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Hello, boys and girls.

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This is Tim Ferriss,
and welcome to "The Tim Ferriss Show".

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In this episode, we have one of the
most recognized climbers in the world,

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Alex Honnold.

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- Welcome to the show.
- Thanks for having me.

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Alex, who impresses you right now?

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This kid Marc-André Leclerc.
This Canadian guy.

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Hardly anyone has heard of him
because he's so under the radar.

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He's been doing, like, all kinds
of crazy alpine soloing.

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- What makes it so crazy?
- He just goes out and climbs

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some of the most difficult walls
and alpine faces in the world.

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The most challenging things
that anyone's ever climbed, really.

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So he's just next level?

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Yeah, it's, like, so crazy.
Like, I don't know.

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And for those people
who want to see visuals on this stuff,

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we'll grab some video and links...

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An interesting thing
about Marc-André

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is I don't know if there is video
of most of the stuff he's doing.

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Oh, really?

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Yeah, he's just going out
and climbing for himself

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in such a pure style.
It's pretty full on.

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At 23 years old,
Marc-André Leclerc

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was already one of the boldest
alpinists of his generation.

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But he was almost completely unknown.

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I spent two years
following this elusive climber,

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trying to document his ascents,

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and understand
his wild vision of adventure.

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Throughout my journey with Marc,

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I kept coming back to these mysteries
at the heart of climbing

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that have gripped me since I was a kid.

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Growing up
as a young climber in Colorado,

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I idolized the legendary free-soloist
Derek Hersey,

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scaling the cliffs above town
with no rope.

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Just a chalk bag
and a pair of old climbing shoes.

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But one day,
Derek was out soloing

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and he fell.

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Derek Hersey
was killed last week.

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Some people thought
he had a death wish, but he said,

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"There's nothing else
that makes me feel so alive."

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Ever since then,
I've been fascinated

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by these larger-than-life figures...

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Getting ready.

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...who push the limits
of adventure in the mountains.

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I've seen some amazing things...

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Tommy Caldwell attempting
to free climb the Dawn Wall.

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...and been left to grieve...

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Dean Potter lost his life.

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When friends died
pursuing their passion

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One of the world's
best-known mountaineers

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Ueli Steck has died in an accident.

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After 20 years of filming,

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I'm not sure I've gotten any closer
to understanding at all.

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Fucking hell.

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Check out the no-hands knee bar, baby.

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Alex, why take the risk?

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- Why not use a rope?
- Uh...

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Those are just dumb questions.

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Meanwhile, the sport
of climbing has changed a lot.

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Let's head to the gym! Boom!

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What was once a rogue activity

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for misfits and vagabonds
has hit the big time.

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Rock climbing
makes its Olympic debut.

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Climbers have become
superstar athletes...

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It's raised my profile a little bit,
for sure.

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...with armies
of social media followers.

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And their ascents
are celebrated and hyped.

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Professional climbers are
sharing Snapchat videos from Everest.

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This is hair by Everest.
It's a new hashtag, it's a thing.

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- Hair by Everest.
- It's a thing.

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So I was surprised
to come across an obscure blog post

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about an unknown
young Canadian climber

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by the name of Marc-André Leclerc.

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He had climbed
a 4, 000-foot route of rock and ice

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in one of the harshest environments
on Earth.

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And all by himself.

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This was a monumental feat,

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but it was just a handful of close
observers freaking out about it online.

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So, who was this guy?

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To find out, I headed up
to Squamish, British Columbia,

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the heart
of the Canadian climbing scene.

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Weird-looking donuts, guys

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We got some fresh bites for you.

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- You wanna buy a donut?
- Yeah, sure.

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Full donut's two bucks.

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When I first met Marc,
I didn't know what to make of him.

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This is called
"a sky hump into a front flip".

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Wow.

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You want one?

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All right.

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He was clearly unaccustomed
to being in front of the camera.

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Whoa. That's a crazy light.

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Clap in front of your face.

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Cool. So tell us how old you are,
where you're from, and what you do.

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Cool. I'm Marc-André Leclerc

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and I'm from the Fraser Valley,
British Columbia,

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lived in BC my whole life.

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I'm 23 years old

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and I'm a climber, generally speaking.

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Yeah, as a young climber
growing up in western Canada,

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Squamish was, like, the place to go.

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The most accessible big steep cliff
with super-rad hard routes,

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the center of the climbing universe,
I guess.

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Marc had moved to Squamish,
fresh out of high school,

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eager to join the ranks
of the hard-core local climbers.

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Right away, as soon as he moved to town,
he was pretty hard to miss

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because of his crazy,
youthful exuberance and stoke.

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Come down and switch the rope.

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I think I was, like, pretty dorky.

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Like, super psyched.

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And I was always
sort of chomping at the bit,

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like, gotta get up early,

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like, climb
until my fingertips are bleeding.

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He was not afraid to jump
right into the deep end.

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Oh, no! Oh, shit.

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Crazy.

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He came in just all guns blazing.

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I was like, "This kid's
a really special breed."

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He was a bit young and brash.

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You know, it's like, "I'm here,"
you know what I mean?

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But if you're not young and brash
between 17 and about 24,

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you might as well shoot yourself,

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cos that's
when people are young and brash.

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Marc was just a true dirtbag.
Like, seriously broke.

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He didn't have a car,
he didn't even have a phone.

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I had a phone for a while.

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Left it in a stuff sack
with some smoked salmon

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and then the phone was stolen
by a wild fox.

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No way!

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I feel like maybe
I'm just better off without one.

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For a couple of summers there,
he was, like, living in a stairwell.

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It was surprising when he managed
to find a cute blonde girl

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to live in the stairwell with him.

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His stairwell
was just, like, a small futon

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at the bottom of the stairwell,
like, an entryway.

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The longer time I spent there,
the more it became decorated.

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So then, like, he had tapestries
and pictures.

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His stairwell became, like, the lounge.

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There was no need to live luxuriously,

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because we have what we want,
which is climbing.

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It was easiest just to live
as cheaply as we could.

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And then we decided
to just move into a tent in the forest.

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I was attracted to him

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because he was so different
than anyone I'd ever met.

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He was also super socially awkward.

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But I didn't care,
cos, like, that's who he is

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and I love him for that.

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- Going on?
- Look, there he is.

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Your timing's perfect, guys.
You nearly missed me.

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They call me Hevy Duty.

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It's a nickname that's been with me
since the early '70s.

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I'm more like Light Duty now
than Hevy Duty. Or Old Duty.

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Hevy is kind of, like, the mayor
of Squamish rock climbing.

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He's also, like, a hula hoop expert.

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I am the hoop guy.

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Yeah, tell me about Marc-André.

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I can tell Marc-André stories all day.

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Please do, yeah.

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My first memories of Marc-André

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was seeing him come running out
of the forest in Squamish,

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barefoot with no shirt.

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He just broke my speed record
on the Grand Wall

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and I was just like, "Who is that guy?"

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The Grand Wall might be
the most iconic route in Squamish.

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I'd climbed it the fastest
bottom to top.

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Speed records are a game.

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They're not the most important thing in
climbing, but I do love speed records.

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And then this local kid,
who I'd never heard of, did it faster.

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I was soloing the route
quite regularly,

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and one time, I just decided
to see how long it would take me.

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I got to the top and checked the time,

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I was, like, two or three minutes faster
than the established record.

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And suddenly,
Alex Honnold came back to Squamish

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to get his record back on the Grand Wall

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that I had kind of, like,
unintentionally broken.

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I was like,
"Oh, man, I'm gonna go fast."

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He totally destroyed it.
He cut my time in half.

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I think I did quite a bit faster.

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Enough so that it discouraged Marc
from ever wanting to try again.

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Marc is a very, very driven climber,
but he doesn't care about accolades.

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He doesn't even care
if anybody knows what he's climbing.

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I've always approach climbing
from an athletic background.

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I grew up climbing in the gym
and I think of it more as a sport.

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But he cares about, I don't wanna say
the spiritual component,

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but he cares about the experience
in the mountains, and the journey,

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and just wants to have a good time
while he's out there.

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And I really respect that. It's a...

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I mean, obviously, it contributes to him
performing at such a crazy level.

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The first climb
we filmed with Marc

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was a solo ascent
of the Grand Wall.

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It's always nerve-racking
to film someone climbing without a rope.

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But for Marc,
this was just part of his daily routine.

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When I'm soloing rock climbs,

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I don't really like
to feel like I'm pushing myself.

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That's not the reason
for soloing rock for me.

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I don't like to feel like I'm doing
something intense and scary or...

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So then why do it?

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Like, more just
to have a casual fun adventure

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and... cruise around.

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And when you watch him climb,
he's just magic on the rock.

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He's got style, he doesn't lunge,
he's very precise.

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There's not the slightest margin
for error

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from the minute you set off, is there?

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Watching Marc move
so beautifully up the wall,

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it was clear this goofy, unassuming kid

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was a master of his craft.

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I really love
just watching him climbing.

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Marc is a very calm
and, like, steady, controlled climber.

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Hey, Marco, I missed you.

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00:17:00,330 --> 00:17:03,330
Yeah, I missed you, too.

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I get the fact that he wants
to solo, because I love it, too.

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00:17:07,580 --> 00:17:10,800
I'm feeling really, like, calm
and good with soloing, too,

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00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:13,920
so I would be psyched
on going and climbing...

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It puts you directly in the present.

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You can't be thinking
about anything else.

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And you're interacting
and improvising in the moment.

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And you're just in control.

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When I first met Brette,

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she definitely had
a pretty big impact on me.

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At that time, I'd lost touch with the
whole climbing portion of my life.

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There is a really lively party scene
in Squamish.

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Definitely got hard into the partying.

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At the beginning, it was pretty, like,
basic experimentation,

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like, it was really fun to experience
all these different states of mind.

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It's almost like a parallel to climbing.

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00:18:12,770 --> 00:18:16,940
My friends like to explore a little bit,
and sometimes I like to explore a lot,

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00:18:17,110 --> 00:18:19,660
and it was the same with the partying.

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Everyone would wanna take a tab of acid
and hang out and have a good time,

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00:18:24,950 --> 00:18:29,040
and I'd wanna take six tabs of acid
and disappear for 20 hours.

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00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:35,550
But I got to the point where I felt
like I couldn't really do anything

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without taking drugs.

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Which isn't a healthy place to be.

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I remember that.

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When Brette and I started
climbing together,

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she was just totally going for it.

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00:18:51,230 --> 00:18:55,020
Hanging out with her
reminded me of what I'd lost,

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what it was like to be... spirited.

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- Fun.
- Yeah, super fun, hey?

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00:19:05,790 --> 00:19:07,040
Yeah.

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00:19:07,870 --> 00:19:12,630
I could see how Marc could
have easily slid down that path,

240
00:19:12,710 --> 00:19:15,090
the dark side of drug life.

241
00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:22,510
- Have a good day, guys.
- Thanks, guys.

242
00:19:25,010 --> 00:19:28,810
Marc is interested
in intense experiences

243
00:19:28,930 --> 00:19:30,480
and living to the fullest.

244
00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:36,230
Drugs can provide some version of that,
but it's not genuine.

245
00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:41,240
And I think he recognized
that climbing is the real experience.

246
00:19:41,860 --> 00:19:44,030
- Nice, Brette.
- It's so cool.

247
00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:45,950
I know, isn't it beautiful?

248
00:19:47,620 --> 00:19:50,000
- What a fun route.
- See?

249
00:19:50,660 --> 00:19:52,210
I know for Marc,

250
00:19:52,330 --> 00:19:56,000
rock climbing in Squamish
is all about having fun.

251
00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:03,630
But Marc's vision is more towards
soloing big alpine faces

252
00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:05,890
on beautiful mountains.

253
00:20:06,010 --> 00:20:10,390
He loves the mountains
and he is definitely ambitious.

254
00:20:11,060 --> 00:20:14,400
He wants to improve upon
what's been done before

255
00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:18,230
to make his contribution
to the history of alpinism.

256
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:29,540
Alpinism, the discipline
of climbing big technical mountains,

257
00:20:29,660 --> 00:20:31,370
is more than just a sport.

258
00:20:31,500 --> 00:20:35,580
It's an ideal
that has evolved over generations.

259
00:20:38,750 --> 00:20:40,840
In the first half of the 20th century,

260
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:46,430
large-scale expeditions
used lots of equipment and manpower

261
00:20:46,550 --> 00:20:48,760
to conquer the world's highest peaks.

262
00:20:48,850 --> 00:20:52,890
They stand victorious
on the windswept roof of the world.

263
00:20:55,190 --> 00:20:56,770
By the 1950s,

264
00:20:56,850 --> 00:21:00,780
it was no longer about getting
to the top of the mountain,

265
00:21:00,860 --> 00:21:02,740
but how you got there.

266
00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:05,860
In the European Alps,

267
00:21:05,990 --> 00:21:11,580
there was a revolution
in climbing technique and philosophy.

268
00:21:11,700 --> 00:21:14,710
Smaller teams using less gear

269
00:21:14,790 --> 00:21:18,500
tackled steeper
and more dangerous faces.

270
00:21:18,630 --> 00:21:22,340
That was the next step
in the evolution of alpinism.

271
00:21:22,460 --> 00:21:26,340
Climbing harder, climbing faster
and climbing in better style.

272
00:21:26,470 --> 00:21:30,810
A rope, a rack, and the pack
on your back, that's all you get

273
00:21:30,930 --> 00:21:33,180
and you have to make it work with that.

274
00:21:35,140 --> 00:21:37,600
When you look
through the history of alpinism,

275
00:21:37,730 --> 00:21:40,310
climbing was a form of freedom.

276
00:21:42,820 --> 00:21:47,360
It was physical freedom,
but it was also a philosophical freedom.

277
00:21:48,030 --> 00:21:52,990
And the ultimate experience of freedom
was to climb alone.

278
00:21:54,250 --> 00:21:58,710
Unfettered, unleashed, absolutely solo.

279
00:22:00,540 --> 00:22:04,920
Solo climbing on a high level
is an expression of art.

280
00:22:05,050 --> 00:22:09,550
The art of surviving
in the most crazy situations.

281
00:22:10,970 --> 00:22:14,600
While solo alpinism
may be the purest,

282
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,020
most adventurous form
of climbing,

283
00:22:18,350 --> 00:22:20,600
it's also the deadliest.

284
00:22:20,730 --> 00:22:27,190
Maybe half of the leading solo climbers
of all times died in the mountains,

285
00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:32,740
and this is tragic
and it's difficult to defend.

286
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:37,660
But this is the philosophy.

287
00:22:38,460 --> 00:22:40,960
If you're going in an adventure,
you need difficulties.

288
00:22:41,790 --> 00:22:43,670
You need danger.

289
00:22:43,790 --> 00:22:49,130
If death was not a possibility,
coming out would be nothing.

290
00:22:49,260 --> 00:22:51,220
It would be kindergarten.

291
00:22:52,430 --> 00:22:56,390
But not an adventure and not an art.

292
00:23:05,900 --> 00:23:08,940
A few months
after our shoot in Squamish,

293
00:23:10,150 --> 00:23:12,740
we followed Marc to the Canadian Rockies

294
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,790
where he'd come
for the world-renowned ice climbing.

295
00:23:18,910 --> 00:23:20,080
There's always a point

296
00:23:20,210 --> 00:23:22,830
where I just cannot wait
for ice-climbing season.

297
00:23:23,330 --> 00:23:26,500
I'm just ready
to go climb frozen waterfalls.

298
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:32,430
Ice climbing
is a crucial skill in alpinism.

299
00:23:32,550 --> 00:23:37,720
Over the years, it's developed
into its own highly technical sport

300
00:23:37,850 --> 00:23:41,270
and the ice in Canmore
is a proving ground.

301
00:23:43,100 --> 00:23:44,770
By the time we arrived,

302
00:23:44,900 --> 00:23:47,730
Marc had already been there
for a few weeks,

303
00:23:47,860 --> 00:23:50,030
camping outside of town

304
00:23:50,150 --> 00:23:53,240
and climbing things
that had the locals talking.

305
00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:55,280
First time I heard
about Marc-André,

306
00:23:55,450 --> 00:23:58,290
he was living in a snow cave
on the parkway or something.

307
00:23:59,290 --> 00:24:02,290
And he was, like, soloing
all these ice routes all day long.

308
00:24:03,500 --> 00:24:07,000
I was like, "Here's somebody who's
just going after it and pushing things

309
00:24:07,130 --> 00:24:10,050
that is pretty much unknown."

310
00:24:17,890 --> 00:24:22,770
Ice climbing, solo,
it's not something many people do.

311
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,520
You're climbing frozen water

312
00:24:28,730 --> 00:24:31,030
with just a few centimeters
of your ice tools

313
00:24:31,150 --> 00:24:33,490
and crampons in the ice.

314
00:24:39,830 --> 00:24:41,750
It's a very ephemeral medium.

315
00:24:46,290 --> 00:24:49,500
Climbing something that wasn't there
maybe a few weeks earlier

316
00:24:49,630 --> 00:24:52,300
and that might not be there
the next day

317
00:24:52,420 --> 00:24:54,840
if the thing you're climbing on
decides to collapse.

318
00:25:00,350 --> 00:25:02,770
People think the free soloing
that I'm doing seems crazy,

319
00:25:02,890 --> 00:25:04,270
but what I'm doing is on rock.

320
00:25:04,390 --> 00:25:07,060
It's safe in a lot of ways.
The medium is super solid.

321
00:25:08,310 --> 00:25:11,530
And then I see Marc-André
free soloing on ice and snow.

322
00:25:12,650 --> 00:25:16,360
It just shows so much experience
on such different kinds of terrain.

323
00:25:22,410 --> 00:25:24,710
In all my years of climbing,

324
00:25:24,830 --> 00:25:31,420
I don't think I've seen another climber
quite as hungry for it as Marc-André.

325
00:25:36,010 --> 00:25:39,550
He's got this headspace
that nobody else seems to have.

326
00:25:43,470 --> 00:25:45,310
Nothing fazes him.

327
00:26:11,420 --> 00:26:16,470
Marc doesn't just solo the ice,
he goes out and solos mixed routes.

328
00:26:19,130 --> 00:26:21,300
With mixed climbing,
it's the whole mentality

329
00:26:21,430 --> 00:26:25,470
of the ice doesn't have to be
fully formed to be climbed.

330
00:26:26,850 --> 00:26:30,150
Instead of embedding
your picks in the ice,

331
00:26:30,270 --> 00:26:33,190
you're just kind of placing them
on these little rock edges.

332
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,320
That adds another dimension
of insecurity.

333
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:05,310
Filming Marc on this
insecure terrain was terrifying.

334
00:27:09,730 --> 00:27:12,900
But he couldn't have been more relaxed.

335
00:27:13,020 --> 00:27:14,820
Holy shit, dude.

336
00:27:15,940 --> 00:27:18,400
Then he took it up a notch

337
00:27:18,530 --> 00:27:23,120
by climbing solo
on the notorious Stanley Headwall.

338
00:27:24,450 --> 00:27:28,580
The Stanley Headwall is the
centerpiece of Rockies mixed climbing.

339
00:27:29,660 --> 00:27:32,080
None of the ice
is a hundred percent continuous.

340
00:27:32,170 --> 00:27:36,420
It forms in blobs,
and pillars and hanging daggers.

341
00:27:36,550 --> 00:27:41,130
You have to climb steep, overhanging
rock just to get to the ice.

342
00:27:43,050 --> 00:27:46,180
And so it makes for really good,
engaging climbing.

343
00:27:52,100 --> 00:27:54,310
There's a high degree
of craftsmanship

344
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:59,190
that has to go
into the mixed-climbing equation.

345
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:03,450
The pick of an ice ax can hang on
to just the smallest of edges.

346
00:28:10,790 --> 00:28:13,920
But you don't have nerves
going to the end of the ice ax.

347
00:28:15,380 --> 00:28:18,960
You have to evaluate and test.

348
00:28:22,590 --> 00:28:26,640
The difference between having
your pick solidly seated on a hold

349
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:31,890
and having that pick
explode off of it is very, very small.

350
00:28:42,150 --> 00:28:45,950
I don't know if I've seen someone
climb bare-handed with ice tools

351
00:28:47,870 --> 00:28:49,990
in the freezing temps,
being able to improvise

352
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,330
between pulling on the rock
and pulling on ice tools.

353
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,830
He's just combining all these
unconventional tactics.

354
00:31:28,150 --> 00:31:32,410
Marc soloing the
Stanley Headwall, it's just like, "Wow!

355
00:31:32,490 --> 00:31:35,700
I never thought of that
in my wildest dreams."

356
00:31:37,450 --> 00:31:41,330
- How was it?
- It was super fun. Yeah.

357
00:31:41,420 --> 00:31:44,000
- Scary?
- No, not particularly.

358
00:31:46,170 --> 00:31:51,380
- Just another day out?
- A really good day out. Yeah.

359
00:31:51,470 --> 00:31:54,010
Definitely a memorable day out.

360
00:31:54,140 --> 00:31:58,770
Marc-André soloing
those routes was pretty stunning.

361
00:31:58,930 --> 00:32:01,440
I think right there
that made me sit up and go, "Wow!

362
00:32:02,100 --> 00:32:03,940
Who is this guy?"

363
00:32:15,740 --> 00:32:18,370
I grew up
near a town called Chilliwack.

364
00:32:19,740 --> 00:32:22,370
In Chilliwack, you become
completely desensitized

365
00:32:22,460 --> 00:32:25,080
to the smell of cow manure,

366
00:32:25,210 --> 00:32:27,710
but it's surrounded
by beautiful mountains.

367
00:32:28,670 --> 00:32:31,880
When we were growing up,
my dad was doing construction jobs

368
00:32:32,050 --> 00:32:34,840
and my mom was sewing in restaurants.

369
00:32:35,010 --> 00:32:36,720
Aren't you and your mom
really close?

370
00:32:36,850 --> 00:32:37,760
Yeah.

371
00:32:37,890 --> 00:32:42,600
My mom, she's definitely been
a big influence on me.

372
00:32:42,730 --> 00:32:44,020
It's kind of hard to explain.

373
00:32:44,140 --> 00:32:47,770
We've just been really good friends
my whole life.

374
00:32:47,900 --> 00:32:50,570
Marc-André did have
some challenges as a kid.

375
00:32:50,690 --> 00:32:53,650
He certainly didn't come into this world

376
00:32:53,780 --> 00:32:55,820
as a square peg
ready to fit into a square hole.

377
00:32:56,490 --> 00:32:59,740
And he had a diagnosis of ADHD.

378
00:32:59,870 --> 00:33:02,080
So, he didn't sit still for very long

379
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:07,750
and he didn't fit easily into
the typical educational environment.

380
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,880
Kindergarten was awesome,
like, that first year.

381
00:33:11,050 --> 00:33:16,510
You build things out of blocks,
and do art, and that kind of stuff.

382
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:20,510
When it started into actual first grade,
and we had to sit at our desks,

383
00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:24,100
it turned into hell for me.

384
00:33:24,230 --> 00:33:27,150
For a kid who had a ton of energy,
who loved to learn,

385
00:33:27,270 --> 00:33:31,820
he was losing his, his joy in learning,
you know, to be in school,

386
00:33:31,940 --> 00:33:36,400
so I made the leap
and I schooled him at home for a while.

387
00:33:36,530 --> 00:33:41,280
We'd do some schoolwork for a while.
Usually it would finish at lunchtime.

388
00:33:41,410 --> 00:33:43,540
And we would do cool things together

389
00:33:43,620 --> 00:33:46,750
like go explore the forest
and identify plants,

390
00:33:46,870 --> 00:33:49,630
instead of just always sitting
at your desk.

391
00:33:49,750 --> 00:33:53,380
If you're never given free
rein to have little adventures as a kid,

392
00:33:53,510 --> 00:33:55,880
you never really learn who you are,

393
00:33:56,050 --> 00:33:58,640
you don't learn what your strengths
or your weaknesses are,

394
00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,600
and you never learn that you're capable.

395
00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:06,180
She wanted me to discover
what I wanted to do

396
00:34:06,310 --> 00:34:10,610
rather than pick out what she thought
I should do with my life.

397
00:34:10,730 --> 00:34:12,770
We may not have had
two cents to rub together,

398
00:34:12,900 --> 00:34:16,780
but we always had books
and Marc-André was a voracious reader.

399
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,660
He was really captured by adventure,

400
00:34:21,780 --> 00:34:24,370
so we had a house
full of those kind of books.

401
00:34:24,490 --> 00:34:27,370
And the more interest he showed in them,
the more books I provided for him.

402
00:34:27,500 --> 00:34:29,750
I must have been, like, eight years old.

403
00:34:29,870 --> 00:34:34,920
It was this big, awesome picture book
with stories from all these expeditions.

404
00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:40,300
And the ones about mountains
always really captured my attention.

405
00:34:42,140 --> 00:34:45,220
Looking at pictures of big snowy peaks,

406
00:34:45,350 --> 00:34:48,270
guys with ice axes
trying to climb these things,

407
00:34:48,390 --> 00:34:49,600
I don't know, it seemed really...

408
00:34:50,850 --> 00:34:52,190
brave.

409
00:34:52,310 --> 00:34:56,820
I was so inspired
by all of these climbers of the past

410
00:34:56,940 --> 00:34:58,610
and I wanted to be a part of it.

411
00:34:59,990 --> 00:35:02,740
Like, carrying on the tradition
or something.

412
00:35:06,660 --> 00:35:09,330
At first, it was
just jeans, running shoes,

413
00:35:09,460 --> 00:35:11,540
a few granola bars in the pocket.

414
00:35:11,630 --> 00:35:15,340
Always off trail,
never had a rope or anything.

415
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:20,680
At times, I was concerned
something could happen to him out there,

416
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:23,140
but he had a great sense of direction,

417
00:35:23,260 --> 00:35:26,180
and he was very confident
when he was out and about.

418
00:35:27,430 --> 00:35:31,060
After, like, a couple of years
of scrambling around by myself,

419
00:35:31,230 --> 00:35:34,520
it just naturally progressed
to technical climbing.

420
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:37,690
When I'm in the mountains
on a big adventure,

421
00:35:37,820 --> 00:35:39,650
life is so incredibly simple.

422
00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:42,860
I'm, like, totally focused.

423
00:35:42,990 --> 00:35:47,290
I don't feel that squirrel-brained,
twitchy sort of stuff.

424
00:35:49,370 --> 00:35:54,080
And I have the feeling of clarity
and calmness and control.

425
00:35:55,790 --> 00:36:00,170
The whole climbing part of my life,
everything was falling into place.

426
00:36:00,300 --> 00:36:03,300
But then, like, I went back to school
for high school.

427
00:36:04,890 --> 00:36:08,770
He eventually had to go back
to the standard curriculum at school.

428
00:36:08,890 --> 00:36:11,020
I think to him it was
like a form of incarceration.

429
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:12,640
Help me!

430
00:36:12,730 --> 00:36:14,730
He was never looking
for trouble,

431
00:36:14,850 --> 00:36:17,820
but he certainly seemed to find it.

432
00:36:17,940 --> 00:36:19,570
Firecrackers explode!

433
00:36:32,870 --> 00:36:35,420
It was clear
he was never going to get

434
00:36:35,540 --> 00:36:37,750
a standard nine-to-five job or life.

435
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:40,210
He was never wired that way.

436
00:36:40,340 --> 00:36:44,680
Hi, I'm Marc-André Joseph Leclerc.
You might have heard of me.

437
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:47,680
I am doing some
of the biggest walls in the world.

438
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:52,390
When he graduated at 16,
he was doing drywall, making some money.

439
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:56,560
He didn't have a real clear purpose
or plan at that point.

440
00:36:56,690 --> 00:37:00,110
I told him, "If you want
to do this climbing thing,

441
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:01,740
what are you waiting for?"

442
00:37:02,940 --> 00:37:07,280
And off he went.
Marc-André found freedom to be himself.

443
00:37:07,410 --> 00:37:11,160
He's going to go
as far as he can take it.

444
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,790
- We got it!
- Yeah, yeah.

445
00:37:16,330 --> 00:37:18,790
- Can you just do a kind of blank...?
- I'm gonna look like an idiot.

446
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:20,040
Smile.

447
00:37:22,550 --> 00:37:26,130
Marc's plan
to become a full-time climber

448
00:37:26,300 --> 00:37:28,300
certainly seemed to be working out.

449
00:37:29,350 --> 00:37:32,430
He'd recently landed
his first sponsorship.

450
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:37,020
And here we were making a film
about him.

451
00:37:37,150 --> 00:37:38,980
- Serious.
- Really serious?

452
00:37:39,110 --> 00:37:41,020
Really serious,
like your passport.

453
00:37:42,190 --> 00:37:45,570
But Marc had little patience
for posing.

454
00:37:46,700 --> 00:37:48,570
And he was getting restless.

455
00:37:50,030 --> 00:37:54,580
As we were planning the next shoot,
Marc just suddenly dropped off the radar

456
00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:58,920
to who knows where.

457
00:38:03,090 --> 00:38:06,720
We'd even bought him a phone
to keep in contact...

458
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:08,720
- I'm sorry.
- ...but he wasn't picking up.

459
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,550
The person you called has a
voicemail box that has not been set up.

460
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:14,810
It's just
a frustrating situation.

461
00:38:14,930 --> 00:38:16,980
You've got Marc
somewhere in the backwoods.

462
00:38:17,100 --> 00:38:19,850
He just disappears
and doesn't call us for months on end,

463
00:38:19,980 --> 00:38:22,690
having all of us waiting and on hold.

464
00:38:22,820 --> 00:38:24,980
My bags are packed.
Everyone's bags are packed.

465
00:38:25,110 --> 00:38:27,320
If we don't hear from Marc,
we might not do the shoot.

466
00:38:27,860 --> 00:38:31,320
We started seeing him
in other climbers' social media posts.

467
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:37,040
It's day six on the wall
and day five of the storm.

468
00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:39,210
Brette was posting these videos.

469
00:38:39,370 --> 00:38:42,840
- What are you doing, Marc?
- I'll just get a T-slot my for skis

470
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,170
so I can lower Brette over this cliff.

471
00:38:45,340 --> 00:38:46,460
Oh, man.

472
00:38:47,420 --> 00:38:50,640
We saw they'd gone
all the way out to Baffin Island.

473
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,100
- This is so awesome.
- Whoo!

474
00:38:54,390 --> 00:38:56,850
Then Marc was in Scotland

475
00:38:56,980 --> 00:39:01,270
where he knocked off a string of solos
like they were nine holes of golf.

476
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:03,150
- All righty.
- All righty, then.

477
00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:19,830
At one point,
I was climbing in South America,

478
00:39:19,910 --> 00:39:23,840
we could see this tiny, tiny speck
on this 4,000-foot wall.

479
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:27,210
We could look over and be like,
"That is Marc-André, by himself,

480
00:39:27,380 --> 00:39:29,170
on this fricking journey to the gods."

481
00:39:29,300 --> 00:39:32,430
I was like, "This is messed up.
I cannot believe he's soloing that."

482
00:39:35,050 --> 00:39:38,180
Finally,
we heard Marc was back in Canada,

483
00:39:38,310 --> 00:39:40,850
climbing in the remote Ghost Wilderness.

484
00:39:42,270 --> 00:39:45,690
In an act of desperation,
I called a filmmaker from the area

485
00:39:45,820 --> 00:39:49,400
to go into the backcountry
and track Marc down.

486
00:40:06,290 --> 00:40:11,590
He shows up, and Marc
is out there with Brette and a friend,

487
00:40:11,720 --> 00:40:14,970
and they're putting up
hard first ascents

488
00:40:15,090 --> 00:40:17,060
on these huge walls,

489
00:40:18,970 --> 00:40:21,560
having the time of their lives.

490
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:25,980
Nice, Brette.

491
00:40:33,660 --> 00:40:34,780
Falling!

492
00:40:35,780 --> 00:40:36,620
Whoo!

493
00:40:36,740 --> 00:40:38,870
Hey, Marco,
how is it down there?

494
00:40:39,870 --> 00:40:41,120
It's great.

495
00:40:43,460 --> 00:40:44,460
Here we go.

496
00:40:48,750 --> 00:40:51,670
I think it's so cool
that you're making a movie about Marc.

497
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:57,010
But honestly,
he doesn't care about movies.

498
00:40:57,140 --> 00:40:59,470
He's not gonna put
the time and energy

499
00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:04,190
into making his own climb
significant to the world.

500
00:41:06,020 --> 00:41:08,230
He's out climbing,
he's too busy climbing.

501
00:41:12,820 --> 00:41:14,650
Pretty incredible, the weather.

502
00:41:15,950 --> 00:41:19,490
He's different than any climber
we've ever dealt with.

503
00:41:20,700 --> 00:41:23,330
He doesn't share
any information with us.

504
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:28,130
It's frustrating,
but at the same, it's pretty noble.

505
00:41:29,340 --> 00:41:33,840
Just kind of follows his own path.
He's a free spirit.

506
00:41:33,970 --> 00:41:36,590
And that can be difficult
to plan around.

507
00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:39,720
Kind of makes him lovable
in this weird way, you know?

508
00:41:39,850 --> 00:41:41,510
He doesn't give a fuck.

509
00:41:43,140 --> 00:41:46,270
This whole time,
chasing Marc around,

510
00:41:46,390 --> 00:41:50,020
it was clear he was building up
to something big.

511
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,190
But we had no idea what it would be.

512
00:41:55,530 --> 00:41:57,530
Then the news broke.

513
00:41:59,620 --> 00:42:06,040
He had made the first-ever solo
of the Emperor Face on Mount Robson.

514
00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:09,580
And it sent shockwaves
through the climbing world.

515
00:42:09,710 --> 00:42:12,250
When I heard
that Marc had soloed the Emperor Face,

516
00:42:12,380 --> 00:42:17,380
it was one of those like, "Holy shit!
Marc soloed the Emperor Face."

517
00:42:17,550 --> 00:42:21,430
That is absolutely outstanding
and probably the greatest solo ascent

518
00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,560
of anything
that's been done in North America.

519
00:42:28,230 --> 00:42:31,150
Robson is the king.

520
00:42:31,270 --> 00:42:34,190
It's the highest mountain
in the Canadian Rockies.

521
00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:39,860
It's like three El Caps.

522
00:42:39,990 --> 00:42:42,280
But Robson is not Yosemite.

523
00:42:43,450 --> 00:42:48,120
It's got glaciation, it's got crevasses,
it's got avalanche.

524
00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:53,420
You're climbing rock, ice and snow
all at the same time.

525
00:42:54,090 --> 00:42:58,930
It's a legendary, mythical objective,
even with a rope.

526
00:43:02,140 --> 00:43:06,890
I was frustrated
that Marc had made this historic ascent

527
00:43:07,020 --> 00:43:09,890
and he hadn't even let us in
on his plan.

528
00:43:12,190 --> 00:43:16,650
Eventually, we reached Marc
and asked him why.

529
00:43:16,780 --> 00:43:19,030
When you guys approached me
about doing a film,

530
00:43:19,110 --> 00:43:20,780
it seemed like a cool experience,

531
00:43:20,910 --> 00:43:25,120
but I've never let you guys
come and shoot one of my real solos.

532
00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:26,240
Why not?

533
00:43:26,370 --> 00:43:30,250
Because it wouldn't be a solo
to me if somebody was there.

534
00:43:31,870 --> 00:43:36,380
Yeah, I mean, I guess that's true.

535
00:43:36,500 --> 00:43:40,510
It's just a completely different
experience if somebody comes with you.

536
00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:42,680
Yeah, even if they don't help you.

537
00:43:44,180 --> 00:43:48,810
It just wouldn't even be remotely close
to the adventure that I was looking for.

538
00:43:48,930 --> 00:43:52,060
The only way I was interested
was actually doing it fully by myself.

539
00:43:52,150 --> 00:43:55,480
And if that happened,
I'd be OK to go back and film.

540
00:43:57,020 --> 00:43:59,900
I had this really awesome experience.

541
00:44:00,030 --> 00:44:02,860
Now, I'm actually ready
to share it with people.

542
00:44:05,990 --> 00:44:10,160
So Marc invited us back up
to film on Mount Robson

543
00:44:11,910 --> 00:44:17,710
so we could see first-hand
his approach to solo alpinism.

544
00:44:22,550 --> 00:44:25,260
For me, the very best climbs

545
00:44:25,390 --> 00:44:28,470
are when you can walk up to a mountain
with nothing

546
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:32,140
except for your ability to climb,
and that's it.

547
00:44:36,730 --> 00:44:41,070
Being by yourself out there,
immersed in your environment,

548
00:44:42,490 --> 00:44:45,320
tuning in to the rustle of the leaves...

549
00:44:46,870 --> 00:44:49,200
...the sound of the wind
across the ridge,

550
00:44:51,290 --> 00:44:54,210
the aura that the mountain has.

551
00:44:56,920 --> 00:45:01,340
On his big mountain solos,
Marc follows a simple set of rules.

552
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:05,590
He carries no communication device

553
00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:09,720
that could be used as a lifeline
if things go wrong.

554
00:45:11,720 --> 00:45:13,640
And he climbs on sight,

555
00:45:13,810 --> 00:45:16,770
meaning he's never been
on the mountain before,

556
00:45:16,900 --> 00:45:19,230
never rehearsed the route.

557
00:45:21,070 --> 00:45:23,990
He has to figure it out on the fly.

558
00:45:27,490 --> 00:45:31,870
The gold standard of alpinism
is the on-sight solo.

559
00:45:31,990 --> 00:45:37,330
A climber approaches a mountain
without any prior knowledge

560
00:45:37,460 --> 00:45:41,050
and just climbs it.

561
00:45:44,380 --> 00:45:48,390
But it's only for the very best climbers
on their very best days.

562
00:45:48,510 --> 00:45:49,970
You know, it's such a deadly game.

563
00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:55,270
The goal is
to climb as safely as possible.

564
00:45:56,350 --> 00:45:58,560
But when you step into the mountains,

565
00:46:00,650 --> 00:46:02,860
and there's stuff
that's beyond your control.

566
00:46:05,900 --> 00:46:07,700
You control what you're doing,

567
00:46:07,860 --> 00:46:09,990
but you can't control
what the mountain's doing,

568
00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:13,290
and that's by far
the biggest danger in my mind.

569
00:46:13,370 --> 00:46:16,960
The mountains are alive all around you
and you're kind of at their mercy.

570
00:46:18,870 --> 00:46:20,960
You have to think about avalanches,

571
00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,380
seracs that can collapse at any time.

572
00:46:25,340 --> 00:46:29,590
You have to learn to read the signals
that the mountains are sending you.

573
00:46:31,350 --> 00:46:36,350
The conditions of the snow, the ice,
what time of day is it gonna get sun,

574
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:40,190
what the weather's gonna do.
It's like a game of chess.

575
00:46:41,940 --> 00:46:43,650
You have this ultimate goal,

576
00:46:43,820 --> 00:46:47,240
but then unpredictable things
are going to happen.

577
00:46:55,830 --> 00:47:00,580
I think that interaction with
the environment, with the mountain,

578
00:47:00,710 --> 00:47:05,090
is, like, a huge part of what makes
alpine climbing so interesting.

579
00:47:07,210 --> 00:47:10,760
And if you're smart
and you, like, make the right moves,

580
00:47:10,930 --> 00:47:16,390
you can, sometimes against the odds,
pull off a great climb.

581
00:47:26,190 --> 00:47:27,650
One of the coolest feelings

582
00:47:27,780 --> 00:47:31,360
that a human can experience
is, like, to feel so small

583
00:47:32,490 --> 00:47:34,530
in a world that's so big.

584
00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:53,390
Moving over the mountain
unencumbered

585
00:47:53,510 --> 00:47:56,180
is about as close
as you're gonna come as a climber

586
00:47:56,310 --> 00:48:00,350
to sprouting wings
and being totally free.

587
00:48:04,110 --> 00:48:07,480
Absolutely awake, absolutely alive.

588
00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:12,200
Receiving any kind of impulse
that's coming in

589
00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:15,070
and reacting to it almost instinctively.

590
00:48:17,410 --> 00:48:19,120
It's a great dance.

591
00:48:41,310 --> 00:48:45,600
Marc is doing things
that people thought could never be done.

592
00:48:45,730 --> 00:48:48,480
He's redefining what's possible.

593
00:48:48,610 --> 00:48:50,990
This is the evolution of alpinism,

594
00:48:51,110 --> 00:48:53,150
and it's happening right now
in our backyard,

595
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:55,280
and it's happening with that young guy.

596
00:49:06,380 --> 00:49:11,010
But I am definitely concerned
for Marc-André

597
00:49:11,130 --> 00:49:15,470
and anyone else pushing the limit
of what's been accomplished soloing.

598
00:49:15,550 --> 00:49:20,470
The place he is in
is such a special, finite place,

599
00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:22,770
and such an incredibly risky place.

600
00:49:24,060 --> 00:49:27,520
Marc-André is playing
with a pretty heavy deck right now.

601
00:49:27,650 --> 00:49:32,900
He is walking relatively close
to the edge in big environments.

602
00:49:33,070 --> 00:49:36,070
And I think he can do a fair amount
of that and get away with it,

603
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:37,780
but sooner or later,

604
00:49:38,910 --> 00:49:40,240
it's gonna bite him.

605
00:49:40,370 --> 00:49:43,910
He is gaining recognition
because of his solo climbing,

606
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:48,040
and all of this is wonderful for him,
and it's exciting to hear about,

607
00:49:48,170 --> 00:49:50,250
and read about and watch.

608
00:49:52,300 --> 00:49:56,260
But... I mean,
maybe it's just an age thing,

609
00:49:56,380 --> 00:49:59,220
but I find it a little bit scary.

610
00:49:59,350 --> 00:50:01,640
I just... You know,
I just hope he's careful.

611
00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:06,600
He's really comfortable
in mountainous terrain.

612
00:50:06,730 --> 00:50:11,520
Sometimes I wonder
if he's just almost too comfortable.

613
00:50:11,610 --> 00:50:15,650
One could say
that it's crazy and irresponsible

614
00:50:15,780 --> 00:50:20,910
to place yourself in that kind of danger
for what?

615
00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:22,700
Kicks, glory?

616
00:50:22,830 --> 00:50:25,620
I think that free soloing
is a very emotionally charged subject

617
00:50:25,750 --> 00:50:27,830
and so it draws strong reactions
from everybody.

618
00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:30,420
If you fall and die,
everybody thinks you're an idiot,

619
00:50:30,540 --> 00:50:33,960
you're a risk-taker, daredevil,
like, "What an idiot."

620
00:50:34,130 --> 00:50:36,630
If you succeed,
everyone celebrates you as a big hero.

621
00:50:36,760 --> 00:50:38,680
But the reality is you're
the same person either way.

622
00:50:42,680 --> 00:50:44,890
People are always freaking out
about soloing,

623
00:50:45,060 --> 00:50:47,980
"It's such an unacceptable risk.
People shouldn't be doing this.

624
00:50:48,140 --> 00:50:50,060
What kind of example does this set?"

625
00:50:50,730 --> 00:50:52,900
I mean, I know it's dangerous.

626
00:50:53,070 --> 00:50:57,110
I'm not, like, deluding myself
that it's not dangerous to go soloing,

627
00:50:57,240 --> 00:51:02,620
but I probably just have
a different view of everything, I guess.

628
00:51:02,740 --> 00:51:06,580
You know, like, to me,
it's not really an unacceptable risk.

629
00:51:07,500 --> 00:51:10,580
I'm still so young.
There are so many things I wanna do.

630
00:51:12,170 --> 00:51:15,000
I've really had to think about it
within our own lives,

631
00:51:15,170 --> 00:51:17,130
because we do put ourselves
in situations

632
00:51:17,260 --> 00:51:19,470
that anything could happen.

633
00:51:19,590 --> 00:51:22,010
Like, an avalanche
could take you out randomly.

634
00:51:22,180 --> 00:51:24,100
The more times
you put yourself in that situation,

635
00:51:24,220 --> 00:51:26,520
the more likely it's gonna happen.

636
00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:32,310
And yeah, sometimes it's concerning
the amount of soloing he wants to do.

637
00:51:33,230 --> 00:51:37,740
He has an insatiable desire
to do more at an extreme level.

638
00:51:38,940 --> 00:51:42,410
I worry for him, of course.

639
00:51:54,250 --> 00:51:58,420
A few months after Robson,
Marc set off for Patagonia

640
00:51:59,130 --> 00:52:02,130
at the far southern tip
of South America.

641
00:52:03,430 --> 00:52:07,430
His objective was a climb
that had never been attempted.

642
00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:14,230
A winter solo ascent of Torre Egger,
the most difficult peak in the range.

643
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:17,650
Patagonia's jagged summits

644
00:52:17,730 --> 00:52:21,450
are a proving ground
for serious alpinists,

645
00:52:21,570 --> 00:52:24,660
who gather each summer
in the village of El Chaltén.

646
00:52:26,450 --> 00:52:31,250
But in the winter, the mountains
are lashed by vicious storms

647
00:52:31,370 --> 00:52:34,080
and El Chaltén is a ghost town.

648
00:52:40,380 --> 00:52:44,760
To go winter climbing
in Patagonia solo,

649
00:52:44,890 --> 00:52:46,930
he's definitely upping the game
by a lot.

650
00:52:47,050 --> 00:52:51,060
Going to Patagonia in the winter!
It's just mind boggling.

651
00:52:51,230 --> 00:52:52,890
The weather is horrific.

652
00:52:53,600 --> 00:52:55,850
Avalanche hazards
can be extremely high.

653
00:52:55,980 --> 00:52:58,480
And trying to solo Torre Egger
on sight.

654
00:52:58,610 --> 00:53:01,690
I mean, Torre Egger is a coveted peak.

655
00:53:01,820 --> 00:53:05,110
Some people consider it
the hardest peak in the Americas.

656
00:53:06,320 --> 00:53:08,530
People ask me,
"Don't you worry he's not coming back?"

657
00:53:08,660 --> 00:53:09,950
I just shake my head,

658
00:53:10,700 --> 00:53:13,750
"Marc will be coming back.
He's got this sixth sense."

659
00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:23,510
Soloing Torre Egger
had long been a dream of Marc's.

660
00:53:23,630 --> 00:53:26,430
So he obviously didn't want
a big film crew.

661
00:53:27,470 --> 00:53:31,310
But this time,
he was willing to bring one cameraman,

662
00:53:31,430 --> 00:53:34,440
his climbing buddy, Austin Siadak.

663
00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:36,690
I'm gonna basically just try to keep up,

664
00:53:36,770 --> 00:53:39,110
tag along, and document
as best as I can along the way.

665
00:53:39,820 --> 00:53:42,320
I don't wanna, like,
impose on his experience.

666
00:53:43,570 --> 00:53:46,660
Austin would hang with Marc
in town

667
00:53:46,740 --> 00:53:50,240
and shoot some climbing
on the lower sections of the route.

668
00:53:52,660 --> 00:53:56,580
But for the summit push,
Marc would climb alone

669
00:53:56,710 --> 00:54:01,340
and bring a small camera
to capture what he could in real time.

670
00:54:02,250 --> 00:54:04,510
Yeah, this is Torre Egger.

671
00:54:06,930 --> 00:54:12,260
I've been thinking about this climb
for the better part of a year.

672
00:54:12,930 --> 00:54:15,100
If there's ice, it might be quick

673
00:54:15,270 --> 00:54:18,560
to go straight up this ice gully
under the serac and then...

674
00:54:18,690 --> 00:54:22,190
Torre Egger
is this 1,000-meter rock pillar

675
00:54:22,360 --> 00:54:26,320
rising up out of the glacier
with an ice aréte in the middle.

676
00:54:26,450 --> 00:54:32,530
You know, not always perfect rock
and capped with ice mushrooms.

677
00:54:33,370 --> 00:54:35,580
I could look at it on paper and be like,

678
00:54:35,700 --> 00:54:39,790
"OK, like, this is
totally mathematically, like, feasible."

679
00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:43,750
But at the same time,
it still seems a little bit out there,

680
00:54:43,840 --> 00:54:47,130
like, "Whoa, this is the next step
for me."

681
00:54:48,300 --> 00:54:51,510
I spent the majority
of the last year doing things

682
00:54:51,640 --> 00:54:53,470
that would prepare me for this climb.

683
00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:56,850
A ton of mixed climbing,
and a ton of ice climbing,

684
00:54:56,980 --> 00:54:59,140
and then the Emperor Face.

685
00:54:59,310 --> 00:55:04,230
It was all sort of preparation
with Egger in mind.

686
00:55:08,150 --> 00:55:10,820
Just gonna check weather models.

687
00:55:10,910 --> 00:55:13,990
I check all these models
multiple times a day.

688
00:55:14,120 --> 00:55:17,660
Friday morning, the wind rolls in,
with precip.

689
00:55:19,830 --> 00:55:23,920
When the lines are close together,
that means a lot of wind.

690
00:55:25,500 --> 00:55:28,170
The peaks right now
are just getting nuked.

691
00:55:28,340 --> 00:55:31,930
We have to hang out in town
and wait for a weather window.

692
00:55:34,050 --> 00:55:36,640
Coming down here by yourself
in the winter time...

693
00:55:38,390 --> 00:55:41,650
...you become immersed
in the El Chaltén life.

694
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:46,230
Hanging out with the locals.

695
00:55:46,400 --> 00:55:49,400
And they're making you
part of the family.

696
00:55:53,160 --> 00:55:56,950
Yeah, it's actually like
a big part of the whole experience.

697
00:57:00,680 --> 00:57:02,940
Just checking
the latest meteogram.

698
00:57:03,850 --> 00:57:06,860
Looks good, like, Tuesday, Wednesday.

699
00:57:06,940 --> 00:57:09,780
- What does that mean?
- Means we're going climbing.

700
00:57:16,160 --> 00:57:18,370
Part of the crux of soloing
in these mountains

701
00:57:18,530 --> 00:57:20,660
is the amount of stuff
that you have to carry.

702
00:57:20,790 --> 00:57:22,160
It's pretty heavy.

703
00:57:22,290 --> 00:57:24,210
Like, when you have
to put everything on your back

704
00:57:24,330 --> 00:57:26,120
and just, like, solo with the pack on.

705
00:57:26,250 --> 00:57:30,210
This bag, like, ripped open.
I've taped it shut.

706
00:57:30,340 --> 00:57:33,800
It's lost half its insulation.
It just means it's even lighter.

707
00:57:34,970 --> 00:57:36,970
It's even more super light.

708
00:57:43,060 --> 00:57:48,060
Well, I don't wanna sound grim
or fatalistic,

709
00:57:48,190 --> 00:57:53,240
but it's, you know, undeniable
that every time you go to the mountains,

710
00:57:53,360 --> 00:57:55,820
it could be your last time,

711
00:57:55,950 --> 00:57:59,990
so all these things that you love
you have to appreciate.

712
00:58:04,080 --> 00:58:06,670
Whatever dinner you'd want
to possibly be your last dinner,

713
00:58:06,790 --> 00:58:08,250
you have to eat it.

714
00:58:09,880 --> 00:58:13,380
Cos you're going to the mountains.

715
00:58:15,670 --> 00:58:17,050
Yeah.

716
00:58:37,740 --> 00:58:40,070
The whole game
is very simple.

717
00:58:46,960 --> 00:58:50,040
We go somewhere that we should not go.

718
00:58:52,630 --> 00:58:57,010
Where our own instinct is telling us,
"Do not go there."

719
00:59:02,550 --> 00:59:03,970
Many things can happen.

720
00:59:06,640 --> 00:59:08,270
We can fall.

721
00:59:09,640 --> 00:59:11,770
The storm can take me away.

722
00:59:12,560 --> 00:59:15,070
We know that we could die up there.

723
00:59:21,110 --> 00:59:24,030
But still, we go there.

724
00:59:26,080 --> 00:59:30,040
We try to make real our dreams.

725
00:59:31,210 --> 00:59:32,880
Our visions.

726
00:59:36,460 --> 00:59:39,800
I had spent a whole year
imagining this climb,

727
00:59:39,930 --> 00:59:43,100
and I felt
like I had the skills to do it,

728
00:59:43,180 --> 00:59:45,100
and it would require all of them.

729
00:59:45,850 --> 00:59:48,350
But I don't know the route whatsoever.

730
00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:53,480
No idea how this is gonna go.
Like, no idea what to expect.

731
00:59:55,690 --> 00:59:59,030
Conditions
are definitely tough right now.

732
00:59:59,110 --> 01:00:00,150
You can see my trail there.

733
01:00:00,280 --> 01:00:03,120
I was literally
digging through a trench,

734
01:00:03,200 --> 01:00:06,120
through chest-deep snow
with wind slab on top,

735
01:00:06,200 --> 01:00:11,000
and I think there could be
a lot of this kind of snow

736
01:00:11,120 --> 01:00:12,920
on the hanging glacier in the gully.

737
01:00:13,040 --> 01:00:14,920
And not only is it really hard work,

738
01:00:15,040 --> 01:00:18,760
I think avalanche conditions
could be quite dangerous.

739
01:00:18,880 --> 01:00:23,140
So I'm gonna go over
and see how the rock is

740
01:00:23,220 --> 01:00:25,140
and see if that goes.

741
01:00:26,720 --> 01:00:31,020
I started on really snowed-up rock,
which took quite a long time.

742
01:00:31,140 --> 01:00:36,900
Well, two pitches of climbing
and it's kind of heinous, actually.

743
01:00:37,020 --> 01:00:38,150
Here's my tracks.

744
01:00:40,360 --> 01:00:42,320
I have to go tack
along the edge of that serac

745
01:00:42,450 --> 01:00:44,700
and bivvy on top of it.

746
01:00:44,820 --> 01:00:49,080
The climbing was hard and slow.
Conditions were awful.

747
01:00:49,160 --> 01:00:51,290
I think the route goes up there.

748
01:00:55,540 --> 01:00:57,920
I had to keep taking my gloves off.

749
01:00:58,040 --> 01:01:00,800
My hands were numb because of the cold.

750
01:01:02,510 --> 01:01:04,680
Almost on top of the glacier.

751
01:01:06,180 --> 01:01:08,850
Definitely challenging so far.

752
01:01:09,760 --> 01:01:12,180
There's my backpack that I'm hauling up.

753
01:01:12,270 --> 01:01:13,480
Check out my hands.

754
01:01:13,600 --> 01:01:18,480
My fingers were bleeding
and everything was just kind of gnarly.

755
01:01:19,230 --> 01:01:22,820
Well, here I am at the top
of the hanging glacier

756
01:01:22,940 --> 01:01:25,280
and I'm settled in for the night.

757
01:01:25,410 --> 01:01:28,410
I originally hoped to be
six pitches higher than this

758
01:01:28,530 --> 01:01:32,200
on the snow aréte.
Not going as fast as I wanted to.

759
01:01:39,420 --> 01:01:42,260
You split left
off of that hanging glacier

760
01:01:42,380 --> 01:01:46,220
and that brings you to the snow aréte
in the middle of the east pillar.

761
01:01:48,300 --> 01:01:49,850
I've come a good ways now.

762
01:01:49,970 --> 01:01:53,640
Here's the snow aréte
that I wanted to make it to yesterday,

763
01:01:53,810 --> 01:01:55,850
but, you know, it just goes how it goes.

764
01:01:55,980 --> 01:01:58,560
There's the upper headwall,
so we'll see.

765
01:01:58,730 --> 01:02:01,940
I might be able to keep going
even if I have to make one extra bivvy,

766
01:02:02,070 --> 01:02:03,320
one more than planned.

767
01:02:04,860 --> 01:02:09,070
You're switching constantly
between boots, crampons and rock shoes.

768
01:02:10,580 --> 01:02:12,290
You'll climb an ice pitch

769
01:02:12,410 --> 01:02:16,670
and then all of a sudden,
you're on a rock pillar climbing 5.10.

770
01:02:20,170 --> 01:02:23,000
Or mixed climbing

771
01:02:23,130 --> 01:02:26,260
through some narrow gully
filled with ice.

772
01:02:34,220 --> 01:02:37,350
It's just, like, everything
in the repertoire.

773
01:03:19,390 --> 01:03:21,560
Well, I'm in the upper ramp,

774
01:03:21,690 --> 01:03:24,070
looking down the route.

775
01:03:24,190 --> 01:03:25,230
Whoo!

776
01:04:09,440 --> 01:04:14,370
When you encounter a situation
where you're like, "OK, this is real.

777
01:04:18,700 --> 01:04:22,370
I can either keep it together
and do this

778
01:04:22,500 --> 01:04:25,340
or I can, like, fall apart
and have a meltdown."

779
01:04:29,130 --> 01:04:31,050
You gotta do one or the other.

780
01:04:41,270 --> 01:04:44,770
And that process
of evaluating the situation,

781
01:04:44,940 --> 01:04:48,230
and then getting it together,
and carrying on,

782
01:04:51,280 --> 01:04:53,410
it's a challenge every time.

783
01:05:12,630 --> 01:05:16,680
Well, persevering,
and things are working out.

784
01:05:17,350 --> 01:05:18,720
Quite the view.

785
01:05:18,850 --> 01:05:21,720
I'm literally in the middle
of the headwall.

786
01:05:22,230 --> 01:05:26,190
I'm stomping out
this sick little platform to sleep on,

787
01:05:26,310 --> 01:05:29,520
the only place I could find to bivvy,
which is super cool.

788
01:05:29,650 --> 01:05:33,360
I'm gonna freeze my ass off tonight,
that's for sure, but that's OK.

789
01:05:34,280 --> 01:05:37,320
Yesterday,
progress was so slow and difficult

790
01:05:37,450 --> 01:05:41,240
that it was kind of discouraging,
but now I'm in a really good position

791
01:05:41,370 --> 01:05:45,120
to go for the summit tomorrow morning.
I'm only a few pitches away.

792
01:05:45,830 --> 01:05:48,790
So as long as the weather holds,
I'm psyched.

793
01:06:01,720 --> 01:06:05,480
Hey, Brette, this video's for you.

794
01:06:05,560 --> 01:06:07,440
I just wanted to, uh...

795
01:06:08,650 --> 01:06:12,320
let you know that when I'm out here
in these mountains by myself,

796
01:06:12,440 --> 01:06:13,610
I really miss you.

797
01:06:14,740 --> 01:06:19,070
And I'm thinking about you a lot,

798
01:06:19,200 --> 01:06:23,200
and there's a part of me that...

799
01:06:24,250 --> 01:06:28,210
wishes I could just quickly rap
to the ground,

800
01:06:28,330 --> 01:06:31,040
and get out of here,
and change my flights,

801
01:06:31,170 --> 01:06:35,510
and come back and see you,
cos I'd love to...

802
01:06:37,050 --> 01:06:40,470
just... yeah, see you.

803
01:06:44,060 --> 01:06:45,770
I love you.

804
01:06:53,860 --> 01:06:56,070
I woke up at around five in the morning,

805
01:06:56,190 --> 01:06:59,660
peeked outside my sleeping bag.
A full snowstorm was starting.

806
01:07:01,450 --> 01:07:03,740
Now, I just have to pack up
as quick as I can

807
01:07:03,870 --> 01:07:08,120
and rappel the whole mountain
in blizzard conditions.

808
01:07:11,130 --> 01:07:15,670
I hope it goes well, cos it's a long
and complicated way down.

809
01:07:20,390 --> 01:07:21,510
Holy shit!

810
01:07:39,360 --> 01:07:42,200
Well, I'm back in my tent.

811
01:07:43,240 --> 01:07:47,330
I am sorry to say
that I did not reach the summit.

812
01:07:48,370 --> 01:07:51,500
But... I survived,

813
01:07:51,580 --> 01:07:54,420
which I think counts for a lot.

814
01:07:55,840 --> 01:07:58,720
Kind of a bummer, cos I made it
within four pitches of the top.

815
01:07:59,840 --> 01:08:04,510
It was still probably one of my very
best solo efforts in the mountains,

816
01:08:04,600 --> 01:08:08,850
just in terms of sticking with it
and coming really close, and...

817
01:08:08,980 --> 01:08:12,150
And, you know I always said...

818
01:08:12,270 --> 01:08:14,610
Cos I've always dreamed
of trying to solo Egger

819
01:08:14,690 --> 01:08:16,730
and I always said

820
01:08:16,860 --> 01:08:20,820
that if you got caught in bad weather
near the top of Egger by yourself,

821
01:08:20,950 --> 01:08:26,620
that's the ultimate nightmare,
and it actually happened to me,

822
01:08:26,740 --> 01:08:33,040
and I made it down just fine, so...
That's kind of... That's cool, I guess.

823
01:08:37,960 --> 01:08:42,380
I was relieved to hear
that Marc had made it back down.

824
01:08:45,390 --> 01:08:50,980
And after such a close scrape,
I figured he would just fly home,

825
01:08:51,140 --> 01:08:53,650
unsuccessful, but safe.

826
01:08:54,940 --> 01:09:01,360
Well, it's amazing just feeling
how tired I am from that climb.

827
01:09:07,580 --> 01:09:10,830
But Marc couldn't let it go.

828
01:09:11,700 --> 01:09:15,290
He saw another weather window
in the forecast,

829
01:09:15,420 --> 01:09:18,000
this one even shorter than the last.

830
01:09:18,170 --> 01:09:20,760
And on Friday,
you have half of a good day,

831
01:09:20,880 --> 01:09:22,670
and overnight's good.

832
01:09:23,720 --> 01:09:27,390
And he decided to go for it,
again.

833
01:09:27,510 --> 01:09:30,390
This time, he was raising the stakes.

834
01:09:30,520 --> 01:09:34,230
Because I already know the route,
I decided I could do the route in a day

835
01:09:34,350 --> 01:09:36,350
without carrying any bivvy equipment.

836
01:09:37,690 --> 01:09:41,070
But I won't have the option
of sleeping up there on the mountain.

837
01:09:41,230 --> 01:09:44,700
I have to go really light and move fast
in order to get it done.

838
01:09:47,030 --> 01:09:48,410
Here we go.

839
01:09:50,870 --> 01:09:55,370
For his second attempt,
Marc would carry just a small pack

840
01:09:55,500 --> 01:09:59,040
with no sleeping bag, no extra food.

841
01:09:59,590 --> 01:10:03,050
Just the basic tools
to climb light and fast.

842
01:10:06,010 --> 01:10:08,390
Starting the climb that night,

843
01:10:08,510 --> 01:10:12,680
he hoped he could get
to the summit and back down

844
01:10:12,770 --> 01:10:15,230
before the next storm crashed in.

845
01:10:19,270 --> 01:10:20,570
Good luck, Marc!

846
01:10:39,750 --> 01:10:45,170
Well, it's 5:45 in the morning
and I'm back at my first bivvy site

847
01:10:45,340 --> 01:10:46,760
on top of the hanging glacier.

848
01:10:46,840 --> 01:10:48,970
It's only taken me a couple of hours
to get here.

849
01:10:50,300 --> 01:10:52,680
So, yeah, off to a good start.

850
01:11:00,900 --> 01:11:03,360
I'm just going for it,

851
01:11:03,480 --> 01:11:08,280
just this tiny little adventure
on this huge mountain.

852
01:11:11,780 --> 01:11:14,410
Well, the sun's rising.

853
01:11:14,540 --> 01:11:17,460
Check out how incredible this is.

854
01:11:18,160 --> 01:11:20,500
I'm more than halfway
up the route already.

855
01:11:29,720 --> 01:11:31,390
Well, I'm in the upper ramp.

856
01:11:36,350 --> 01:11:37,810
Things are working out.

857
01:11:50,200 --> 01:11:52,110
I'm on the summit of Egger!

858
01:11:52,870 --> 01:11:54,330
Super psyched!

859
01:11:54,950 --> 01:11:56,160
Whoo!

860
01:11:56,910 --> 01:11:59,580
Yeah, look at this!

861
01:12:00,460 --> 01:12:01,960
Holy smokes!

862
01:12:02,960 --> 01:12:04,540
To solo Torre Egger

863
01:12:05,380 --> 01:12:09,670
seemed like the perfect combination
of everything I'd learned how to do.

864
01:12:13,760 --> 01:12:19,020
It's almost like my whole life
leading me to a certain place.

865
01:12:31,700 --> 01:12:32,820
Nice work, dude.

866
01:12:32,910 --> 01:12:35,070
Yo.

867
01:12:36,160 --> 01:12:38,410
- How's it going, dude?
- How do you feel?

868
01:12:39,790 --> 01:12:42,460
- Perfect.
- Dude, yeah, things are awesome.

869
01:12:42,580 --> 01:12:46,040
No alpine ascent is truly complete
until the beers go clink.

870
01:12:46,880 --> 01:12:49,010
- Cheers.
- Cheers, man.

871
01:12:56,470 --> 01:12:58,810
- Si.
- Si.

872
01:12:59,390 --> 01:13:01,270
When you grow up,

873
01:13:17,410 --> 01:13:19,490
Psyched to be going back
to States?

874
01:13:19,620 --> 01:13:21,870
Yeah, I'm super stoked to see Brette

875
01:13:21,950 --> 01:13:25,710
and eventually see the family
back up in Canada.

876
01:13:25,830 --> 01:13:27,340
There's the taxi.

877
01:13:27,500 --> 01:13:30,670
I have to negotiate,
cos I don't have pesos.

878
01:13:48,020 --> 01:13:50,940
When Marc comes out
of the mountains,

879
01:13:51,070 --> 01:13:54,030
he has this, like, radiating energy.

880
01:13:54,150 --> 01:13:58,030
He's had some sort of extreme experience

881
01:13:58,160 --> 01:14:01,660
that had moved him deeper
than anything else could have.

882
01:14:03,040 --> 01:14:06,040
When you're in the mountains
with a mission,

883
01:14:06,170 --> 01:14:10,170
it's like all the superficialities
of life just sort of evaporate,

884
01:14:10,290 --> 01:14:13,670
and you can often find yourself
in a deeper state of mind,

885
01:14:13,800 --> 01:14:16,800
and that can stick with you
for a while after a big climb.

886
01:14:18,300 --> 01:14:21,680
You appreciate everything so much

887
01:14:21,810 --> 01:14:24,100
that you take for granted
most of the time.

888
01:14:27,980 --> 01:14:29,020
It's kind of funny.

889
01:14:30,360 --> 01:14:32,980
The actual achievement
doesn't really change your life

890
01:14:33,110 --> 01:14:36,200
like you think it might,
when you're building up to it,

891
01:14:36,320 --> 01:14:40,200
but what you're left with is the journey
that got you to that point

892
01:14:40,320 --> 01:14:42,990
and if you have this big journey

893
01:14:43,120 --> 01:14:44,830
where you had
to figure a lot of stuff out,

894
01:14:44,950 --> 01:14:48,080
and you had to plan,
and it was more immersive,

895
01:14:48,210 --> 01:14:51,090
and then you were somewhere
really beautiful for a long time,

896
01:14:51,210 --> 01:14:53,380
and then had to work really hard,

897
01:14:53,550 --> 01:14:55,970
and overcome
some kind of mental barrier,

898
01:14:56,050 --> 01:14:59,340
you're left with so much more
of a story

899
01:14:59,510 --> 01:15:02,300
or, like, a memory and an experience.

900
01:15:02,430 --> 01:15:05,140
And that's what I find
is the most important.

901
01:15:10,940 --> 01:15:14,030
For two years
filming Marc's climbs,

902
01:15:14,690 --> 01:15:17,700
it was like trying
to capture lightning in a bottle.

903
01:15:22,740 --> 01:15:29,750
Now, it was time to assemble the film
and release Marc back into the wild.

904
01:15:30,250 --> 01:15:33,750
He still had so many mountains to climb.

905
01:15:35,630 --> 01:15:37,800
OK, Brette, I'm secure!

906
01:15:40,590 --> 01:15:41,890
Hey, dude.

907
01:15:42,300 --> 01:15:46,930
And that is where
I thought this story would end.

908
01:15:48,430 --> 01:15:49,850
But while we were editing,

909
01:15:49,980 --> 01:15:54,770
Marc chased a weather window
up to Juneau, Alaska,

910
01:15:54,900 --> 01:15:57,820
where he met up with
a strong local climber,

911
01:15:58,280 --> 01:15:59,780
Ryan Johnson.

912
01:16:01,030 --> 01:16:04,950
Climbing as a team, with a rope,
they made a first ascent

913
01:16:05,080 --> 01:16:08,450
on the north face
of the Mendenhall Towers.

914
01:16:09,790 --> 01:16:13,000
At the summit, there was cell reception.

915
01:16:13,080 --> 01:16:18,590
So Marc sent text messages
to his mom and to Brette.

916
01:16:21,680 --> 01:16:24,890
And Ryan sent a video message
to his girlfriend.

917
01:16:25,010 --> 01:16:27,100
Hey, babe, figured why not
be up here with me?

918
01:16:27,180 --> 01:16:30,100
- Marc, right there.
- Yeah.

919
01:16:30,480 --> 01:16:31,890
Pretty amazing up here.

920
01:16:32,020 --> 01:16:34,480
We've got a long way to get down,
so we're gonna get to it.

921
01:16:34,650 --> 01:16:37,110
The descent
does not look straightforward.

922
01:16:41,700 --> 01:16:45,620
But by the next morning,
nobody had heard from them.

923
01:16:48,330 --> 01:16:52,920
Brette was on a sailboat
off the coast of Tasmania.

924
01:16:53,040 --> 01:16:57,670
She was the first to realize
they were late to check in.

925
01:16:58,340 --> 01:17:02,630
She contacted search and rescue,
took the next flight out,

926
01:17:02,760 --> 01:17:05,970
and called us
when she landed in Alaska.

927
01:17:08,560 --> 01:17:12,100
- Fuck!
- Yeah, so I don't know, Pete.

928
01:17:12,140 --> 01:17:15,520
- I'm so sorry.
- I don't know what to do.

929
01:17:15,690 --> 01:17:20,990
I don't know what's gonna happen
or what would happen if...

930
01:17:23,110 --> 01:17:26,410
A climber from Squamish
has gone missing in Alaska.

931
01:17:26,530 --> 01:17:31,120
Marc-André Leclerc and another climber
were last seen on March 4th.

932
01:17:31,200 --> 01:17:33,830
We followed Brette up to Juneau

933
01:17:33,960 --> 01:17:37,750
and met Marc's family
at the search and rescue office.

934
01:17:40,800 --> 01:17:45,680
Some of Marc's friends from Squamish
had come along to help with the search.

935
01:17:46,550 --> 01:17:48,140
But a storm had rolled in,

936
01:17:48,220 --> 01:17:50,760
so nobody could get
a helicopter in there.

937
01:17:52,930 --> 01:17:57,190
All we could do was wait
for the weather to break

938
01:17:58,730 --> 01:18:03,900
and hope that somehow,
they were still alive up there.

939
01:18:12,120 --> 01:18:17,080
After four agonizing days,
the weather finally cleared enough

940
01:18:17,210 --> 01:18:23,510
for search and rescue
to fly a helicopter into that zone

941
01:18:23,630 --> 01:18:26,720
and get visuals of their descent route.

942
01:18:28,390 --> 01:18:32,600
With all the new snow, conditions
were too dangerous to land there,

943
01:18:33,560 --> 01:18:36,230
but they spotted a rope.

944
01:18:39,400 --> 01:18:42,940
It was covered in avalanche debris

945
01:18:43,070 --> 01:18:49,240
and it was clear that Marc and Ryan
were buried there.

946
01:18:51,740 --> 01:18:54,870
There was no chance of survival.

947
01:19:18,640 --> 01:19:22,940
We were hoping
to do a recovery of their bodies but...

948
01:19:23,900 --> 01:19:26,940
it didn't happen.
They just disappeared into the glacier.

949
01:19:33,200 --> 01:19:38,290
I remember sitting out there
on the ice field and wondering, like,

950
01:19:39,670 --> 01:19:42,420
"Why wasn't I with him?"

951
01:19:43,880 --> 01:19:46,340
Like, I felt I should've been there.

952
01:19:48,260 --> 01:19:52,300
I didn't even know
that life could be that painful.

953
01:19:52,390 --> 01:19:55,350
I didn't even know it existed
until you experience it.

954
01:19:55,470 --> 01:20:00,690
It's like we're kind of living
in this blissful magical life,

955
01:20:00,850 --> 01:20:03,190
and then you're hit
with this shockwave of pain,

956
01:20:03,310 --> 01:20:05,230
and you'll never be the same.

957
01:20:11,450 --> 01:20:14,830
After he died,
I just didn't care about anything.

958
01:20:16,660 --> 01:20:17,830
Nothing mattered.

959
01:20:19,710 --> 01:20:22,830
Maybe I would just disappear also.

960
01:20:27,460 --> 01:20:31,470
But then I remembered this conversation
that I had with Marc.

961
01:20:32,680 --> 01:20:35,180
Marc said
that if something happened to him,

962
01:20:35,300 --> 01:20:37,560
he wants me to keep going.

963
01:20:40,770 --> 01:20:42,440
He didn't want me to lose my spirit.

964
01:20:43,940 --> 01:20:47,320
He just wanted me
to keep climbing, keep loving life,

965
01:20:48,530 --> 01:20:51,860
and be happy. Yeah.

966
01:20:53,360 --> 01:20:54,950
You have no idea how hard it is.

967
01:20:55,070 --> 01:20:58,040
In theory you can say it,
but to actually be living that...

968
01:21:03,580 --> 01:21:05,580
I went back to Alaska.

969
01:21:06,540 --> 01:21:08,630
It's so beautiful there,

970
01:21:08,750 --> 01:21:13,590
but being there without him
felt so awful.

971
01:21:19,930 --> 01:21:23,270
I was in so much pain

972
01:21:23,390 --> 01:21:27,230
and the only time
I could feel an escape from that

973
01:21:27,360 --> 01:21:28,900
was being in the mountains.

974
01:21:31,940 --> 01:21:35,410
I keep returning to these places
we climbed together.

975
01:21:38,490 --> 01:21:41,160
They are infused with him.

976
01:21:43,160 --> 01:21:47,250
I came upon this piton
and I'm certain it's Marc's.

977
01:21:49,340 --> 01:21:50,920
I feel like you're here, Marc.

978
01:21:52,340 --> 01:21:55,550
I just miss him so much,
like, I miss our adventures together.

979
01:22:04,690 --> 01:22:07,440
But I know that you'd want me to be here

980
01:22:07,560 --> 01:22:09,480
and I know that you'd be proud.

981
01:22:28,790 --> 01:22:30,250
Just his typical smile.

982
01:22:31,880 --> 01:22:33,460
Yeah.

983
01:22:37,050 --> 01:22:39,970
You guys have a similar smile.

984
01:22:42,810 --> 01:22:44,810
How I'm doing
is a day-to-day thing.

985
01:22:47,230 --> 01:22:50,400
Without Marc-André, yeah,

986
01:22:50,480 --> 01:22:56,820
it was like something was suddenly
and irrevocably wrong with the universe.

987
01:22:56,990 --> 01:23:01,620
It was, like,
that's just not how it should be.

988
01:23:11,540 --> 01:23:13,050
I'm sorry.

989
01:23:16,420 --> 01:23:22,510
In some indefinable way,
you've moved to another place

990
01:23:22,640 --> 01:23:25,020
and you have to learn how to live there.

991
01:23:38,570 --> 01:23:40,910
A few months after the accident,

992
01:23:41,410 --> 01:23:47,040
friends came to Squamish from
all over the world to celebrate Marc.

993
01:24:07,430 --> 01:24:09,810
He was one of a kind.

994
01:24:09,940 --> 01:24:11,810
He was an individual individual.

995
01:24:13,060 --> 01:24:14,860
He just burned very bright

996
01:24:14,980 --> 01:24:19,190
and he left an indelible mark on a lot
of people in a short time, didn't he?

997
01:24:23,910 --> 01:24:25,620
Wow, there's a lot of you.

998
01:24:27,540 --> 01:24:31,160
As any parent knows,
raising children is a tough job,

999
01:24:31,290 --> 01:24:32,750
but I am thankful

1000
01:24:32,870 --> 01:24:36,800
that at least God granted me the grace
to understand this about my son,

1001
01:24:36,920 --> 01:24:40,130
to not stand in the way of his passion
for the mountains.

1002
01:24:53,850 --> 01:24:55,020
Of course, I worried.

1003
01:24:56,360 --> 01:24:58,820
What mother doesn't worry
about the children she's raised

1004
01:24:58,940 --> 01:25:00,110
to leave her and go out

1005
01:25:00,240 --> 01:25:03,740
into this beautiful
but dangerous and broken world?

1006
01:25:03,860 --> 01:25:05,990
It's so exposed.

1007
01:25:07,120 --> 01:25:10,450
I believe Marc-André
lived the life he was intended to live.

1008
01:25:11,580 --> 01:25:14,290
That he was meant to scale mountains,

1009
01:25:14,420 --> 01:25:17,960
stand on summits,
find his way into lonely valleys...

1010
01:25:18,130 --> 01:25:19,340
Super happy.

1011
01:25:19,460 --> 01:25:21,970
...and love one woman
with all his heart, his little B.

1012
01:25:22,130 --> 01:25:26,470
- How are you, Brette?
- It's pretty chilly.

1013
01:25:28,260 --> 01:25:29,770
Tolkien in The Hobbit says,

1014
01:25:29,890 --> 01:25:33,140
"There are no safe paths
in this part of the world.

1015
01:25:33,270 --> 01:25:35,560
You're over the edge of the wild now."

1016
01:25:35,650 --> 01:25:37,150
Oh, yeah, look at that.

1017
01:25:38,020 --> 01:25:40,820
Well, Marc-André, you
are truly over the edge of the wild now.

1018
01:25:40,940 --> 01:25:43,360
The storm came in
with a strong north wind.

1019
01:25:43,490 --> 01:25:46,990
I hope the mountains there are
amazing and the sunsets are beautiful.

1020
01:25:47,160 --> 01:25:50,830
And then it cleared for a bit
as the eye of the storm passed over us.

1021
01:25:50,950 --> 01:25:56,040
We are all richer for calling you son,
brother, partner and friend.

1022
01:25:56,210 --> 01:25:57,920
Whoo!

1023
01:25:58,040 --> 01:26:00,590
Thank you for giving us
25 remarkable years.

1024
01:26:00,670 --> 01:26:02,510
Holy fuck!

1025
01:26:07,090 --> 01:26:08,680
Whoo!

1026
01:26:17,940 --> 01:26:22,650
Having come to know Marc
as a friend,as well as a climber...

1027
01:26:25,450 --> 01:26:30,530
...it's hard to reconcile
the idealism of his ascents

1028
01:26:30,660 --> 01:26:33,200
with the tragic consequences.

1029
01:26:37,330 --> 01:26:41,590
That's why alpinism remains
such a contradiction in my mind,

1030
01:26:41,710 --> 01:26:43,130
such a mystery.

1031
01:26:46,800 --> 01:26:50,850
But I believe what Marc did
with his time on Earth was beautiful.

1032
01:26:54,730 --> 01:26:58,020
He followed
the course of his own dreams.

1033
01:27:02,360 --> 01:27:05,740
A lot of us live our lives
thinking of the things we'd like to do

1034
01:27:05,820 --> 01:27:09,570
or the adventures we'd like to have,
but we hold back.

1035
01:27:12,330 --> 01:27:16,500
That's what really stands out to me
about Marc-André's journey.

1036
01:27:18,250 --> 01:27:21,630
It's about what is it that you would do

1037
01:27:21,750 --> 01:27:26,970
if you were able to overcome
the things that you see as limitations

1038
01:27:27,090 --> 01:27:29,890
or the things that you're afraid of?

1039
01:27:30,010 --> 01:27:31,800
You know, what would you do?