The Ithaca community was treated to two amazing outdoors films this past week: the Reel Rock Film Tour and Warren Miller’s Dynasty. This doubleheader of extreme rock climbing and skiing played back-to-back nights last Thursday and Friday, the former playing on Cornell’s Campus and the latter at the State Theatre near the Commons.

The Reel Rock Tour was hosted by the Cornell Outing Club, which was able to show the film for free — an aspect that was attractive for dirtbag climbers and penny-pinching students alike. The Tour featured films from two of the biggest names in the climbing film industry: Sender Films and Big Up Productions. Big Up’s headlining feature was its new release Progression, which highlights the athletes that are always pushing the boundaries of the sport, pursuing diversity and difficulty as they attempt their most radical projects ever.

Memorable moments included athlete Tommy Caldwell using some of the tiniest holds imaginable to move himself up a blank 3,000-foot wall and athlete Chris Sharma climbing the world’s hardest rock climb, dangling from his middle fingers and screaming as if his fingers were about to pop off.

Sender Films presented a sneak peak of their collaboration with the National Geographic Adventure Channel entitled First Ascent: the Series — the series’ first two episodes were shown. The first episode featured some badass shots of athlete Alex Honnold’s bold free solos amongst the glassy granite of Yosemite and the smooth sandstone of Utah. Watching him dangle thousands of feet off the ground with no rope, the tense Cornell crowd got to enjoy some of Alex’s humor as he jams a knee in to a crack and hangs backwards out in to free space, as well as some of his fear as he attempts to talk himself out of a panic attack halfway up the 2,000-foot-tall Half Dome.

The second episode presented a more earthly / spiritual endeavor to Patagonia, where athletes Renan Ozturk, Cedar Wright and Sean Leary attempted to be the first to climb a mountain in honor of Leary’s late girlfriend, Brazilian rock climbing star Roberta Nunes. In perhaps one of the oddest yet most touching moments in the entire film, Leary fills a parachute with Roberta’s ashes and base jumps off the mountain, scattering her ashes to the heavens as his chute deploys and brings him back to earth.

Warren Miller’s Dynasty opened to a raucous and eager crowd in Ithaca’s State Theatre the very next night. Greek Peak Mountain Resort,
Cayuga Ski & Cyclery and WICB - 91.7 FM presented the 60th installment in the iconic ski film series, which highlighted pro athletes’ remarkable runs in a stunning array of locations such as Alaska, Norway, California, Colorado, British Columbia and even interior China! Some of the coolest scenes involved vintage footage from Warren Miller’s prolific collection of skiing through the decades as well as athletes’ search through Norway and China to discover the birthplace of skiing.

Perhaps my favorite part of these two nights was not the films themselves, but the groups of people I saw them with. One of the best aspects about the Ithaca outdoors community is how open and friendly everyone is, as well as how psyched everyone gets to go outside and have fun! As a climber, I was in my element at the Reel Rock Tour, talking with anyone and everyone about the peculiarities of our sport. However, as someone new to skiing, I experienced that same style of interaction talking to people who likely skied out of the womb and onto the slopes. Experience meant nothing at these events: It was all about the excitement you bring to them.

As I put climbing on the back burner — reluctantly put away my trad rack for the winter — I find myself already looking forward to the first big snowfall of the season and a fun new crowd of outdoor enthusiasts to play with!