rachelmanija (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rachelmanija) wrote2019-04-08 11:18 am
rachelmanija) wrote2019-04-08 11:18 am
The Dawn Wall - No Spoilers
A documentary about Tommy Caldwell's attempts to climb the Dawn Wall of Yosemite, and also about a whole lot of other fascinating things, all of them better encountered unspoiled. I highly recommend not looking up anything about this movie, Tommy Caldwell, or anything related to either of them.
I liked this even better than Free Solo, and I loved Free Solo. It makes a good companion piece to Free Solo because Alex Honnold does his big climb without ropes; if he falls, he dies. Tommy does his big climb with ropes; if he falls, he goes back to the beginning and starts over again. And those climbing methods and outcomes are also the central metaphors of their respective movies. Tommy falls, and falls, and falls; he starts over, and over, and over.
Free Solo inspired me to take up bouldering, where you climb without ropes; if you fall, you fall. (But on to a mat, so you don't get hurt. Usually.) I watched The Dawn Wall after, in the SAME WEEK and in fact a three-day span, I broke three bones in my foot falling badly while bouldering, and was wrongly diagnosed with having had a heart attack while on what I thought was a routine checkup, and didn't find out that it was a test error for over two weeks. (Those were completely unrelated incidents; it's a long story). It was the perfect time to watch a movie about falling, and surviving, and going on.
I'll put up a spoiler post separately. Please don't spoil the movie in comments.
The Dawn Wall is available on Netflix and possibly other places as well.
I liked this even better than Free Solo, and I loved Free Solo. It makes a good companion piece to Free Solo because Alex Honnold does his big climb without ropes; if he falls, he dies. Tommy does his big climb with ropes; if he falls, he goes back to the beginning and starts over again. And those climbing methods and outcomes are also the central metaphors of their respective movies. Tommy falls, and falls, and falls; he starts over, and over, and over.
Free Solo inspired me to take up bouldering, where you climb without ropes; if you fall, you fall. (But on to a mat, so you don't get hurt. Usually.) I watched The Dawn Wall after, in the SAME WEEK and in fact a three-day span, I broke three bones in my foot falling badly while bouldering, and was wrongly diagnosed with having had a heart attack while on what I thought was a routine checkup, and didn't find out that it was a test error for over two weeks. (Those were completely unrelated incidents; it's a long story). It was the perfect time to watch a movie about falling, and surviving, and going on.
I'll put up a spoiler post separately. Please don't spoil the movie in comments.
The Dawn Wall is available on Netflix and possibly other places as well.
no subject
(It is therefore hugely ironic that I ended up being partly a trad climber. I CAN TIE SEVERAL WHOLE KNOTS NOW.)
no subject
People who are already good at something when I'm the only one who isn't being held up while they all watch me try to tie a knot they've already taught me multiple times and still can't do combines a multitude of my worst anxieties into one big tangle. So to speak.
no subject
And now here I am cheerfully taking leader falls onto trad gear which I placed myself while being belayed by another human being. This is not a scenario I ever thought was possible.
no subject
I forgot to mention IF YOU DO THIS WRONG SOMEONE ELSE COULD DIE AND IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT.
no subject