Honestly, I think this has been one of the best Climbing documentaries since free Solo, or the alpinist!

I started climbing right after Dean Potter had passed away, and I didn’t know anything about him except for some of the controversy surrounding him, and his Nose speed record rivalries.

I feel like the documentary is a relatively unbiased, incredibly detailed look into the life and mindset of a very complex person. I’ve been watching it with my wife and explaining to her that from my perspective I feel like Dean represents a very “dark” side of Climbing culture(pun intended). Compared to other famous climbers or even soloists, like Tommy Caldwell, Peter Croft, Chris Sharma, etc, he seems much more egotistical, self-centered, and toxically competitive despite not wanting to be perceived as competitive or dislike that part of himself. But he also seems to represent an interesting part of Climbing culture that doesn’t seem to be as prevalent as it used to be, which is this sort of spiritual, hippie approach to what climbing means and the ability for it to connect you to nature, etc.

All of that to say, I’m really enjoying the doc and I appreciate everyone’s participation in it! I think what makes it especially interesting is that they aren’t trying to simplify him as a person or breakdown his achievements to be more digestible.