All language subtitles for Valley.Uprising.2014.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-alfaHD

- Why do people climb walls?

- That's a really good question.

- 'Cause we're insane.

Can't be any other reason.

The beautiful thing
about climbing to me

Is you can't justify it.

It doesn't pretend
to be anything useful.

Some of us need to go up there,
forging into the unknown.

Your whole being is completely
absorbed in the experience.

A moving meditation.

Your sense of awareness
just opens up.

You feel like you could go on
forever.

- If you're a climber

And you dedicate your life
to the pursuit of gravity,

You have to make a pilgrimage
to yosemite.

- Here is the place.

- There's only one yosemite.

- The proving ground.

- The center of the universe.

- The mecca of rock-Climbing.

This is where it all started,
where it really took off.

The history of rock-Climbing
is written on these walls.

It's a lineage.
We all come to the valley

To stand on the shoulders
of giants.

To push yourself
and to push the sport

And see what's possible.

# look me up sometime,
look me up sometime #

It's a bunch
of madmen doing crazy things.

Trying to leave their mark
and set new standards.

Pushing the limits and also
pissing off the status quo.

- People living on the fringe.

- Strange, scruffy nut cases.

Seekers, visionaries, weirdos
living that dirtbag existence.

- Hiding out from the law.

And vigorously following
our dreams.

Whoo! Life's pretty good here
in yosemite valley, baby!

Whoo! Yeah!

# won't you try me out
sometime? #

# won't you try me out sometime,
time, time, time? #

Yosemite's
rock-Climbing revolution

Began with a generation
of climbers

Who came of age in the 1950s,

A time when america was feeling
anything but adventurous.

And so they joined the stream
of family life in the suburbs.

In the years
following the second world war,

The nation had settled
into a safe, comfortable routine

Of well-Trimmed lawns

And newfangled
kitchen appliances.

- Stupid american 1950s dream.

You're supposed to get married,
have kids immediately...

...buy a dishwasher.

Just look
at those gleaming dishes.

- Just an absolute bland time.

- In mainstream america,

Safety and comfort
were the primary values.

There wasn't any outlet
for the spirt of adventure.

But it was also a time
of change.

Out in california,
the beatnik movement,

Led by writers
like jack kerouac,

Called on young people
to shake off the conformity

And explore other ways of life.

Many flocked
to the coffee houses

And jazz clubs in the city.

Others hit the beach
to catch waves,

While an adventurous few,

Inspired by kerouac's vision

Of "a rucksack revolution,"
headed for the hills,

Where they would go on

To discover the world
of rock-Climbing.

It started in small suburban
crags outside san francisco

And los angeles.

When i first
came across climbing

Down there at stoney point,
and i thought,

"Wow, this is wonderful."

That danger,
that commitment and risk...

We got hooked, frankly,
on the adrenaline of it.

# i want a purr,
all i get is a growl #

# when the lamb is loose,
she's on the prowl #

Back then, rock-Climbing
was mostly seen

As practice for mountaineering

With a conservative focus
on safety.

Old fuddy-Duddies
had all these rules.

You can't climb a certain thing

Unless you're
a qualified leader.

But we wanted to have fun
and said, "fuck this."

- # before she eats you up

We all started out, you know,
in tennis shoes, basically.

Stole some ropes
from the telephone company.

- No harnesses, you know.

You just put the rope
around your waist.

- # hey, hey now

- It was character building.

In the hands
of these young rebels,

Climbing would become
a new adventure sport

That seemed to defy gravity
and common sense.

- Aah!

- Rock-Climbing...

That kind of intensity was
lacking in a lot of our lives,

But also in the culture
at large in those days.

- It was a counterculture sport,

And it felt really good
to be on the fringes.

On their quest
for first ascents

And virgin rock, the climbers

Explored ever deeper into
the mountains of california.

About 200 miles
east of san francisco lies one

Of the great scenic wonders
of the world.

- Until they landed in yosemite.

Yosemite national park

Is centered
around a 15-Mile-Long valley

Bound by glacier-Carved walls
of vertical rock.

Just acres
of beautiful granite,

Absolutely smooth and steep.

Almost made a believer
out of me.

Must be a god who can make
something like that.

It was a place that we
could live out adventures.

Gathering in yosemite valley
was a group of climbers

Who would go on to etch
their names

In the history of these walls,

Guys like royal robbins...

Yvon chouinard...

Tom frost...

Steve roper...

And chuck pratt.

We was a hard core
of really devoted climbers

Trying to raise the standards,
push themselves.

The primary vibration in the
air was one of high adventure.

- Up until the 1950s,

Climbing in the valley
was led by john salathe,

An eccentric swiss
who foraged for his dinner

In the meadows

And established the first
big climbs on yosemite's walls.

- When we got to the valley,

The king of yosemite
at that time was john salathe.

He climbed with such imagination

And daring
that we tried to emulate him.

Salathe would mentor
this new group of climbers

In the rock craft of yosemite

Using steel wedges called pitons
to ascend the cracks

And plotting routes
up the faces.

Balls-Out stuff,
way the hell up there.

Like i'm going to the moon
or something.

The idea of devoting your life
to climbing

Didn't exist anywhere else.

We have a purpose...

Climb hard, put up good routes.

Only though climbing
can you find yourself,

Bullshit like that.

None of us
expected to ever have a job.

We were gonna be hobos,
basically.

And we were gonna climb forever,

And that was the extent of it.

The epicenter of the emerging
climbing scene was camp 4,

A shady patch
of the valley floor

That became the sherwood forest

For this band
of merry mountaineers.

# meet me in the morning,
56th and wabasha #

Living in camp 4...
Instead of making money,

The ideal
was to reduce the overhead.

It wasn't the way
normal people lived.

- # meet me in the morning

One summer,
i went to a damaged-Can store

And bought a bunch
of damaged cans of cat food.

That's what we ate.

# honey,
we could be in kansas #

I mean, it was a total dirtbag
existence.

# by the time
the snow begins to thaw #

- Life in camp 4 really took on

An antiestablishment/
countercultural tone.

There was a whole revolution
of attitudes

Going on in our society
at that time.

- # right before the dawn

Climbing was just
a manifestation of that.

- # they say the darkest hour

- We were barbarians and vulgar.

We drank a lot and chased women,
tried to chase women.

Not very successfully,
i must say, but...

# honey,
you wouldn't know it by me #

But the beatnik bacchanal
in camp 4 was at odds

With a very different set
of values

In yosemite national park.

Yosemite was a park

For tourists designed for people
from the the suburbs

To enjoy nature
without sacrificing comfort.

Young and old alike
are intrigued

By the captivating loveliness
of this waterfall.

Uh-Oh, look at our ice cream.

The tourists did not like us
because of the raunchy language

And loud parties.

Everybody was inebriated,
just raucous.

Some poor camper
come over and say,

"Can you guys tone this down?

You know,
you're offending my family."

The rangers would come
and break it all up.

- We hated authority.

I still hate authority.

- Climbing in those days

Was not a respectable activity
to be doing.

It was an outlaw activity.

They did not like these strange,
scruffy, abnormal human beings

Coming in and using
their facilities

An disrupting the decent people.

I was working
at the ahwahnee hotel.

The yosemite management
was very conservative.

Climbers... They weren't popular

Because they'd go in and eat
off of other people's plates.

I was not supposed
to associate with climbers.

We were actually told
that we would lose our jobs,

Which made it really
even more interesting to do.

The first time i went to camp 4,

There was a party in the woods.

A climber was sitting
directly opposite me.

He just stared at me and said,

"You are a beautiful woman."

My first thought was,

"This is certainly
an intense person."

- The man across the campfire

Was royal robbins,
a climbing legend in the making.

Even to this day,
i consider myself a climber

First and foremost.

Whenever i get on the rock,

I feel it's something
that makes me whole.

- It was always about climbing.

It was his life.

He didn't think beyond it.

Well, royal was very
competitive with everybody.

- Robbins was a driven person.

- To earn the respect

Of your peers
you had to raise the ante,

And i remember
wanting to do something

Better than what's been done.

Robbins was emerging
as a leader in camp 4

At a pivotal moment
in rock-Climbing history.

- The gear had evolved.

The techniques were in place.

The rock climbers had matured
to the point

Where they are up to tackling

The great challenges
of the sport,

But the great challenges
remain undone.

Robbins set his sights
on a wall

Far bigger and steeper
than anything

That had been attempted...

The northwest face
of half dome.

Arguably the most photographed
feature in the world.

- Massive and intimidating.

More than just
another rock-Climb,

This iconic formation,
2,000 feet tall,

Would require an expedition
into the vertical.

Going up on a wall,
something that's 2,000 feet,

You're up there multiple days
in a row.

No one knew if they had the
skills and the equipment

And the technique
to survive that long on a wall.

- It was big. It was scary.

The face of half dome just
stood there and said, "try me,

If you dare."

Early one spring morning,
robbins gathered up

A small arsenal of gear
and with a team of three,

Set off to make
history on half dome.

The team would follow a trail
of cracks upwards...

...moving slowly
as they drove in pitons...

...and hauled their gear
and water.

Night's were spent tethered to
the side of the wall,

And days,
climbing higher and higher,

Until retreat to the ground
became impossible

And the only way off half dome
was over the summit.

This is one of the great acts
of committing to the unknown,

Just sort of lighting out
into mystery.

We felt like we had entered
a different world then.

This was a vertical world.

The five-Day ascent
of half dome

Set a new standard
of difficulty

And cemented robbin's status as
america's first climbing icon.

You know,
when you picture royal...

That crazy name,
royal robbins...

The king already...
I mean, my god.

...Picture a proto-Beatnik
intellectual,

Hard at work reading
the classics,

A very serious, earnest man,
absolutely determined

To prove himself
as a great yosemite climber.

- You want to be the first.

You want to be the best.

It's natural.

- But there was one man vying for

Royal's title
as king of the big walls.

- Warren harding...

An impish road surveyor
with his own appetite for glory.

His mother had named
him after a president,

But in his 30s,
he was still living at home,

Boozing heavily,
and curing his hangovers

With the adrenaline rush
of climbing.

- When you picture harding,

You're picturing
a hard-Hat construction worker

With a serious
drinking problem...

And a penchant for a lot
of women, radical sports cars,

And really childish
sense of humor.

Our personalities
were quite different.

- They're opposites.

They're personality opposites.

The clash between royal robbins
and warren harding

Is the clash of the titans
in climbing lore.

Both men had long coveted
half dome,

And when robbins snagged
the first ascent,

Harding went for the one cliff
in yosemite

That was even bigger...

El capitan

Take the empire state building,
stack it up three times,

And you've got the biggest wall
in yosemite valley.

1,000 feet taller
than half dome,

El cap was beyond
the imagination

Of even royal robbins.

- El capitan was impossible.

We all knew that.

We didn't even consider it.

- I mean, the thing is so huge,

You'd be on it
for the rest of your life.

- El cap was the realm of absurd.

It was futuristic.

But not for harding.

For harding, it was just
the only the only way

He could beat
royal's big achievement.

Selecting a route up the wall's
central prow,

Known as the el cap nose...

That nose sticking out there,
it's magnificent.

...Harding rallied a group
of wide-Eyed youngsters

And embarked on a climb that was
both engineering project...

- Thousands of feet of rope,

Carts with wheels
for ferrying supplies.

- ...And gastronomic orgy.

He would just take all sorts
of food, and wine, brandy.

His mother had baked a turkey
for us.

We pulled it up in the dolt cart

And had thanksgiving dinner
on the ledge.

- While most climbs were done

In a single push
from bottom to top,

Harding had a different idea.

As his team climbed, they
left ropes fixed to the wall

Which allowed them to shuttle up
supplies, descend to the ground

For extended r&r...

...and and then head back up to
push the ropes a little higher.

- Good ahead.

It's just this sort of
wholesale team siege

Of the mountain.
- Oh, shit.

- Are you still alive?!

- As month dragged into month,

Into years harding's team
had had enough.

It got to the point where it
was just taking too long.

- This is too much. Forget it!

What the hell am i doing here?

I hated the entire time
up there.

I couldn't handle the exposure.

With his team members
ready to quit,

Warren harding soldiered on.

Finally, after nearly two years

Of going up and down the wall,

Harding inched over the summit
of el capitan.

Oh, my god.
El cap is climbable.

Unquestionably, the single
biggest rock climb

In american history at the time.

When harding is standing
on the top of el cap,

That's the moment when
the competitive side

Of royal robbins wakes up

And the tension between them
crystallizes.

After half dome,
harding's ascent of the nose

Was a darn good move, in fact,

A move on the yosemite
chess board.

And whoever makes the best moves
is going to win.

Royal's response is to go back
with a team of four guys

And do the nose right.

No fixed ropes,
no going up and down.

A route that took 18 months
to establish in the first ascent

Took them one week to repeat.

Royal was seizing the lead
again.

- # oh, my waking world

Throughout the 1960s,
as america explored

The reaches beyond our earth

And the civil rights movement
clamored for justice,

Royal robbins
was at the vanguard

Of a big wall-Climbing boom
in yosemite.

After the nose had been done,
royal followed up his

First new route on el cap,
the salathe wall.

The wall is unspeakably massive
and mysterious,

And anybody who repeats
that climb to this day

Feels a kind of awe
for royal robbins.

By the late '60s
he'd done every single route on

El cap and put up three routes
on the face of half dome.

If you were on a climb
with him,

You could be absolutely sure
you'd get up the climb.

I don't think
he ever retreated from anything.

- One wall after another.

I mean, he was the kingpin

Of the golden age of yosemite.

With a series of impressive
ascents to his name,

Royal robbins began
to articulate a bold philosophy

Of climbing.

For robbins,
climbing was an elevated,

Almost spiritual endeavor,

And therefore,
should be conducted

In the purest manner possible.

- Getting to the top is nothing.

The way you do it is everything.

# the earth's
just leasing lives to no one #

Robbins was a fanatic
about style.

How you get up there
is what's important.

Drawing on john salathe's
example of boldness

And self-Reliance,

Robbins and his crew laid out
a set of rules

For how they felt yosemite's
walls should be climbed.

Robbins criticized
warren harding's tactics

On the nose,
like using fixed ropes

To travel up and down
the wall.

You get on a climb,
you stay on it,

You get to the top.
That's the adventure.

You don't make it certain

By using these umbilical cords
leading us to the ground.

- He reserved particular scorn

For harding's reliance
on expansion bolts,

Permanent anchors
that can be placed

Anywhere as a means to ascending
blank stretches of rock.

If you put a bolt in the rock
anywhere you want,

You're going to get to the top.

I'd hate to see
anything take away from

That part of climbing which you
have to overcome

With what's inside of you.

Royal,
he's the guy who dreamed up

And wrote down the rules
of the game the rest of us play.

Nobody would ever think
of going up on a climb

And not try to do it
in the robbins style

Except for warren harding,
of course.

Harding did most of
his philosophizing in the bar.

Harding himself was ticking off
a list of hard climbs

With little regard
for robbin's rule book...

Harding was drilling bolts
all over the place.

...And a refined sense
of the absurd.

He would describe the climbs
he was doing as a great farce.

Really ridiculous.

Every climb i do is a farce,
so why not have fun?

- He founded the lower sierra

Eating, drinking,
and farcing society,

Devoted to gluttony and sloth.

It was a reaction against
the whole high-Minded ideals

Of climbing.

He often described
royal robbins

As way too serious.

And he always considered robbins

And his people
to be the valley christians.

The valley christians expected
everyone to climb

Exactly as they climb.

Does that annoy me?
Did it?

Yes. Yes.

That was a derisive comment.

To be royal and to have this
vulgar nut case

Trying to undermine
this beautiful world

You're trying to create,

It must have been
deeply annoying.

And for harding, to have
this buzzed-Headed square

And his little crew
of acolytes...

This rule and that rule...

They must have
driven each other crazy.

Oh, yeah, they were just
at each other's throats.

After more than a decade
of discord and one-Upmanship,

The final confrontation between
robbins and his archrival

Warren harding, came in 1970.

Robbins has been
running the show,

Doing one sensational
important climb after another.

Harding was itching to do
another big el cap route.

Harding's eyes were drawn to
the only stretch of el capitan

That robbins had never climbed.

The last major big blank area
on el cap.

The wall
of the early morning light...

Or the dawn wall.

But for yosemite's
philosopher-In-Chief,

The dawn wall was off limits.

It looked too blank, like it
would require too many bolts.

Harding said,
"fuck it," you know,

"I'll do it my way," as usual.

"Nobody's telling me
what to do."

- And with a bag of bolts in tow,

Harding commenced his attack
on the dawn wall.

With everybody waiting down
below on the ground,

Harding is up there just
drilling one bolt after another,

Just drawing a line up el cap
with bolts.

# the kings take my,
take my body whole #

- This is absolutely anathema

To the aesthetic sensibility
of royal robbins.

- I was rather disappointed,

But i thought, "that's what
you'd expect from warren."

But this time,
harding did take one page

From the robbins rule book,

Using no fixed ropes
to the ground and climbing the

Wall in a single, upward push

With his partner dean caldwell.

- Warren was pretty excited about

The idea of just going as light
as we could

And doing the whole climb
in one stretch.

They expected the trip to last
about 12 days,

But by the end
of the second week,

They were only half way
up the wall

With their supplies dwindling...

...when storm clouds
began to gather.

- And we figured, "well,

Let's just hang out
until the storm comes."

And we'd open up
a bottle of brandy.

We didn't realize
how much of a storm was coming.

Concern builds on the valley
floor that these guys must be

Trapped up there
because they just haven't moved.

The park service became nervous
and a decision was made

To put everybody in place
for a rescue.

Did they ask for a rescue?
No.

We never thought about
a retreat.

Never even considered it.

The only thing we ever
considered was going to the top.

But the rescue plan
went forward

Without the consent
of the two climbers on the wall.

Harding essentially screamed
down, "the hell with you guys!

Get lost!
We don't want a rescue!"

- We finished the bottle of wine

And started making
a battle plan.

We were going to fight them off
if they come.

A can came rattling down
and there was a message in it.

"A rescue is unwanted,
unwarranted,

And will not be accepted."

And that called off the rescue.

- # well, come on home

- The media just loved this.

Two climbers, warren harding
and dean caldwell...

...Had been climbing
the sheer face of the mountain

- ...Have waved off a helicopter carrying would-Be rescuers.

And they brought
harding's mother along,

And she's underneath the wall,

And she says
"oh, this is the longest

Warrnie's been away
from home."

After a record setting
28 days on the wall,

Harding made his final push
to the summit.

A lot of us thought
that he wasn't going to make it,

But he was just determined.

- The iron man of yosemite.

Even royal
couldn't have done that.

- Oh, he did? They must be there.

Are they there?

- They did it.
- Come on and yell!

Awaiting their arrival
at the top of el capitan

Was a mind-Blowing sight.

- Oh, shit!

There was a whole army
of reporters on the top.

You would have thought
the beatles had just shown up

From england for the first time.

Why on god's green earth
do you guys climb mountains?

- Because we're insane.

Can't be any other reason.

Harding becomes the most famous
climber in american history.

- Climbing 3,000 feet,

Dean caldwell
and warren harding

Are with me in the studio now.

What was the actual quote

That you wound up barking down
to the would be rescuers?

Well, i don't think
you want that terminology

At this particular time.

While harding
toured the country,

Basking in the limelight,
back in camp 4 robbins fumed.

Royal robbins finds this
absolutely unbearable.

I believed that harding
was not doing it the right way.

He was furious,
the number of bolts.

I think they placed
something like 300 bolts.

It was either up to me
to do something

Or to keep my trap shut.

So i decided to act.

Royal started up the dawn wall
with a chisel...

- # ashes or nothing

...Determined to remove a blot
from the yosemite landscape.

And he stops at the first bolt
and chops it off.

He stops at the next one
and chops that one off.

I said,
"royal, what are you doing?"

He says, "chopping the bolts.
That's the name of the game!"

Royal trying to make a
tremendous statement, obviously.

"Harding, you better never, ever
do that kind of shit again,

Or i'll go up
the day after you get down,

And i'll chop
every fucking bolt."

Royal's belief in his sense
of right and wrong

Boiled over into
a destructive act, a bitter act.

But an interesting thing
happens, which is that royal

Gets not very far up the climb

Before the undeniable beauty
of the climb

Seems to overwhelm him.

On the upper pitches
of the dawn wall,

Robbins found that
warren harding

Didn't just rely on bolts.

It was bold, creative climbing.

- He said, "you know,

This route is a lot
more difficult than i imagined."

I was just pushed to my limit
just to follow his leads,

And i was overcome by admiration
for the level of expertise.

Warren harding, he was climbing
at an inspired level.

And so i thought,
"this doesn't make sense.

This doesn't feel right."

And so i stopped removing them
at that point.

I decided to just go ahead
and climb it

And leave
the rest of the bolts in.

Royal... It was pretty hard
for him to come to humility,

But he finally did.

And i think the dawn wall was
the turning point for him.

- It's hard to admit it,

But i have to say that i think

Some of my reaction was harding
was getting all the credit.

And i felt i should get some.

And that was a personal thing,
i suppose.

It was an ego thing.

Yeah.

The clash of egos on the dawn
wall took its toll

On these two aging gladiators,
and neither harding nor robbins

Would ever climb a major route
in yosemite again.

They both dropped out
of climbing.

A rivalry which had gone
on for 14 years came to an end.

- Robbins and his wife, liz,

Went on to found a successful
outdoor clothing company.

Meanwhile, harding passed
his days on the porch with mom,

Drink always in hand.

Remember how long we were
on the dawn wall

On el cap in yosemite?
- Yes.

And i'm rich and famous.
Well...

- Rich? Where's the rich?

As yosemite's golden age
came to an end,

The cultural rift
in america was growing wider.

I mean, we're talking
about the early '70s.

Jimi hendrix and watergate.

Vietnam was dribbling on,

And there's a lot of discontent.

There wasn't really much
to hold on to.

There was an alternative
society sort of developing

That scared the hell
out of the government

'Cause it was changing
the culture.

Even the national parks
felt the impact

As raucous love-Ins
from the bay area

Spilled over into the meadows
of yosemite.

It's just two cultures who are
really in conflict here.

It seemed like the valley was
ripe for the next revolution.

- # nitroglycerine

# nitroglycerine

In the early 1970s,

A fresh crop of climbers
began to trickle into yosemite.

- # when i was just a kid

# they said,
"kid, don't you cry" #

- Right around '73 or '74,

We started coming
to the valley.

In camp 4, we started
to all connect as a group.

- We were a little, cocky tribe.

- We just came on the scene.

The new group of hippie
athletes included john long...

I was about that far away
from abject poverty.

- ...Dale bard...

I didn't have any money,
any food, anything.

- ...Dean fidelman...

What we had was a lot of style
and a lot of balls.

- ...Ron kauk...

There's a feeling
that you get being here.

- ...John bachar...

I climb on average
300 days a year.

...And the
promising 16-Year-Old lynn hill.

It was definitely
a macho culture,

Lots of testosterone.

If you wanted to hang
with these guys,

You had to climb hard.

The wise elder of this new
valley clan was jim bridwell.

- Bridwell, our leader,

Ultimately, the coolest climber
there is.

Amidst the grand events
of the 1960s,

Bridwell was a young apprentice
to robbins and harding.

This brash kid looked a little
bit like alfred e. Neuman,

With big fucking ears
sticking out.

But the scrawny kid at
the picnic table would soon

Grow into a leader
of the yosemite climbers.

- He had a climbed with robbins.

He had climbed with everyone.

- That passion and commitment

Was something
that we were looking for.

Bridwell drove routes
into stretches of el capitan

Where robbins and harding
never dared.

Jim bridwell was some kind
of new force, if you will.

- New routes on el cap.

Bold, dangerous stuff.

For me,
it was mainly a thing about,

You know,how far
you can push it.

Exploring not only
my environment,

But myself at the same time.

While blazing trails
on the big walls,

Bridwell gave the culture
of climbing

A strong dose
of the aquarian age.

That was still
when we had good drugs.

You know, psychedelics.

- # one pill makes you larger

There is
a definite fearlessness

That comes with that liberation
of the personality.

# and the ones
that mother gives you #

# don't do anything at all
- Bridwell, in that period,

Created this sort
of social tribe.

He had become
this almost cult figure.

Bridwell was the high lama.
That's who he was.

- The man was brilliant, okay?

He could pick a line, he knew
what it was going to entail,

And then he would go down
and pick his team.

It was a badge of honor when
bridwell decided he wanted to

Climb with you.

But going up on the big wall
with jim bridwell

Could be a terrifying
rite of passage.

If you are in your teen years,
to take off on a route

That you don't know, who knows
what's going to happen?

You didn't know what the fuck
you were going to find

When you went out
on these big things.

You look down,
and it's not pretty.

Your mind comes up with all
the worst possible scenarios.

We knew we were getting into
some serious climbing

With some serious potential
for falling and dying.

When i look back on it i go,
"what were you thinking, man?"

We escaped
by the skin of our teeth.

You are up there putting up
a new line with bridwell.

The guy is flying on acid.

- Bridwell did drugs on the wall.

He's fucked up!

And i go,
"whatever, he's tied in.

If he wants to do it, okay."

- # feed your head

There is a fine line
between boldness and stupidity.

I may have been
right on the edge of it.

- # feed your head

- Aah! Aaaah!

Fuck.

In 1975, bridwell devised
a plan to attempt a feat

That only a few years earlier
would've been a fantasy.

Bridwell came up
with the idea...

We'll climb the nose
on el capitan in a day.

Yosemite's most iconic route,
the nose,

Had taken warren harding
nearly two years to complete

And royal robbins almost a week.

Now bridwell aimed to climb
all 3,000 feet in a single day.

- "Are you kidding me?!"

Leaving behind the food, water,
and equipment

For a multi-Day climb,
he chose to go fast and light

In a mad dash for the summit.

By evening,
bridwell and his team

Stood atop el capitan...

I think the important thing
was to get down

Before the bar closed.

...Leaving no doubt
that yosemite's new crew

Intended to leave their mark.

Take no prisoners
and get out of the fucking way.

Here we are.

- # yeah, i feel so good

# we could do
what nobody else could#

Before long, bridwell's
disciples were becoming

Masters in their own right.

- Whoo!

We were running on adrenaline
and uncontainable ambition.

- We wanted to set new standards.

Every time
that we went climbing,

It wasn't just to raise the bar.

The idea was to blow
the whole paradigm away

And replace it
with an entirely new game,

A new way to climb.

The breakthrough
for our generation

Was free-Climbing.

Free-Climbing revolutionized
the sport.

What can we do
just with our hands and feet?

- In the previous generation,

Aid climbing was the norm
with climbers

Relying on their equipment
to hold their body weight

As they ascended a cliff.

- Put a nail in the rock,

Put a nylon ladder to it,
climb the ladder,

And repeat that process.

Getting direct assistance
from the gear.

Free-Climbing changed
everything.

Now climbers hung directly
by their fingertips

In a strenuous vertical dance.

- When you're free-Climbing,

You're using your hands
and feet on the rock.

You have to stuff your fingers
into cracks, smear your toes,

Periodically placing protection.

Only use your rope
to catch you if you fell off.

You're looking up
at small holds

And not sure
if you really have the strength.

Burning forearms.

Your fingers starting to open.

And you just have to go for it.

- Falling!

I'm okay!

Free-Climbing demanded
a new level of athleticism

Which the valley climbers honed
on steep cliffs and boulders.

Bridwell's crew... These guys
were dynamite athletes,

Pushing the physical limits of
yosemite climbing in their era.

All we did
was eat, sleep, climb.

That's it, okay? And train.

- We worked out like fiends.

We were always trying
to get stronger.

You had to have fingers
of steel, zero body fat.

But even more than that
was the mental aspect of it.

Let me know when you are going
to cut loose!

- It was really a bold era.

- Camera rolling. Ron kauk.

Pushing the level of
free-Climb became a real focus.

Leader never falls, man,
because you're going to feel it.

Using the crack as a step,
he pushes up,

And then the rock breaks off.

- You okay?

- Yeah, just a little loose hold.

- God, you scared me to death.

Our focus was to find out
what was possible for ourselves.

That's what took our
imaginations more than anything.

United around the new
free-Climbing movement,

This core group of rock jocks
soon had a name...

The stonemasters.

- Yeah, dude, the stonemasters!

Being a stonemaster meant that
you had to climb

Like it's your last day
on earth.

And you had to smoke
lots of weed.

The name stonemasters
came out of a bong session

In the basement
of richard harrison's house.

Some people
would say "stoned masters."

We were young, wild,
and we thought we were the best.

- These new guys coming in

And claiming they are better
than us.

Jim bridwell had a boom box
at his camp,

Where as we old-Timers thought
that that was not appropriate.

Hey, you're supposed
to be communing with nature

Like john muir
or some goddamn...

Instead of a fucking boom box.

Well, i think they were doing
the right thing.

I was pretty stoked.

They were pushing the limits

And also really pissing off
the entrenched status quo.

Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll,
climbing.

Living on the naked brink
of society, of sanity.

Camp 4 was a dirty, filthy,
mud hole.

It was paradise.

- We camped together.

We trained together.

We climbed together.

- Come on, hon.

Our little group
moving through the boulders

With our little tape deck
playing.

Somehow we came
to this beautiful place,

And it connected us.

Kind of a magical, real special
time to be in yosemite climbing.

- We were in utopia.

We were basically the kings
of utopia.

The climbers had it
in their mind

That yosemite had evolved
for them.

It wasn't to have
this proliferation of cafeterias

And tourist things.

Nah, man, the main feature
about yosemite was the rocks.

And who was utilizing the rocks?

It was us.

That place was for us!

- Ow!

But that's not how
the national park saw things.

Back in 1970, at the height
of protest over the vietnam war,

Thousands of hippies
from the bay area

Crowded into yosemite
for a raucous love-In.

When the national park rangers
moved to shut it down,

The situation got out of hand.

- It's an angry crowd.

- It's now a wholesale riot.

The mace is burning in my eyes.

Ever since then,
park rangers were given firearms

And a strict law-Enforcement
mandate.

A bunch of long-Haired bums
causing trouble

And i'm delighted to see the
police here kicking them out.

They have no right
to be here at all.

While few, if any, climbers
were involved in the riots,

Their long hair
and rebel attitude

Put them in the crossfire
of the culture war.

The people involved
in the riots,

I don't think any were climbers,
but, you know,

The climbers were never
really welcome after that.

As time went on,
more and more control

Went on the whole camp 4 scene.

There was a real battle
between climbers and rangers.

We were getting
cracked down on.

They'd come through in sweeps,

Get all of the out-Of-Bounds
campers,

Sneak up on our guys
smoking pot.

Disorderly conduct,
traffic violations,

Camping out of bounds.

- I had my run-Ins.

I've been arrested, all of that.

Law enforcement was always
kind of looking for you

Or trying to kick you
out of the park.

- And so, we became the outlaws.

- # you!

The rangers... Some of them
really looked down on us.

- You know, you're a freeloader.

You're living here for nothing,

And you're taking advantage
of the resources.

'Cause climbers are so free,
you know?

Live out of the cars
or wherever and just enjoy life.

Most climbers are pretty fit,
right?

So they tended to have
their pick of the girls.

I think there was a lot
of jealousy.

A lot of these
rangers were pretty pissed off

That they had to work,

And we didn't have to do
anything except go have fun.

100 years from now,
nobody is going to remember

That ranger at all,

But they are going to
remember jim bridwell.

They're going to remember
what the climbers

Of that generation did
'cause that was history,

And the rangers knew that,
and it used to piss them off.

In the winter of 1977,
a mysterious cargo plane

Flying under the radar

Crashed in the high country
of yosemite,

Killing both people on board.

There's a plane
coming back from colombia.

It crashed into a lake,
a lower merced lake.

Looks like we got a plane
down in the high country.

- The climber had a girlfriend

Who worked on the switchboard
at the time,

And she had eavesdropped in
on a conversation

About the plane
and what was on the plane.

- Climbers heard about it

And hiked up there
to see what was going on.

And they just
look out onto the lake.

The nose of the plane
was sticking up out of the ice.

And they could see some black
shapes underneath the ice,

And they managed to break
through the ice.

And there was a bale with a big
marijuana leaf on it.

- They open it up, and he goes,

"Oh, my god, it's pot!"

High-Grade, red-Haired,
colombian weed.

But there's hundreds
of these bales, okay?

And then the frenzy began.

Guys running up there in the
dead of night with chainsaws,

Cutting the ice, pulling bales
of dope out of the water.

- # it gets me high

You know, what started out
as a trickle

Just turned into a stampede.

Climbers went back there
and looted the plane

Of every last reefer
of marijuana.

- And the gold rush was on.

Suddenly you started smelling
this stuff in people's tents.

It had an interesting odor
to it.

The pot was drenched
in gasoline from the crash.

- Take a big hit.

- And all of a sudden...Poof!

There was this explosion.

It had some airplane fuel on it.

- Whoa!

- It singed my eyebrows.

Had a little burst of flame
to it and people enjoyed it.

Climbers going down to berkeley
and los angeles

And cashing all this weed in
and returning with,

You know, fistfuls of cash.

- We made a lot of money.

A lot of money!

Suddenly,
climbers had new cars...

- ...Eating in the restaurants...

...Liquor flowing
and steak dinners all around.

- Leaving $100 tips.

- People built houses.

You know, the rangers, they
didn't find out about the plane

Until it was all gone.

- # it gets me high

By that time,
quite a bit of marijuana

Had been taken out
by quite a number of climbers.

These were high times
for the stonemasters,

Who had fistfuls of cash
and a growing reputation,

As yosemite took center stage
in the world of rock climbing.

If you were going
to be a yosemite climber,

You wanted to
absolutely represent to the

World that we were
the top dogs.

20-Year-Old lynn hill
proved that a woman is a match

For any mountain.

- A woman might feel that she

Doesn't need to be as good
as a man,

But for me that's not true.

I push myself as far
as i can go.

It was
like a little revolution.

Ron kauk of yosemite,
an american climbing legend.

All these strong, talented
climbers created healthy

Competition that keeps
pushing you to the next level.

But perhaps
no stonemaster shone brighter

Than the southern california
hotshot, john bachar.

When we first met john bachar,
we could tell real quick

This guy was serious
about getting good.

When it comes to climbing
and training, i've never seen

Anybody even close.

Not even close.

Bachar quickly became known
as a specialist in the simplest,

Yet most dangerous form
of climbing... Free-Solo.

When john bachar climbs,
he literally suspends his life

From his fingertips.

No ropes, no pitons,
just hands, shoes,

And a bag of chalk for grip.

This is free-Soloing.

Leave the rope behind,
just you and the rock.

The idea of climbing
without a rope?

The slightest mistake, a slip
of a foot, no margin for error.

If you fall,
you fall down the face,

And you hit the ground,
and you die.

There's no second chance.

It only takes that, you know,
that one little split second of

Loss of concentration.

But for john, free-Soloing was

The ultimate mastery
of rock climbing.

- I'm working on the dance.

You have to unite your mind
and body to do it right.

I look at it as, yeah,
becoming one with the rock.

He was slightly unapproachable
and could be arrogant.

A lot of people say, you know,
i'm suicidal.

They don't understand
what i'm doing.

They have no idea.

As far as i'm concerned,
there is no risk

'Cause i'm not going to fall.

Everything that he did
was just methodical and perfect.

He put the "master"
into "stonemaster."

And he started getting famous,
really famous.

- Get ready to meet john bachar.

John bachar is considered
to be

The best solo free-Climber
in the world.

Bachar just took off,
completely in his own sphere.

- What we are going to show you

Gives new meaning
to the phrase,

"Hanging on
by your fingernails."

- The essence of climbing.

John bachar.

You've got to know the rock,
every inch of it.

The essence of shaving.

This is the gillette
good news...

By the early 1980s,
bachar and the stonemasters

Were plunged
into the mainstream.

But for the once-Scruffy crew
from camp 4,

It was an abrupt change.

- Champion rock-Climber ron kauk knows the thrills

And difficulties of conquering
rugged mountains.

That's why he likes
a ford bronco ii.

When we came in,
it wasn't like any of us thought

We're going to make
a bunch of money

Or we're going to get,
you know, famous.

That's where the
changes started happening.

- The lifestyle sort of evolved

From, "hey,
we are just having fun,"

To "hey, i need to
make a living at this."

- Fill it up, climb it up!

We're thinking,
"what's the next possibility

Of making a little dollar here,

A little dollar there?"

It's hard when you're young
to keep all that stuff

In perspective.

- When you become famous,

Let all those people
put you on a pedestal,

If you start believing
in your own myth...

That can mess you up.

The stonemaster group
started developing these

Professional rivalries.

The international sport
climbing championship.

Many of the stonemasters
embraced the emerging

Trend of sport climbing,

Which involved competitions
on artificial walls.

And out on the rocks,
power drills were used

To place bolts
on overhanging cliffs,

Creating physically demanding
climbs

With minimal risk.

For many of us, sport climbing
was a natural evolution.

These techniques allowed us
to do harder and harder climbs

On the most outrageous faces
imaginable.

But john bachar,
who had become an icon

For his feats of solo-Climbing,
was a harsh critic

Of the sport's direction.

Yeah, here come the guys
that are just going to

Do anything to get their name
in the book.

- I'm just going for a lunge.

Ohhhh! Aah!

I just look at it and i go,
"ah, man, that's ridiculous."

There's more weenies
out there now than ever,

So that just makes me
look better.

He spoke his mind
about people who didn't live up

To a standard that, basically,
only he could maintain.

Bachar was like royal robbins.
He was a purist...

Really philosophical
about climbing.

It meant everything to him.

- When his fellow stonemasters

Brought sport climbing's
bolting tactics

To the hallowed walls
of yosemite, bachar cried foul.

Bachar would go up
and chop bolts.

It really did enflame passions
with people, and it got ugly.

Bachar chopped some bolts
on a route we put in,

And i was pissed about it.

And i told him, "if you go
chopping my bolts again,

I'm gonna kick your ass."

He baited me, egged me on.

I punched him.

- Aah!

Chapman punched bachar
in the face.

The stonemasters...
We were fighting with ourselves.

I always wanted to be
the big, happy family.

That was my family.
That's who i grew up with.

I'm like, "fuck, dude.
I have to take a side?"

When we came in,
we were like-Minded

In our ability to live simply,

To go climbing together,
to do walls together.

- # long have i been swept away

Certain things start to happen
where you just can't relate.

You just go your own ways.

- There was no more bond.

We were no longer
that same community.

It's sad because, i mean,
we were really close.

Meanwhile, the valley
that had once united

The stonemaster tribe
had also changed.

10 years later, the whole place
had gone sort of corporate.

There's a parking lot.
There was fees.

There were camping spots.

It just became more and more
constricted,

More refined, more controlled.

- And in 1978, an estimated

2.5 million people visited
yosemite national park.

The stonemasters
fit what it was.

Stonemasters
didn't fit what it became.

- # i lost my way

By 1980, '81, i think,
the reign of the stonemasters

Was over.

- It was the end of an era.

- # oooo-Oooooh

# oooo-Oooh

After leaving the valley,
the stonemasters

Went in their own directions.

The old mentor jim bridwell
took his wall-Climbing skills

To the high mountains,

Establishing first ascents
from alaska to patagonia.

- It was adventure.

Like, that was the only purpose
in climbing.

Lionel terray put it quite well

When he said,
"conquistadors of the useless."

Wall-Climbing is something
for young people to do.

You know, you wake up one day

And realize
you're not young anymore.

John long,
the stonemasters raconteur,

Went to hollywood, spinning
the fabled drug-Plane crash

Into a blockbuster.

Wrote a screenplay,

Got it in sylvester stallone's
hands,

And a greatly embellished
version of the whole thing

Ended up in the movie
"cliffhanger."

- No!

# every tear rolling down
is a lesson learned #

- As for john bachar,

After his falling out
with the other stonemasters,

He lived outside the valley,
continuing to push the limits

Of free-Soloing
for another 20 years.

The thing about bachar
is he never changed.

John stuck to his guns
and kept pushing the standards.

I think bachar was one
of the outstanding

Action sports figures
of the 20th century.

Absolutely.
- # too young to burn

And then one day,
at the age of 52,

The master of the stonemasters
fell from a climb and was gone.

- # too young, too young

But the stonemasters' story
did not end there.

When i left california in 1983,
i traveled all over

The world and explored different
types of climbing.

- "Come on, lynn!"
- ...won competitions...

- Oh, wonderful stuff,

And lynn hill
takes the world cup.

But yosemite was always
in the back of my mind.

In the early '90s, lynn hill
returned to her stomping grounds

In yosemite
with an audacious vision.

- I wanted to be the first person

To make an all free ascent
of the nose on el capitan.

It's the most historic, famous
big-Wall climb in the world,

And it seemed
like the best culmination

Of all of my skills
as a climber.

Until now, every party
that went up the nose,

From warren harding
to jim bridwell,

Had aid-Climbed the route,

Hanging on their gear
to reach the top.

The next big step was, when was
it going to be free-Climbed?

- A free ascent of the nose

Would mark the ultimate
fulfillment of the free-Climbing

Revolution launched
by the stonemasters in the '70s.

Free-Climbing the nose
was a prize.

All the most visionary climbers

Kept trying it
and going after it.

They wanted it.

And here's lynn,
and she crushes it.

Oh, my god,
el cap can be free-Climbed!

It was groundbreaking,
earth-Shattering,

And it was a woman.

- It goes, boys.

Lynn hill's nose climb sent
shock waves around the world...

- Ladies and gentlemen, please

Welcome the best rock-Climber
in the world lynn hill.

Hi. Nice to see you.
- Thank you.

- Are you all right? N-No!

...And was a catalyst
for a new generation of climbers

To make the pilgrimage
to yosemite.

A lot of characters
started coming

Into yosemite valley
in the mid-'90s.

The first time i came
into yosemite, i shat my pants.

You see el cap.
Oh, no!

It's 10 times bigger
than you thought it was.

Yosemite was like the big,
promised land,

This legendary place.

You come to camp 4
having heard

Of these
larger-Than-Life people,

This pantheon of yosemite gods,
you know?

Bachar and kauk,
robbins and harding.

- These are my heroes.

These are the people that

You grow up reading about.

- You're there to see

If you can't make
your own legends.

Soon, a critical mass
of ambitious young climbers

Had revived
the dormant valley scene,

A group that,
over the next 15 years,

Would keep yosemite
on the cutting edge

Of modern climbing.

In homage to the previous
generation, they called

Themselves the stone monkeys.

- Yes!

- Yeah, it's going off now.

The new generation is
just bolder,

And the wildness is
back.

The ranks of the monkeys
include wall pirates...

- Aye! Hoist the jolly roger!

- ...Full-Time vagabonds...

Oh, half a sandwich.
Sweet!

...And some of
the best rock-Climbers

The world has ever known.

I mean, i've spent years
of my life up there,

Grabbing these miniscule edges,
jumping between holds,

Taking huge falls.

I don't know what's wrong
with me, but i love this shit.

- The stone monkeys...

They're world-Class athletes.

Just pushing it.

They're a right bunch
of misfits, basically.

Anybody that wants to go up
on a big wall

And shit in a paper bag

Is a particular kind of person.
- Moonwalk!

It's the dirtbags.
It's the lifers.

They don't do well with rules
and regulations.

- Problems with authority.

- Near-Death experiences...

- Aaaaaaah!

- Kind of on a daily basis.

- Aah!

- Whoo!

In bridwell's period
it was the stonemasters.

Now it's the monkeys.

These guys
are really carrying the torch.

That fire is still burning
in the heart of the valley.

- To the top!

Ohh! Aa-Aaaaah!

Yeah!

The era
of the stone monkeys began

When a 6'5" new hampshire native
dean potter

Stormed into the valley.

Yeah, at first
i was super intimidated.

The walls were so big
and, you know, unattainable.

I was overwhelmed with just
surviving here,

Cleaning out the underside
of a boulder

And making it into my home.

Camp 4 was filled with people
living on the fringe.

Oh, my god!
This is so scary!

Yeaaaaah!
- Yeah

- It was just all about now.

Enter into the freak show
and be free.

Dean started doing
some of these outrageous solos.

Dean was one
of the biggest risk-Takers.

- Whoo!

He was willing to strip it
down further than anybody else.

- Dean's a silverback monkey.

He's kind
of spearheaded the revolution.

Up on the big walls, potter
pushed the boundaries in the

Fast-Paced, high-Risk game
of speed-Climbing.

-3, 2, 1. Go!

Climbing these walls as fast
as humanly possible.

# burning up the fire
of your heart's desire #

The speed record
on the nose of el capitan

Has long been a measure
of climbing state of the art.

When the monkeys
joined the race,

The records
started dropping fast...

- No gear. Don't fall!

...Until potter and his partner
sean leary topped out

On the 3,000 foot route
in a blistering 21/2 hours.

Just absolutely running
up the thing.

- We barely squeaked it.

- It was a callout that a bolder,

More mad generation
had arrived in the valley.

Next, potter climbed both
el capitan and half dome

In a day, alone.

- Speed-Solo was this new way

Of climbing
faster and more efficiently

Than anybody else.

Speed-Climbing is
like a gladiator sport,

Doing whatever it takes,
pulling on gear.

By any means get up the wall
as fast as you can.

I have a little piece
of rope with me,

But primarily
i free-Solo the walls.

Dean was,
for the first time in a while,

Really taking yosemite climbing
in a new direction.

He was doing things that no one
had ever done before.

While dean potter
was making headlines,

An impressionable kid from
sacramento named alex honnold

Was discovering the sport
of climbing in an indoor gym.

- As a kid in the gym, yeah,

I guess i was obsessed
with climbing.

I mean,
i wouldn't call it "obsessed."

It's just
that i just loved climbing

More than anything else.

I would just read climbing
magazines, watch videos,

And as i was growing up,

The person
that was making news at

The time was dean potter.

Dean soloing the nose
and half dome in a day...

It was like one of the most
inspiring things

I've ever seen in climbing.

I dropped out, hit the road,
and started coming to yosemite

To test myself
against previous generations,

To see what others have done and
to see if i could do the same,

To see if i could be as good
as, you know, dean potter.

When alex first showed up
in the valley,

He was like this lanky kid,
sort of hanging in the shadows,

Unsure of what to do.

Just this dorky, awkward kid.

You know,
big ears and a bad haircut.

"Is that dean potter?
Oh, god. Someday, maybe."

- The guy that looks mortified

And doesn't know
what he's doing there?

Yeah, that was me.

When you think
of yosemite climbers

You think of dean.

- Whoo!

- Long hair, badass attitude.

Sort of this rebel.

- And then you have alex honnold.

- Clean-Cut, square.

- This wasn't hero material.

But as soon as the guy
puts on his climbing shoes,

It's like clark kent
becoming superman.

- Unleashed on the valley walls,

Honnold
made an immediate impact.

This kid alex
is really a step up.

He eats, sleeps,
and breathes climbing.

He's definitely a student
of yosemite history,

And he wants to be a part
of that lineage.

On the nose of el cap,
he teamed up

With dean potter's long-Time
speed-Climbing rival

Hans florine
to smash potter's record.

And where dean had climbed
both el cap and half dome

In a single day,

Alex would raise the stakes,

Adding the 2,200 foot
mount watkins.

- # now it's day

# i've been trying
to get back to you #

I definitely have an advantage
coming after dean.

He's already broken
that ground.

The impossibility of it is gone.

Once you know it can be done,

You just climb harder.

- Okay.

Climbing alone in a continuous
push through day and night,

Alex honnold scaled
yosemite's three

Biggest walls in just 18 hours.

- He's coming up right below us.

- That's so sick!

- Oh, my god!
- That was amazing.

- Whoo!

- Congratulations!

- Yeah, you know,

I had mixed feelings
when alex came around,

But that's the way it goes,
you know.

When the next generation does
come and break the barriers,

You welcome it.

Alex was really rattling
dean's cage,

Challenging dean's supremacy,

But that's required to push
the envelope of the possible.

Alex has made
his most indelible mark

In the realm of free-Soloing,

Taking the rope-Less discipline

To bigger
and more difficult routes.

- Alex honnold is amazing.

He's taken free-Soloing
to a whole new level.

He took what bachar started
and just kept going with it.

And i can't even believe some
of the things that he solos.

- I mean, he's soloing stuff that

Bachar never dreamed
about soloing.

My soloing in yosemite
is an outgrowth

Of what dean was doing before me

And what john bachar
was doing before him.

Just a little bit harder
and a little bit bigger.

He's done things that really
make me uncomfortable watching.

But you've got to respect
the next generation's vision.

There's definitely a degree
of mastery in soloing.

I mean, it's definitely
like the final exam.

Are you solid on this?

Can you feel comfortable
in this position?

Are you able to do this?

Part of the appeal of soloing
is just the physical challenge,

Like, the fact that you have
to climb well

To make sure you
don't fall off.

Then part of it is just being
in the position

Of being a tiny, little dot
on a huge ocean of rock.

You're totally by yourself
on this big uncaring face.

The challenge is to feel
in control enough that,

Even though you're
a very dangerous position,

You can enjoy the experience.

As honnold continues to
up the ante in free-Soloing,

Potter explores new ways
to test the boundaries

Of gravity and risk...

...by taking the classic camp 4
rest activity of slacklining...

- Slacklining, you know in camp,

Just walking on one-Inch webbing

And mastering our balance.

...And elevating it into
death-Defying aerial art form.

You know,
with everything i'm doing,

I'm trying to become more free.

With the highlining,
i'm not blocking out the fear.

I'm feeling the fear
and, you know,

Absorbing everything
that's around me,

Trying to calm my heart
and not, you know,

Hyperventilate
and keep it together.

- Fuck! Fuck!

- I see what i do as a picture.

I look up at the wall or see
the space between formations,

And i want to enter that.

And i kind of get a flash
or a picture,

And then i live it.

I'm trying to do
something completely different,

Be creative, find new ways
to go toward my fears.

Whoo!

Whoooo!

- # we are waiting

Yosemite's such a power spot,
power place.

The perfect rock
and the perfect light

And the huge walls...

It brings out the best in us.

Like, it brings us beyond
what we thought was possible.

The stone monkeys, we have
that one thing in common...

A love or a passion
for this place.

But the monkeys are not the
only ones in love with yosemite.

- Hey! Maniac!

These days,
around four million tourists

Visit the park each year.

Yosemite valley has grown
into a small city

With hotels, restaurants,
gift shops, a courtroom,

And a jail,

All competing for space in
a valley less than a mile wide.

To address
the population pressures,

The park service adopted
a new policy,

Which limits each visitor
to a total

Of seven camping days per year.

From may 1st through
september 15th,

Campers in yosemite valley,

Regardless of where
they're camping,

Can only stay seven days.

For most tourists, a one-Week
visit is probably enough.

I'll point out the sites
as we go around.

But for climbers,
these camping limits

Are an existential threat.

- Seven days.

You can barely get your feet wet
in seven days.

If you're going
to do big things in yosemite,

You have to be there
for long amounts of time.

You got to put years
into those walls.

If you want to be
a yosemite climber,

You have to
break that one-Week rule.

Those who wish to stay longer
must do so illicitly,

Sleeping hidden
among the boulders.

Because i can't stay in camp 4
for more than a week

And i just want to climb here
all the time, this is my home.

I just live here
in the boulders.

Their illegal status
has put climbers and rangers

In conflict as never before.

Rangers enforce
that regulation.

A lot of times,
they're not lenient.

- It's a cat-And-Mouse game,

Rangers hunting
down the climbers.

The rangers have tasers
and night-Vision.

2:00 in the morning,
a flashlight

Shining in your eyes,
you're getting kicked.

You're like,
"ah, what's happening?

What's going on?!"

- Oh, you know, the rangers have

Gone from having a degree
in biology...

- No, no, young lady.

Haven't you been told

That you shouldn't pick
the wildflowers?

...To having a degree in
marksmanship.

I mean, that is bullshit.

I totally understand why the
park service needs their rules.

I don't want to come out here
and cut it down.

But i don't like it
when i'm not free.

I get kind of in-Your-Face.

- How are you?
- Hi. How are you doing?

- Turn off the camera.
- Um, no, thank you.

- Turn off the car.

How come
you're pulling me over?

You didn't yield right-Of-Way
at that intersection back there.

Uh, no, i didn't, sir.
I think you're harassing me.

Stone monkeys...
They're trying to live

Like we did 30 years ago,

And that's entirely at odds
with the laws or regulations,

The mentality that's completely
taken over yosemite.

I don't know how they do it.

In their efforts
to buck the system,

The monkeys rallied
around an unlikely leader.

Charles tucker,
a.K.A. Chongo chuck.

He showed up here
probably like 20 years ago.

Just never really left.

Chongo is like a dirtbag
survival master.

He taught us how to
easily outmaneuver the rangers.

He taught us where to sleep
and not get caught.

He was the one who showed
you could live under the radar.

I mean, chongo
is almost like this adventurous

Yoda or something.

- The monkeys showed up,

And i was teaching
them all these tricks

About how to make it the richest
adventure that you can.

It was chongo who taught
newcomers about slacklining.

I mean, chongo really
is the godfather of slacklining.

He would just say,
"ahh, if i can slackline,

You can slackline."

- Whoa, that's a lot of trust

That you have there, chongo.

He authored books on everything
from big-Wall climbing to

Theoretical physics...

- This is my opus, "the homeless

Interpretation
of quantum mechanics."

- ...And shared his secrets

To a free breakfast
at the yosemite lodge.

Saltines, mustard packets,
and butter.

10 butter packets
on a piece of bread.

1,000 calories in butter.

Dirtbag survival 101...
Do these things

And you won't have to spend
any money

And you can stay here all year.

- Rock-Climbing, slacklining...

Those are paramount.

There's only one time
that you're going to be young.

And get out there and do things
that people

Wish they would have done once
they get too old to do them.

Because that's what life
is about.

It's about living it!

Oh!

Chongo was kind of our
spiritual leader, in a sense.

And the rangers,

They wanted to make an example
out of him.

After dwelling in the shadows
for years,

The guru of the dirtbags

Had worn out his welcome
with park officials

Who declared that chongo chuck

Had lived in yosemite
long enough.

A whole team of rangers tasked
themselves with hunting chongo.

Trying to convict chongo
of something, anything.

- They followed him.

They would stake him out
at night.

They used infrared glasses.

There was nothing stealth
about this guy,

And they could not catch him!

He's this shambling homeless guy
with like five backpacks.

He would walk off into the
woods so slowly that you can't

Follow someone going slow
'cause then you're obvious.

Chongo was just sort
of endlessly slipping in and out

Of trees and bushes.

- He would disappear.

So, the rangers,
they had the chongo file

And amassed hundreds of pages
of information on him.

I've looked
at these police reports,

And these guys crossed some sort
of freaky line in

Trying to bring chongo chuck to
justice.

And the rangers said
that he was like the,

"The master
of counter-Surveillance."

I mean, it was ridiculous!

After a year-Long man-Hunt,
the park service built a case

Against chongo
and brought him to court.

We had the entire courtroom
packed every day of the trial

With dirtbags.
It really was stinky in there.

- Chongo!

- They got a judge...

- Order. Order.

...And his words were these,
"mr. Tucker,

Your tenure here in yosemite
has come to an end."

- # morning has passed for me

I went from this beautiful world
down to the homeless scene

In the state capitol
living under a bridge.

And what a stark contrast
that was.

To the rangers,
chongo was an eyesore.

He's dirty. But to us,
he was our foundation.

The expulsion of chongo chuck
was a clear sign

That the days of illicit freedom
may be a thing of the past.

A lot of us younger climbers
today are just coming to terms

With the fact that it's
just a different lifestyle

Than it was
in the '60s and '70s.

When i see footage
of the '70s here,

It's like never-Never land
or something.

It's the lost boys.

I mean, i can see
how that would be amazing.

But nowadays we have to share it

With the other four million
people

Who come to the park
every year.

I mean, everybody gets
their turn to enjoy yosemite.

And that's fine with me,
you know.

I just drive out of the park

And just sleep
on the side of the road,

Outside of the park boundaries,

Because that's what you have to
do to stay legal.

And that's the compromise
i'm willing to make.

Because the important thing
to me is being able to climb

On the walls here
as much as i can.

The rangers had a plan
that if we take down the leader,

We'll take down the whole tribe.

But no way
will they stop the dirtbags.

No way will they stop
the stone monkeys.

Chongo and the old dads
that have come before me,

Really showed that
with the spark of the idea

And the intention
and the will power,

You can make it happen.

The next evolution
on yosemite's walls would take

Climbers in a whole new
direction,

As dean and his fellow monkeys

Took up the sport
of base jumping.

Ba-Boom!
See you!

Base jumping is just
jumping off of objects...

With a parachute.
- Whoo!

The same dramatic formations
that make yosemite

A climbing paradise
are also a base jumper's ideal.

You can't base jump
on this level

Anywhere else
in the united states.

- You got this big diving board

Sticking off of a thousand-Meter
overhanging cliff.

It's perfect!

Now a lot of the climbers
are base jumpers.

- It just makes sense.

Climb to the top of the walls
and jump off.

All the monkeys
have become the flying monkeys.

Pretty much everybody i know
base jumps now,

And i mean, it's a great way
to get down.

- Not only do you climb the wall,

But you have the skill
to fly your body off.

So many climbers
see the beauty in flying.

But base jumping is illegal
in yosemite national park,

And the rule
is strictly enforced.

The rangers stake us out
and hunt us base jumpers.

The maximum sentence is $5,000
and six months in jail.

The base-Jumping ban has led to
dozens of criminal charges...

You check in
to the yosemite jail.

- ...One incident of tasing.

- Shooting the tasers at me.

50,000 volts right in the back
of the neck.

- ...And even a tragic death.

- They chased him into a river,

And they pursued him
till he drowned.

But despite the risks, base
jumping in yosemite continues.

If you were to go base jumping
in yosemite, so i've heard,

You would probably
want to do it just after

Dawn or just before dusk.

Just got up to the top
of half dome.

We're waiting
for that sun to go down.

If there is ranger activity,

You get a heads up from eyes
and ears on the ground.

Nothing too out
of the ordinary right now.

Just gave them a "clear."

- Okay, cool.

- Whoo.

At the edge you're definitely
freaked out, like, "holy cow.

Am i going to die right now?"

- Scary.

Holy shit.

Even if you know
you can do the jump,

You still have this thing
in the pit of your stomach.

What happens if there's someone

Waiting in the trees
down there for you?

- We should wait for cars, dude.

- Do you see any?

- I hear some.

- Maybe i don't.
- You're tripping out, bro.

- I'm tripping out.

We're clear?
- All right, my friends.

- You guys ready?

3, 2, 1.

See you!

- Once you step off,

For that brief moment
everything's perfect.

You're not thinking.
You're just flying.

All the tension's that's been
built up in the air goes away.

- Everybody thinks base jumping

Is the scariest thing
in the world.

No, it's the best fun ever.

# give me your eyes,
i need sunshine #

# give me your eyes

It's a basic human desire
to want to fly.

Spreading your wings
and soaring with the birds.

It's one of the best feelings
on earth.

Especially in yosemite,
our home.

# so give me your eyes,
i need sunshine #

# give me your eyes,
i need sunshine #

# your blood, your bones,
your voice, and your ghost #

Going by something
5 feet to your side...

- Whoo-Hoo!

You really feel you're moving
a 100 miles per hour.

Scraping terrain
all over that entire valley.

# i'll believe in anything

# and you'll believe
in anything #

But as soon
as that parachute opens,

I'm just scanning for rangers
and looking for my escape route.

- Base jumper. El cap meadow.

# take the fire
out from the water #

# i'd take you
where nobody knows you #

# and nobody gives a damn
either way #

- Keep quiet.

The rangers think
the base jumpers are trying

To rub it in their faces
that they can't catch us.

But it's not that.

For me, it's about doing my art
and being free.

And, unfortunately, it means
that i need to evade the law.

For potter,
base jumping would hold the key

To a futuristic new form
of ascent.

I have been
pursuing this vision

Of parachute-Protected
free-Solo climbing,

Climbing with a base rig
on my back for safety.

I call it "freebase."

With the parachute, climbing
rope-Less is no longer

A game with zero margin
for error

And can be pushed
closer to the edge of falling.

Now i can free-Solo
at the limit.

Freebase could be kind of
visionary.

It does have the potential
to open up

Really interesting walls
for free-Soloing safely.

By practicing freebase
in yosemite,

Dean rides a fine legal line.

If he slips off the wall
and deploys his parachute,

He would be saving his life,
but breaking the law.

- Whoo!

This is a new style
of climbing that flies

In the face
of the laws in yosemite valley.

Basically, dean
does whatever he wants.

He just follows his vision.

I mean, that's some outlaw shit
right there.

- Hello!

How you guys doing today?
- Good.

Would you guys
like a map and a newspaper?

- No, thank you.

Want me to give you
a good smile for that camera?

Yep?
- Thanks.

Over the past 60 years,
climbing has evolved to a place

That would be unfathomable

To the early pioneers
of these walls.

But that basic yearning for
adventure remains the same...

To step into the unknown
and go beyond the possible...

As when alex honnold walked
up to the base of half dome,

The wall where it all began,

And started up
the 2,000-Foot route

With no equipment
but his climbing shoes

And a chalk bag.

Half dome was first climbed
in 1957,

And it was the first big wall
ever climbed in the world.

51 years later, alex honnold
comes along with the idea of

Climbing it without a rope,
and that's sort of an ultimate

Statement of what's going on
right now.

- # we were tight-Knit boys

# brothers in more than name

The same thing that drew
royal robbins to half dome

Is the same thing
that drew me to half dome...

Just the awe-Inspiring face.

I mean, i don't know
how else to say it,

Just how impressive the wall is.

- # hearing you'd gone away

# but everything goes away

# yeah, everything goes away

# but i'm gonna be here
till i'm nothing #

# but bones in the ground

# and i was there
when you were restless #

# left in the dead of night

Being by yourself
on a huge, big wall,

It just puts you in your place.

But you also feel a part
of something bigger,

This rich history
of climbing in yosemite.

# who-O-O-O-O-A

Alex coming along
to free-Solo half dome...

It shows the arc of progress
in yosemite climbing.

Climbing in yosemite,
it's constantly evolving.

People come there to make
a statement about what's

Possible with passion
and vision and heart.

- # oooooooh

Yosemite will always
be there for people

That have a free spirit
and plenty of raw energy.

For the one's amongst us

That want to adventure
on a huge scale.

I'm kristoff churchenallen,
and i'm from austria.

- I'm from switzerland.

- And i am here for the el cap.

"Let's enjoy climbing!"

My name is
taylor free solo rees.

My middle name is free solo

Because of my hippie
rock-Climbing mother.

- My name is sean o'neill,

And i'm here
to climb el capitan.

500 pull-Ups a day for a week.

I can't wait.

- # ohhh, oh

# oh, ohhhh

- Whoo!

Yeah!

Whoo!

As the sport of climbing
has matured,

Yosemite climbers have
been making an effort

To recast their outlaw image.

We'll have you sign in
right here.

- This is yosemite facelift,

A clean-Up event
that i started 4 years ago.

Climbers and rangers working
together to clean up the park.

Even though there's always been
that friction

Between climbers and rangers,

I think the park service is
recognizing

That climbers really love
this place.

They want to protect yosemite,

And when it comes down to it,

The mission is the same
for both groups.

But in an era
of increasingly good will,

There remains, at the heart
of yosemite climbing, a spirit

That's not so easily tamed.

# sometimes you've got to lie
just to find the truth #

# sometimes you've got to cry
just to know you're all right #

# sometimes you've got to die
just to know you're alive #

# sometimes you've got to die

- Aah!

- Whooo!

# look me up sometime,
look me up sometime #

# when you're trying to get off,
but can't just hit the bit #

# look me over when you're done,
look me over when you're done #

# when you're trying to get off,
trying to get fit #

# won't you try me out
sometime? #

# won't you try me out sometime,
time, time, time? #

# hook me up sometime,
hook me up #

# got you running your mouth,
i gotta get you out #

# get me up when you're done,
get me up when you're done #

# gotta get gone,
get you off of my head #

# won't you try me out
sometime? #

# won't you try me out sometime,
time, time, time? #

Hey!

- Ooh, la, la.

- Ooooookay!

This is part of the wing
from the 1977 airplane crash.

# show me off sometime,
show me off sometime #

# when i'm getting it off,
you got to shut your mouth #

# won't you try me out
sometime? #

# won't you try me out sometime,
time, time, time? #

Meet me in the morning

56th and wabasha

# meet me in the morning

# 56th and wabasha

# honey, we could be in kansas

# by time the snow
begins to thaw #

# they say the darkest hour
is right before the dawn #

# they say the darkest hour
is right before the dawn #

# honey,
you wouldn't know it by me #

# every day's been darkness
since you been gone #

# little rooster crowing

# there must be something
on his mind #

# little rooster crowing

# there must be something
on his mind #

# well,
i feel just like that rooster #

# honey,
you treat me so unkind #

# well, i struggled
through barbed wire #

# felt the hail fall
from above #

# well, i struggled
through barbed wire #

# felt the hail fall
from above #

# well, you know i even
outrun the hound dogs #

# honey,
i know i've earned your love #

# look at the sun

# sinking like a ship

# look at the sun

# sinking like a ship

# ain't that
just like my heart, babe #

# when you kissed my lips?