Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold

I am quite enjoying this new NG 3-part documentary on glaciers & Climate Change in Greenland, but wonder why it hs two titles: On the Edge and Arctic Ascent? Anyway, it's a bit of strange mixture of climbing from Alex Honnold and Hazel Findlay (who does not get enough credit on the net for her efforts in this expedition) and science.

It was interesting to see them rappel down into a crevasse to test the water depth, plus trying to get two non-climbers over a 500m cliff must have been tough. The tension rises from the potential dangers of falling rock & ice, so I am looking forward to the third part on climbing the really huge wall at the end of the trip...

As "Arctic Ascent With Alex Honnold" (2024 release; 3 episodes ranging from 45 to 50 min each); opens, Alex "Free Solo" Honnold and 5 others are about to embark on an extraordinary expedition in Greenland: march 100 miles toward one of the largest remaining unclimbed cliffs in the world. The team also includes a glaciologist, Heidi Sevestre, who will performs various tests to better understand how quickly ice is melting in Greenland. At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this is the latest National Geography documentary by director and cinematographer Richard Ladkani ("Sea of Shadwss). While theoretically this plays out in 3 episodes, it's really just one long documentary of about 145 min. Comparisons to "Free Solo" are inevitable and let's just get it out of the way: this is not as good as "Free Solo" (which won Best Documentary Oscar for good reason). But let's also say this: "Arctic Ascent" is very good, and at times spellbinding. We get a 2-for-1: another climbing exploit by Alex Honnold, and also a another cautionary tale about the devastating effects of climate change. It's all wrapped up in an irresistible packaging called Greenland. Has Greenland ever look this menacing yet beautiful, intimidating yet inviting? The photography (aided by the generous use of drones) is pure eye-candy from start to finish.

"Arctic Ascent" premiered on the National Geographic Channel, and is now streaming on Hulu (where I saw it last night in a single setting) and Disney+. If you liked "Free Solo", I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.

I've been a climber for 6 years and enjoy watching documentaries of awesome climbers that are better than I could hope to be, climbing in places I will never have the money or grit to go to. Very cool cinematography and gorgeous terrain. However, the first 2 episodes are 90% climate change religion and 10% climbing. "If we save the Arctic, we'll save ourselves". The glaciologist practically weeps over floating icebergs and indicates that the ENTIRE Greenland ice shelf will completely melt someday. Almost no science is offered to explain how this could possibly happen, thus assuming viewers are climate change experts. Since we're not, claims of any kind can just be made without any explanation and we are just supposed to believe them since they are being made by "an expert". If this were a scientific documentary, it no doubt would offer some explanation of the science so that we could all at least have some way to evaluate the claims being made. But it's not, so it doesn't. Which means that they should just stick to climbing. Show more footage of Hazel. Heck, show more footage of the non-climbers jumaring up the big wall. Do something. Anything but shove climate change religion down everyone's throat.

This was somewhat better than I was expecting. I felt the first episode started a bit slow, and I was worried the thing would be a bit formulaic and corporate. However by the second episode it's clear that they're facing a challenge of significant scale, and Alex starts becoming Alex.

Without giving anything away, I think the season holds some important lessons about teamwork and risk management. How do you know when you're taking on too much risk? Are you the type of person who would actually notice that when it happens? How do different members of a team respond to it differently?

I enjoyed the Artic setting and the science stuff as well. Learned something new about how to check glacier health, which also made for some cool visuals.