25 of the Best Climbing Movies in History

If you are like me, then you enjoy consuming climbing media almost much as you enjoy climbing itself, especially climbing movies.

Reading trip reports and attending slide shows do a good job of scratching the climbing itch. But fewer things in this world capture the beauty and adventurous nature of climbing better than climbing movies that get your heart thumping and palms sweating. 

So if you’ve been looking for a reason to watch a movie as you wait for the next good weather window for climbing, keep scrolling to check out our list of the 25 best climbing movies in history (in no particular order). Some are classic, some are corny– but all of them are worth watching at least once.      

North Face (2010)

Director: Philipp Stolzl

Movie Length: 2 hours and 6 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: based on a non-fictional story, “North Face,” originally titled “Nordwand,” is a German drama film about a race to climb the most deadly rock face in the Alps– the North Face of the Eiger. Given that they are inspired by Nazi propaganda, two of Germany’s best alpinists quest to maker their country proud.   

Sherpa (2015)

Director: Jennifer Peedom

Movie Length: 1 hour and 36 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: in 2014, filmmakers went to the Himalayan Range to make a film about the 2014 climbing season. Instead, they captured an iconic tragedy that would change the Everest climbing culture forever. 

Rampage (1999)

Director: Big UP Productions

Movie Length: 1 hour and 16 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: two legendary North American rock climbers, Chris Sharma and Obe Carrion, embark on a two-month road trip across the Western United States in search of the country’s best boulders in iconic destinations such as Squamish, Castle Rock, Lake Tahoe, Priest Draw, Black Mountain, The Tramway, Humboldt, and even the X-Games.   

Masters of Stone I (1991)

Director: Eric Perlman

Movie Length: 58 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: the first of six films, Masters of Stone I is a face-paced entertaining rock climbing film that documents ground-breaking ascents of world-class North American rock climbers such as Ron Kauk, Tony Yaniro, Dan Osman, John Bachar, Todd Skinner, Boone Speed, and others.   

Cliffhanger (1993) – action climbing movie

Director: Renny Harlin

Movie Length: 1 hour and 53 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: while crossing an exposed edge, Gabe, played by Sylvester Stallon, watches his best friend plummet to the ground after a catastrophic equipment failure. Shameful and feeling responsible, Gabe moves far away to mourn. Then, Gabe is asked to return a year later to help rescue stranded people with a deadly secret. 

Vertical Limit (2000)

Director: Martin Campbell

Movie Length: 2 hours and 4 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: Peter Garrett, an adrenaline junkie and young climber must embark on a treacherous rescue effort on K2– the world’s second-highest peak. During his rescue, Pete teams up with eccentric mountain man Montgomery Wick, the two of which must confront their own physical limitations and mother nature’s uncontrollable elements. 

The Eiger Sanction (1975)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Movie Length: 2 hours and 9 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: Dr. Jonathan Hemlock, played by Cint Eastwood, is an art history professor who finances his hobbies by performing assassinations for a secret arm of the government. For his current mission, Hemlock joins a team of Russian climbers as they attempt to climb the Eiger. Meanwhile, during their climb, Helock must attempt to find out which team member is his target. 

Torn (2021)

Director: Max Lowe

Movie Length: 1 hour and 32 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: Max Lowe, director of this National Geographic documentary and son of legendary North American mountaineer Alex Lowe, documents his father’s last climb that turned fatal. Years later, Lowe documents his family’s heart-wrenching journey back to where Alex perished. This amazing documentary is not just about documenting climbing history, it’s also a love story, and a story about a broken family trying to put themselves back together.  

King Lines (2007)

Director: Josh Lowell and Peter Mortimer

Movie Length: 1 hour and 4 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: as the producers of the mountain climbing masterpiece “First Ascent,” Lowell and Mortimer bring their audience another climber-centered film bent on documenting the extreme action and grandeur of modern rock climbing’s most impressive routes, also known as king lines. While focusing on iconic rock climber Chris Sharma, this film goes to wild places like Mallorca and the Mediterranean.   

Hard Grit (1998)

Director: Richard Heap

Movie Length: 53 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: this film documents Englnad’s best rock climbers of the time as they express their mastery over the art form locally known as– hard grit, i.e., climbing on gritstone in the English Pennines. In his film, Heap follows legendary elite climbers such as Johnny Dawes and Neil Bently as they push the limits of hard and notoriously bold Britsh gritstone rock climbing.  

Pretty Strong

Director: Julie Ellison, Leslie Hittmeier, and Colette McInerney

Movie Length: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: female filmmakers document an all-female-identifying cast of climbers as they partake to carve out a space for themselves in the esoteric world of rock climbing. The film includes everything from 5.13 big walls in Yosemite to 5.14 sport climbs in Mexico and V14 boulders in Colorado.  In addition, the climbers featured include Nina William, Katie Lambert, Daila Ojeda, Hazel Findlay, and more.  

Progression (2009)

Director: Bret Lowell, Josh Lowell, and Cooper Roberts 

Movie Length: 1 hour and 22 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: buried beneath every legendary progression in rock climbing is a story about perseverance and determination. From boulders to big walls and everything in between, “Progression” documents various elite climbers as they commit to groundbreaking climbing pursuits. Moreover, the film features a lights-out cast with characters like Tommy Caldwell, Johanna Ernst, Alex Honnold, Kevin Jorgenson, Adam Ondra, Paul Robinson, Matt Segal, Chris Sharma, Patxi Usobiaga, and Daniel Woods.    

14 Peaks (2021), a climbing movie about a team of Nepalese

Director: Torquil Jones

Movie Length: 1 hour and 41 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: this film is a climbing documentary about Project Possible, a climbing endeavor devised by Nepali high-altitude mountaineer Nirmal Purja to climb Planet Earth’s 14 highest peaks ( called eight-thousanders) within seven months. Meanwhile, you are dazzled by the imagery of one-of-a-kind mountain landscapes and sucked into a heartwarming relationship between mother and son.  

Valley Uprising (2014)

Director: Peter Mortimer, Josh Lowell, and Nick Rosen

Movie Length: 1 hour and 43 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: “Valley Uprising” is an entertaining and unforgettable story about the bold counter-culture of rock climbing in Yosemite National Park. It documents some of Yosemite’s most iconic first ascensionists and positions them within a larger storyline of a clash the struggle against laws and gravity. In addition, the film combines present-day interviews with legendary climbers and archival footage to tell a riveting story.   

High Ground (2012)

Director: Michael Brown

Movie Length: 1 hour and 32 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: eleven veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan join together to form an expedition team tasked with summiting the 20,000-foot Himalayan peak Mount Lobuche. Altogether, with the famous blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer and a team of Everest summiteers as their guides, the eleven veterans attempt to heal the personal emotional, and physical wounds the United States’ longest war inflicted upon them.  

Reel Rock 7 (2012)

Director: Chris Alstrin, Jimmy Chin, and Paul Diffley

Movie Length: 2 hours and 48 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: the seventh rendition of Reel Rock features four of the biggest stories from the world of climbing. Each is told with heart, humour, and mind-ending action that will put you on the edge of your seat and make your palms sweat. It includes stories about the famous sport climb “La Dura Dura,” an ascent up Meru’s Shark’s Fin, the British crack climbing duo known as the “Wide Boyz, and an incredible link-up completed by Alex Honnold.  

Jeff Lowe’s Metanoia (2014)

Director: Jim Aikman

Movie Length:  1 hour and 24 minutes 

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: narrated by legendary North American writer Jon Krakauer, “Metanoia” traces the life and climbs of alpinist Jeff Lowe. In particular, Aiman’s film seeks to tell the story of one of Lowe’s proudest lines, a route up the North Face of the Eiger in Switzerland that he called ‘Metanoia,’ a climb that changes his life forever.    

The Alpinist (2021) – a climbing movie about a unique style

Director: Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen

Movie Length: 1 hour and 32 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: “The Alpinist” is another fantastic climbing film from veteran filmmaker Peter Mortimer that attempts to keep up with Marc-André Leclerc, a 23-year-old Canadian alpinist responsible for some of the boldest solo ascents in climbing history. Mortimer follows Leclerc around his Canadian stomping grounds and down to Patagonia, where Leclerc redefines what is possible in free solo mountaineering.    

The Sharp End (2007)

Director: Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen

Movie Length: 1 hour and 3 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: watching this film is like entering the danger zone long with the world’s best climbers as they push the limits of free soloing, high-ball bouldering, bold trad climbing, big-walling, wingsuit flying, high lining, and tower jumping. In addition, the cast of characters is mind-blowing, with appearances from Alex Honnold, Dean Potter, Steph Davis, Lisa Rands, Chris McNamara, Ammon McNeely, Renan Ozturk, Cedar Wright, and others.  

180° South: Conquerors of the Useless (2010)

Director: Chris Malloy

Movie Length: 1 hour and 25 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: this film follows writer Jeff Johnson as he tells the story of the 1968 journey of two of his heroes, Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins, to Patagonia. On his journey, there is a shipwreck, surfing, and a rare ascent of Cerro Corcovado. The film also attempts to highlight Chouinard and Tompkins’ uncontainable love for the Patagonian landscape. 

Meru (2015)

Director: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Movie Length: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: “Meru” tells the story of three elite climbers, Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk, as they endeavor to climb and document Mount Meru, one of planet earth’s most converted objectives in high-alpine Himalayan big-wall climbing. However, the trip is faced with seemingly impossible-to-overcome obstacles. Therefore, the team is faced with the decision of going down or believing in the impossible.  

Touching the Void (2003)

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Movie Length: 1 hour and 46 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled: in 1985, two climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, set off to climb the west face of the previously unclimbed Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. After a successful first ascent, the pair runs into significant problems on the descent. “Touching the Void’ is a dramatic retelling of this story that makes your palms sweat, and your heart beat through your chest.   

The Dawn Wall (2017)

Director: Josh Lowell and Peter Mortimer

Movie Length: 1 hour and 40 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled. Renowned rock climb filmmakers Josh Lowell and Peter Mortimer follow the pursuits of North American rock climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson. They attempt to free climb the seemingly impossible 3,000-foot rock face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Due to the extreme challenge of their objective, Caldwell and Jorgenson’s ascent becomes engraved in the history books of big wall free climbing.

Everest (2015), a intense climbing movie about the 1996 disaster

Director: Baltasar Kormákur

Movie Length: 2 hours and 1 minute

Summed Up, Not Spoiled. On a relatively calm morning in May 1996, an expedition team embarks on their final push to summit Mount Everest. They will face a violent storm that engulfs them, transforming their adventure into a nightmare of epic proportions. Challenged by the harshest conditions, the climbers endure against nearly impossible odds.    

Free Solo (2018)

Director: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Movie Length: 1 hour and 40 minutes

Summed Up, Not Spoiled. The famous documentary duo Jimmy Chin and his wife and co-director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi document Alex Honnold as he attempts to become the first person to free solo El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. All the while running in the background is a love story that grips your attention.  Furthermore, this climbing documentary was heralded for its achievements in cinematography and amazing photography.