Review: 'The Devil's Climb'

It's difficult to imagine a sport that is better suited for coverage in a documentary than extreme (or elite) rock climbing. Aside from just the optics of the challenge, climbers who tackle the most difficult mountains in search of the next accomplishment are an emotionally complicated group of athletes.

You don't decide to free climb hundreds or even thousands of feet up some foreboding mountain without also have some uniquely personal demons to battle as well. And that internal tension between accomplishment and internal conflicts can make for a fascinating story.

The new National Geographic documentary The Devil's Climb follows the efforts of veteran rock climbers Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold as they tackle one of the most dangerous mountains in North America, Alaska's Devil's Thumb. It's the highest peak in a group of incredibly dangerous mountains and in the case of the Devil's Thumb, more than one team has died attempting to climb it's avalanche-prone North Face.

But The Devil's Climb is as much about the relationship between Caldwell and Honnold as it is the effort to successfully climb the mountain. Caldwell is in his forties and is struggling to recover from a serious Achilles injury that threatens to end his climbing career. He sees the Devil's Thumb as both a challenge worth pursuing and the opportunity to announce to the climbing world that he's back.



Honnold is 39 and well-known to the general public thanks to a series of stunning climbing accomplishments and the success of the 2018 biographical documentary Free Solo, which won an Academy Award. He's arguably the sport's biggest superstar but he's also close friends with Caldwell. During the documentary, he explains that as a young rock climber he was inspired by Caldwell and over the years they have partnered up on some memorable climbs, including a 2015 ascent of a series of peaks in Patagonia over five days. Honnold is fascinated by the thought of tackling the Devil's Thumb. But he mostly participates in this effort because he wants to support Caldwell's comeback effort.

And in the early going, it's not clear that Caldwell is going to have the stamina or ability to complete the climb. As a way of testing himself, he convinces Honnold to travel from Colorado to Alaska via a 2,000-mile bike ride over 50 days. And once the road runs out, they'll take a boat as close as they can to the mountain chain and walk in from there. It's a marked difference from the approach taken by most teams, who simply helicopter to the mountain.

I won't give away what happens once they reach the Devil's Thumb, but to be honest, much of what leads up to it is as emotionally compelling as the climb attempt. Both men struggle with why they are there and what their relationship might be. Caldwell is more cautious and concerned about his stamina. And he is gregarious in a way that is the polar opposite of Honnold, who admits that he is emotionally closed off in a fashion that he struggles with. He reveals that he never even hugged someone until he was in the twenties. He says he uses the darkness in him as a way to push himself as hard as he can to conquer new challenges, although he also increasingly recognizes that isn't healthy.



One of my favorite moments in the documentary comes during the duo's cross-country bike ride, when they come across a group of hikers on a trail. The group instantly recognize Honnold and swarm him while Caldwell sits on his bike off to the side. He eventually takes off by himself down the road and the reaction to that moment from both of them really helps define the complicated nature of their relationship.

The Devil's Climb includes the spectacular footage you would expect to see in a documentary about the attempt to climb an elite mountain. But it's as much about the nuanced friendship between two men who are equal parts competitors and opposing sides of the same coin.

The Devil's Climb premieres Thursday, October 17th, 2024 on National Geographic, and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.