A story to remember: the Nose speed record

Of course, accepting to climb a wall with the man who had left the gear at home that day is not for everyone. Tommy Caldwell is the co-star of this movie “based on a true story”, The Nose Speed Record. At the other end of the rope, there’s Alex Honnold.

The same 31 pitches and 870 meters of altitude that a regular climber would complete in 4 days, this time are done in just two hours. Everything is accepted. Any technique, every type of climbing, fingers in splits and pendulums. What matters is to break down the previous record, in this case held by Jim Reynolds and Brad Godbright.

The Nose Speed Record tells a story in between madness and technique, because multi pitch speed climbing is nothing more than the right balance of these two elements so important when you have such a difficult challenge in front of you. Perhaps you can guess the feelings you would have when finding yourself just a couple of meters above a quickdraw, with a difficult move still to be done. Well, for the Honnold-Caldwell couple the meters in question are often ten, with a potential fall of twenty. It is not mandatory not to put the gear on, it only slows you down.

There are obviously many other problems, the fact that The Nose is the most famous route can only increase its traffic, adding another component of unpredictability.

“Saying it is totally safe would be a huge lie.”

Preparing a speed record has nothing to do with the preparation of a high grade route; here the technical gesture takes a back seat, giving space to the priority of never falling down. It is not just about fear; a fall far from an anchor is undoubtedly a huge element of risk that has led several climbers to be victims of serious accidents.

And when you find yourself so many, too many meters above an anchor, a component of coldness and concentration that only legends can have comes into play. Honnold, in a certain sense, can be defined as a trained athlete after his famous free solo climb of the Freerider route, but he had not yet come to terms with speed. Tommy Caldwell, from his side, has to deal with a totally new challenge compared to what are the responsibilities of a husband and, above all, of a father. A series of assumptions that have made worthy every single attempt, creating a story to tell.

Reel Rock tells stories. Different stories, all united by the love for the rock. In particular in this fourteenth edition you can appreciate styles and worlds totally different from each other. Seeing three movies so similar but yet so different one after the other makes you think about how climbing has endless facets. From Nina WIliams, a boulder machine and extremely focused on performance, to United States of Joe’s, which instead has a totally different approach. It talks about community. How a group of strange people, presenting themselves with a mattress on their shoulders in a hyper-conservative town in the middle of Utah, can become part of the local community by simply sharing experiences. A story that immediately turns into a metaphor applicable to infinite areas of our personal experiences.

And then The Nose Speed Record, which talks about challenges, teamwork and motivation.

There’s one thing we can be sure about: behind every climber, legend or not, always hides a human being.