MIT Lecture Series Committee

April 7, 2015

unrated
144 minutes

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format: bluray

First Ascent: The Complete Series (2010)

FREE admission! A special event with the MIT Outing Club!

Produced over two years on five continents, First Ascent follows the greatest climbers to majestic locations around the globe on their quests to redefine what is possible in the mountains.

Episode 1: Alone On The Wall
Twenty-three year old Alex Honnold is taking the high-stakes sport of free solo climbing to new heights. Climbing truly massive walls without a rope, and zero chance of survival if he falls, Alex is calm and fearless (except when it comes to girls). But attempting the 2,000-foot wall of Half Dome, the greatest free solo ever attempted, would finally teach Alex the meaning of fear.

Episode 2: Patagonia Promise
Climber Stanley Leary and his two friends venture across South America to the wild peaks of Patagonia on a journey of the heart. Their mission: to attempt a first ascent, and spread the ashes of Stanley's lover Roberta from the summit, thus granting her dying wish.

Episode 3: The Impossible Climb
For a decade, Chris Sharma has ruled the climbing world, establishing the most difficult first ascents in existence. Now Sharma has found the longest, hardest, most beautiful climb of his life. Training for months on end, braving hundred-foot falls and throwing every ounce of his superhuman energy and ability at this seemingly impossible route, he aims to once again.

Episode 4: Point Of No Return
Elite alpine climbers Jonny Copp and Micah Dash travel to a little-explored and treacherous mountain range near the border of Tibet to make a first ascent of a high-altitude face. When tragedy strikes, the dark and dangerous side of climbing is revealed.

Episode 5: Brother's Wild
Two brothers, Timmy O'Neill, a pro climber, and Sean O'Neill, who is paralyzed from the waist down, push the limits of adaptive climbing, conquering the 3,000-foot face of El Capitan. Then it's on to the Ruth Gorge of Alaska, where they cross a treacherous glacier to climb a remote rock wall. In a storm-stricken land that would challenge even able-bodied climbers, Timmy and Sean face their greatest challenge yet.

Episode 6: Fly Or Die
Aerial samurai Dean Potter combines his two passions of free solo climbing and BASE jumping to create the most outrageous and visionary style of climbing ever conceived: The BASE Free Solo. Climbing with no rope, and only a parachute to catch him if he falls, Potter turns the adrenaline levels up to maximum and pushes climbing into new and dangerous territory, while chasing ever closer on the heels of his childhood dream of human flight.