keep it together and do this 810 01:04:13,310 --> 01:04:16,104 or I can, like, fall apart and have a meltdown." 811 01:04:19,900 --> 01:04:21,860 You gotta do one or the other. 812 01:04:32,079 --> 01:04:35,540 And that process of evaluating the situation, 813 01:04:35,707 --> 01:04:39,002 and then getting it together, and carrying on, 814 01:04:42,047 --> 01:04:44,174 it's a challenge every time. 815 01:05:03,443 --> 01:05:07,489 Well, persevering, and things are working out. 816 01:05:08,115 --> 01:05:09,533 Quite the view. 817 01:05:09,658 --> 01:05:12,536 I'm literally in the middle of the headwall. 818 01:05:13,036 --> 01:05:16,998 I'm stomping out this sick little platform to sleep on, 819 01:05:17,124 --> 01:05:20,335 the only place I could find to bivvy, which is super cool. 820 01:05:20,419 --> 01:05:24,172 I'm gonna freeze my ass off tonight, that's for sure, but that's OK. 821 01:05:25,090 --> 01:05:28,093 Yesterday, progress was so slow and difficult 822 01:05:28,260 --> 01:05:32,013 that it was kind of discouraging, but now I'm in a really good position 823 01:05:32,139 --> 01:05:35,934 to go for the summit tomorrow morning. I'm only a few pitches away. 824 01:05:36,643 --> 01:05:39,563 So as long as the weather holds, I'm psyched. 825 01:05:52,534 --> 01:05:56,246 Hey, Brette, this video's for you. 826 01:05:56,371 --> 01:05:58,206 I just wanted to, uh... 827 01:05:59,458 --> 01:06:03,086 let you know that when I'm out here in these mountains by myself, 828 01:06:03,211 --> 01:06:04,379 I really miss you. 829 01:06:05,505 --> 01:06:09,885 And I'm thinking about you a lot, 830 01:06:10,010 --> 01:06:13,972 and there's a part of me that... 831 01:06:15,015 --> 01:06:18,977 wishes I could just quickly rap to the ground, 832 01:06:19,102 --> 01:06:21,855 and get out of here, and change my flights, 833 01:06:21,938 --> 01:06:26,276 and come back and see you, cos I'd love to... 834 01:06:27,861 --> 01:06:31,239 just... yeah, see you. 835 01:06:34,826 --> 01:06:36,536 I love you. 836 01:06:44,669 --> 01:06:46,880 I woke up at around five in the morning, 837 01:06:46,963 --> 01:06:50,425 peeked outside my sleeping bag. A full snowstorm was starting. 838 01:06:52,219 --> 01:06:54,513 Now, I just have to pack up as quick as I can 839 01:06:54,638 --> 01:06:58,934 and rappel the whole mountain in blizzard conditions. 840 01:07:01,895 --> 01:07:06,483 I hope it goes well, cos it's a long and complicated way down. 841 01:07:11,154 --> 01:07:12,280 Holy shit! 842 01:07:30,173 --> 01:07:32,968 Well, I'm back in my tent. 843 01:07:34,010 --> 01:07:38,098 I am sorry to say that I did not reach the summit. 844 01:07:39,141 --> 01:07:42,269 But... I survived, 845 01:07:42,352 --> 01:07:45,230 which I think counts for a lot. 846 01:07:46,606 --> 01:07:49,484 Kind of a bummer, cos I made it within four pitches of the top. 847 01:07:50,610 --> 01:07:55,323 It was still probably one of my very best solo efforts in the mountains, 848 01:07:55,407 --> 01:07:59,661 just in terms of sticking with it and coming really close, and... 849 01:07:59,786 --> 01:08:02,956 And, you know I always said... 850 01:08:03,039 --> 01:08:05,375 Cos I've always dreamed of trying to solo Egger 851 01:08:05,459 --> 01:08:07,502 and I always said 852 01:08:07,627 --> 01:08:11,590 that if you got caught in bad weather near the top of Egger by yourself, 853 01:08:11,715 --> 01:08:17,429 that's the ultimate nightmare, and it actually happened to me, 854 01:08:17,554 --> 01:08:23,852 and I made it down just fine, so... That's kind of... That's cool, I guess. 855 01:08:28,774 --> 01:08:33,195 I was relieved to hear that Marc had made it back down. 856 01:08:36,198 --> 01:08:41,745 And after such a close scrape, I figured he would just fly home, 857 01:08:41,912 --> 01:08:44,456 unsuccessful, but safe. 858 01:08:45,749 --> 01:08:52,130 Well, it's amazing just feeling how tired I am from that climb. 859 01:08:58,345 --> 01:09:01,598 But Marc couldn't let it go. 860 01:09:02,474 --> 01:09:06,103 He saw another weather window in the forecast, 861 01:09:06,228 --> 01:09:08,772 this one even shorter than the last. 862 01:09:08,939 --> 01:09:11,566 And on Friday, you have half of a good day, 863 01:09:11,691 --> 01:09:13,485 and overnight's good. 864 01:09:14,528 --> 01:09:18,156 And he decided to go for it, again. 865 01:09:18,281 --> 01:09:21,201 This time, he was raising the stakes. 866 01:09:21,284 --> 01:09:25,038 Because I already know the route, I decided I could do the route in a day 867 01:09:25,163 --> 01:09:27,165 without carrying any bivvy equipment. 868 01:09:28,500 --> 01:09:31,837 But I won't have the option of sleeping up there on the mountain. 869 01:09:32,003 --> 01:09:35,507 I have to go really light and move fast in order to get it done. 870 01:09:37,843 --> 01:09:39,177 Here we go. 871 01:09:41,680 --> 01:09:46,184 For his second attempt, Marc would carry just a small pack 872 01:09:46,268 --> 01:09:49,813 with no sleeping bag, no extra food. 873 01:09:50,397 --> 01:09:53,817 Just the basic tools to climb light and fast. 874 01:09:56,778 --> 01:09:59,156 Starting the climb that night, 875 01:09:59,322 --> 01:10:03,493 he hoped he could get to the summit and back down 876 01:10:03,577 --> 01:10:06,037 before the next storm crashed in. 877 01:10:10,083 --> 01:10:11,334 Good luck, Marc! 878 01:10:30,562 --> 01:10:35,984 Well, it's 5:45 in the morning and I'm back at my first bivvy site 879 01:10:36,151 --> 01:10:37,527 on top of the hanging glacier. 880 01:10:37,611 --> 01:10:39,738 It's only taken me a couple of hours to get here. 881 01:10:41,114 --> 01:10:43,492 So, yeah, off to a good start. 882 01:10:51,708 --> 01:10:54,127 I'm just going for it, 883 01:10:54,252 --> 01:10:59,091 just this tiny little adventure on this huge mountain. 884 01:11:02,552 --> 01:11:05,222 Well, the sun's rising. 885 01:11:05,347 --> 01:11:08,266 Check out how incredible this is. 886 01:11:08,934 --> 01:11:11,311 I'm more than halfway up the route already. 887 01:11:20,487 --> 01:11:22,155 Well, I'm in the upper ramp. 888 01:11:27,160 --> 01:11:28,578 Things are working out. 889 01:11:40,966 --> 01:11:42,926 I'm on the summit of Egger! 890 01:11:43,677 --> 01:11:45,095 Super psyched! 891 01:11:47,723 --> 01:11:50,350 Yeah, look at this! 892 01:11:51,268 --> 01:11:52,728 Holy smokes! 893 01:11:53,729 --> 01:11:55,355 To solo Torre Egger 894 01:11:56,189 --> 01:12:00,485 seemed like the perfect combination of everything I'd learned how to do. 895 01:12:01,695 --> 01:12:04,448 Pretty full-on conditions. 896 01:12:04,573 --> 01:12:09,828 It's almost like my whole life leading me to a certain place. 897 01:12:22,507 --> 01:12:23,592 Nice work, dude. 898 01:12:23,675 --> 01:12:25,844 Yo. 899 01:12:26,928 --> 01:12:29,181 - How's it going, dude? - How do you feel? 900 01:12:30,599 --> 01:12:33,226 - Perfect. - Dude, yeah, things are awesome. 901 01:12:33,351 --> 01:12:36,855 No alpine ascent is truly complete until the beers go clink. 902 01:12:37,647 --> 01:12:39,775 - Cheers. - Cheers, man. 903 01:12:42,444 --> 01:12:47,074 Here we have the guy who climbed the Torre Egger, Marc. 904 01:12:47,282 --> 01:12:49,618 - Sí. - Sí. 905 01:12:50,160 --> 01:12:54,498 When you grow up, you'll climb Torre Egger many times. 906 01:13:08,220 --> 01:13:10,305 Psyched to be going back to States? 907 01:13:10,430 --> 01:13:12,641 Yeah, I'm super stoked to see Brette 908 01:13:12,724 --> 01:13:16,520 and eventually see the family back up in Canada. 909 01:13:16,645 --> 01:13:18,105 There's the taxi. 910 01:13:18,271 --> 01:13:21,441 I have to negotiate, cos I don't have pesos. 911 01:13:38,792 --> 01:13:41,753 When Marc comes out of the mountains, 912 01:13:41,878 --> 01:13:44,840 he has this, like, radiating energy. 913 01:13:44,965 --> 01:13:48,844 He's had some sort of extreme experience 914 01:13:48,969 --> 01:13:52,431 that had moved him deeper than anything else could have. 915 01:13:53,807 --> 01:13:56,810 When you're in the mountains with a mission, 916 01:13:56,935 --> 01:14:00,939 it's like all the superficialities of life just sort of evaporate, 917 01:14:01,064 --> 01:14:04,484 and you can often find yourself in a deeper state of mind, 918 01:14:04,609 --> 01:14:07,612 and that can stick with you for a while after a big climb. 919 01:14:09,072 --> 01:14:12,451 You appreciate everything so much 920 01:14:12,576 --> 01:14:14,911 that you take for granted most of the time. 921 01:14:18,749 --> 01:14:19,791 It's kind of funny. 922 01:14:21,168 --> 01:14:23,754 The actual achievement doesn't really change your life 923 01:14:23,879 --> 01:14:26,965 like you think it might, when you're building up to it, 924 01:14:27,090 --> 01:14:30,969 but what you're left with is the journey that got you to that point 925 01:14:31,094 --> 01:14:33,805 and if you have this big journey 926 01:14:33,930 --> 01:14:35,640 where you had to figure a lot of stuff out, 927 01:14:35,766 --> 01:14:38,894 and you had to plan, and it was more immersive, 928 01:14:39,019 --> 01:14:41,897 and then you were somewhere really beautiful for a long time, 929 01:14:42,022 --> 01:14:44,191 and then had to work really hard, 930 01:14:44,357 --> 01:14:46,735 and overcome some kind of mental barrier, 931 01:14:46,818 --> 01:14:50,113 you're left with so much more of a story 932 01:14:50,322 --> 01:14:53,075 or, like, a memory and an experience. 933 01:14:53,200 --> 01:14:55,911 And that's what I find is the most important. 934 01:15:01,750 --> 01:15:04,836 For two years filming Marc's climbs, 935 01:15:05,462 --> 01:15:08,465 it was like trying to capture lightning in a bottle. 936 01:15:13,553 --> 01:15:20,560 Now, it was time to assemble the film and release Marc back into the wild. 937 01:15:21,019 --> 01:15:24,523 He still had so many mountains to climb. 938 01:15:26,400 --> 01:15:28,568 OK, Brette, I'm secure! 939 01:15:31,363 --> 01:15:32,656 Hey, dude. 940 01:15:33,115 --> 01:15:37,702 And that is where I thought this story would end. 941 01:15:39,246 --> 01:15:40,664 But while we were editing, 942 01:15:40,747 --> 01:15:45,585 Marc chased a weather window up to Juneau, Alaska, 943 01:15:45,711 --> 01:15:48,630 where he met up with a strong local climber, 944 01:15:49,089 --> 01:15:50,549 Ryan Johnson. 945 01:15:51,842 --> 01:15:55,721 Climbing as a team, with a rope, they made a first ascent 946 01:15:55,887 --> 01:15:59,266 on the north face of the Mendenhall Towers. 947 01:16:00,559 --> 01:16:03,770 At the summit, there was cell reception. 948 01:16:03,854 --> 01:16:09,359 So Marc sent text messages to his mom and to Brette. 949 01:16:12,446 --> 01:16:15,699 And Ryan sent a video message to his girlfriend. 950 01:16:15,824 --> 01:16:17,909 Hey, babe, figured why not be up here with me? 951 01:16:17,993 --> 01:16:20,912 - Marc, right there. - Yeah. 952 01:16:21,288 --> 01:16:22,664 Pretty amazing up here. 953 01:16:22,789 --> 01:16:25,292 We've got a long way to get down, so we're gonna get to it. 954 01:16:25,459 --> 01:16:27,878 The descent does not look straightforward. 955 01:16:32,507 --> 01:16:36,386 But by the next morning, nobody had heard from them. 956 01:16:39,139 --> 01:16:43,685 Brette was on a sailboat off the coast of Tasmania. 957 01:16:43,852 --> 01:16:48,482 She was the first to realize they were late to check in. 958 01:16:49,149 --> 01:16:53,445 She contacted search and rescue, took the next flight out, 959 01:16:53,570 --> 01:16:56,782 and called us when she landed in Alaska. 960 01:16:56,865 --> 01:16:59,117 They didn't make it back to their skis. 961 01:16:59,242 --> 01:17:02,829 - Fuck! - Yeah, so I don't know, Pete. 962 01:17:02,954 --> 01:17:06,291 - I'm so sorry. - I don't know what to do. 963 01:17:06,458 --> 01:17:11,755 I don't know what's gonna happen or what would happen if... 964 01:17:13,882 --> 01:17:17,219 A climber from Squamish has gone missing in Alaska. 965 01:17:17,344 --> 01:17:21,890 Marc-André Leclerc and another climber were last seen on March 4th. 966 01:17:21,973 --> 01:17:24,643 We followed Brette up to Juneau 967 01:17:24,768 --> 01:17:28,522 and met Marc's family at the search and rescue office. 968 01:17:31,566 --> 01:17:36,488 Some of Marc's friends from Squamish had come along to help with the search. 969 01:17:37,364 --> 01:17:38,907 But a storm had rolled in, 970 01:17:38,990 --> 01:17:41,576 so nobody could get a helicopter in there. 971 01:17:43,745 --> 01:17:47,958 All we could do was wait for the weather to break 972 01:17:49,543 --> 01:17:54,673 and hope that somehow, they were still alive up there. 973 01:18:02,889 --> 01:18:07,853 After four agonizing days, the weather finally cleared enough 974 01:18:07,978 --> 01:18:14,276 for search and rescue to fly a helicopter into that zone 975 01:18:14,401 --> 01:18:17,487 and get visuals of their descent route. 976 01:18:19,197 --> 01:18:23,410 With all the new snow, conditions were too dangerous to land there, 977 01:18:24,369 --> 01:18:26,997 but they spotted a rope. 978 01:18:30,208 --> 01:18:33,754 It was covered in avalanche debris 979 01:18:33,837 --> 01:18:40,052 and it was clear that Marc and Ryan were buried there. 980 01:18:42,512 --> 01:18:45,640 There was no chance of survival. 981 01:19:09,414 --> 01:19:13,710 We were hoping to do a recovery of their bodies but... 982 01:19:14,669 --> 01:19:17,714 it didn't happen. They just disappeared into the glacier. 983 01:19:23,970 --> 01:19:29,101 I remember sitting out there on the ice field and wondering, like, 984 01:19:30,435 --> 01:19:33,230 "Why wasn't I with him?" 985 01:19:34,648 --> 01:19:37,150 Like, I felt I should've been there. 986 01:19:39,069 --> 01:19:43,073 I didn't even know that life could be that painful. 987 01:19:43,198 --> 01:19:46,118 I didn't even know it existed until you experience it. 988 01:19:46,243 --> 01:19:51,456 It's like we're kind of living in this blissful magical life, 989 01:19:51,665 --> 01:19:54,000 and then you're hit with this shockwave of pain, 990 01:19:54,126 --> 01:19:56,044 and you'll never be the same. 991 01:20:02,259 --> 01:20:05,595 After he died, I just didn't care about anything. 992 01:20:07,472 --> 01:20:08,640 Nothing mattered. 993 01:20:10,517 --> 01:20:13,645 Maybe I would just disappear also. 994 01:20:18,233 --> 01:20:22,279 But then I remembered this conversation that I had with Marc. 995 01:20:23,447 --> 01:20:25,991 Marc said that if something happened to him, 996 01:20:26,116 --> 01:20:28,368 he wants me to keep going. 997 01:20:31,580 --> 01:20:33,248 He didn't want me to lose my spirit. 998 01:20:34,750 --> 01:20:38,086 He just wanted me to keep climbing, keep loving life, 999 01:20:39,296 --> 01:20:42,674 and be happy. Yeah. 1000 01:20:44,176 --> 01:20:45,761 You have no idea how hard it is. 1001 01:20:45,886 --> 01:20:48,805 In theory you can say it, but to actually be living that... 1002 01:20:54,394 --> 01:20:56,396 I went back to Alaska. 1003 01:20:57,355 --> 01:20:59,441 It's so beautiful there, 1004 01:20:59,566 --> 01:21:04,362 but being there without him felt so awful. 1005 01:21:08,158 --> 01:21:09,493 You're right over there. 1006 01:21:10,702 --> 01:21:14,081 I was in so much pain 1007 01:21:14,206 --> 01:21:18,001 and the only time I could feel an escape from that 1008 01:21:18,168 --> 01:21:19,669 was being in the mountains. 1009 01:21:22,756 --> 01:21:26,176 I keep returning to these places we climbed together. 1010 01:21:29,262 --> 01:21:31,973 They are infused with him. 1011 01:21:33,975 --> 01:21:38,063 I came upon this piton and I'm certain it's Marc's. 1012 01:21:40,148 --> 01:21:41,691 I feel like you're here, Marc. 1013 01:21:43,151 --> 01:21:46,363 I just miss him so much, like, I miss our adventures together. 1014 01:21:50,867 --> 01:21:53,203 I wish that we could be here together again. 1015 01:21:55,455 --> 01:21:58,208 But I know that you'd want me to be here 1016 01:21:58,333 --> 01:22:00,293 and I know that you'd be proud. 1017 01:22:02,045 --> 01:22:03,714 Thank you for giving me your vision 1018 01:22:03,839 --> 01:22:06,049 and thank you for sharing everything with me. 1019 01:22:19,604 --> 01:22:21,064 Just his typical smile. 1020 01:22:22,649 --> 01:22:24,276 Yeah. 1021 01:22:27,821 --> 01:22:30,741 You guys have a similar smile. 1022 01:22:33,618 --> 01:22:35,620 How I'm doing is a day-to-day thing. 1023 01:22:37,998 --> 01:22:41,168 Without Marc-André, yeah, 1024 01:22:41,251 --> 01:22:47,591 it was like something was suddenly and irrevocably wrong with the universe. 1025 01:22:47,799 --> 01:22:52,429 It was, like, that's just not how it should be. 1026 01:23:02,355 --> 01:23:03,857 I'm sorry. 1027 01:23:07,194 --> 01:23:13,283 In some indefinable way, you've moved to another place 1028 01:23:13,408 --> 01:23:15,786 and you have to learn how to live there. 1029 01:23:29,341 --> 01:23:31,718 A few months after the accident, 1030 01:23:32,177 --> 01:23:37,849 friends came to Squamish from all over the world to celebrate Marc. 1031 01:23:43,145 --> 01:23:45,940 I traveled from Patagonia, Argentina, 1032 01:23:46,065 --> 01:23:47,483 to be here for Marc's memorial. 1033 01:23:47,608 --> 01:23:51,862 I think he left a magical impression on all of us. 1034 01:23:51,946 --> 01:23:56,242 There will never be another Marc-André Leclerc. 1035 01:23:58,202 --> 01:24:00,579 He was one of a kind. 1036 01:24:00,746 --> 01:24:02,581 He was an individual individual. 1037 01:24:03,874 --> 01:24:05,626 He just burned very bright 1038 01:24:05,751 --> 01:24:09,964 and he left an indelible mark on a lot of people in a short time, didn't he? 1039 01:24:14,719 --> 01:24:16,429 Wow, there's a lot of you. 1040 01:24:18,305 --> 01:24:21,976 As any parent knows, raising children is a tough job, 1041 01:24:22,101 --> 01:24:23,519 but I am thankful 1042 01:24:23,686 --> 01:24:27,565 that at least God granted me the grace to understand this about my son, 1043 01:24:27,690 --> 01:24:30,901 to not stand in the way of his passion for the mountains. 1044 01:24:44,665 --> 01:24:45,833 Of course, I worried. 1045 01:24:47,126 --> 01:24:49,587 What mother doesn't worry about the children she's raised 1046 01:24:49,754 --> 01:24:50,921 to leave her and go out 1047 01:24:51,047 --> 01:24:54,508 into this beautiful but dangerous and broken world? 1048 01:24:54,633 --> 01:24:56,761 It's so exposed. 1049 01:24:57,887 --> 01:25:01,265 I believe Marc-André lived the life he was intended to live. 1050 01:25:02,391 --> 01:25:05,061 That he was meant to scale mountains, 1051 01:25:05,186 --> 01:25:08,773 stand on summits, find his way into lonely valleys... 1052 01:25:08,939 --> 01:25:10,107 Super happy. 1053 01:25:10,232 --> 01:25:12,777 ...and love one woman with all his heart, his little B. 1054 01:25:12,943 --> 01:25:17,281 - How are you, Brette? - It's pretty chilly. 1055 01:25:19,075 --> 01:25:20,534 Tolkien in The Hobbit says, 1056 01:25:20,659 --> 01:25:23,913 "There are no safe paths in this part of the world. 1057 01:25:24,038 --> 01:25:26,374 You're over the edge of the wild now." 1058 01:25:26,457 --> 01:25:27,917 Oh, yeah, look at that. 1059 01:25:28,834 --> 01:25:31,629 Well, Marc-André, you are truly over the edge of the wild now. 1060 01:25:31,754 --> 01:25:34,131 The storm came in with a strong north wind. 1061 01:25:34,256 --> 01:25:37,802 I hope the mountains there are amazing and the sunsets are beautiful. 1062 01:25:37,968 --> 01:25:41,597 And then it cleared for a bit as the eye of the storm passed over us. 1063 01:25:41,722 --> 01:25:46,811 We are all richer for calling you son, brother, partner and friend. 1064 01:25:48,813 --> 01:25:51,399 Thank you for giving us 25 remarkable years. 1065 01:25:51,482 --> 01:25:53,275 Holy fuck! 1066 01:26:08,708 --> 01:26:13,462 Having come to know Marc as a friend, as well as a climber... 1067 01:26:16,215 --> 01:26:21,303 ...it's hard to reconcile the idealism of his ascents 1068 01:26:21,429 --> 01:26:24,014 with the tragic consequences. 1069 01:26:28,144 --> 01:26:32,398 That's why alpinism remains such a contradiction in my mind, 1070 01:26:32,481 --> 01:26:33,899 such a mystery. 1071 01:26:37,611 --> 01:26:41,657 But I believe what Marc did with his time on Earth was beautiful. 1072 01:26:45,536 --> 01:26:48,831 He followed the course of his own dreams. 1073 01:26:53,169 --> 01:26:56,505 A lot of us live our lives thinking of the things we'd like to do 1074 01:26:56,589 --> 01:27:00,384 or the adventures we'd like to have, but we hold back. 1075 01:27:03,095 --> 01:27:07,266 That's what really stands out to me about Marc-André's journey. 1076 01:27:09,018 --> 01:27:12,396 It's about what is it that you would do 1077 01:27:12,521 --> 01:27:17,735 if you were able to overcome the things that you see as limitations 1078 01:27:17,902 --> 01:27:20,654 or the things that you're afraid of? 1079 01:27:20,780 --> 01:27:22,573 You know, what would you do? 90752

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