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10th Annual New Paltz Climbing Film Festival

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 


 
FESTIVAL FILM MENU

 

2008 Reel Rock Tour

 

This yearfs Reel Rock Film Tour highlights King Lines:Chris Sharmafs Search for the Planetfs Greatest Climbs, which will take audiences globetrotting alongside Chris Sharma-the 25-year old climbing phenomenon-as he discovers and climbs the worldfs most outrageously difficult and beautiful rock climbing formations.

The opening act for King Lines is a highlight showing of Committed, a new film documenting the legendary British appetite for hard and dangerous rock climbing, by filmmakers Dave Brown and Paul Diffley of Hot Aches.

 

Chris Sharma's King Lines                                                                

Chris Sharma is undoubtedly the strongest and most famous rock climber of his time. For the past decade, he has consistently redefined the boundaries of his sport, and, at 25 years old,

the Santa Cruz, California, native embarked on a new quest to seek the planetfs greatest uncharted climbs. His first stop, in September 2006, was off the coast of Mallorca, Spain, where, without a rope, he climbed a spectacular route on a massive rock arch surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea.  This deep water solo tested Sharma time and time again over the course of several visits.  When interviewed during filming in Mallorca, Sharma deemed the route, which he named Es Pontas, more challenging than all the climbs hefd ever done.

 "What makes this climb so difficult is that youfre upside down, youfre hanging on your arms and on your fingertips the whole time," Sharma said. "On top of that the wall is absolutely blank for seven feet. You have to actually just leap through the air and stick another hold."  That critical hold is just the size of three of Sharmafs fingers, and that explosive upward leap, on the underbelly of a steep overhang, is, Sharma said, "a pure, all-four-points, cut-loose dyno. Ifve probably tried that move a hundred times." Every time he missed the one hand-sized pocket, he plummeted 50 feet into the sea below

Sharmafs spectacular first ascent of Es Pontas is just one of the highlights of Chris Sharmafs King Lines.  Film crews follow Sharma to remote jungle plateaus of Venezuela; to stunning, untouched limestone walls of Francefs Gorge du Verdon; to the sea cliffs of Kalymnos in Greece, as well as to Nevada, where Sharma works on a new, difficult breakthrough route. Along the way, Sharma is joined by fellow climbers, BASE jumpers and other adventure junkies, and the film reveals the compellingly private and focused personality of the man on the cutting edge of his amazing sport.

 

More about CHRIS SHARMA

Chris Sharma, of Santa Cruz, California, has dominated the sport of rock climbing for over a decade, since hitting the road full-time at the age of 14. When he was fifteen, he made the first ascent of America's hardest climb (Necessary Evil, in Arizona, rated 5.14c), and started collecting victories at national and international competitions, including World Cup events and the ESPN X-Games. In 2001, Sharma was the first to climb Realization, a landmark route in the south of France considered the worldfs hardest at that time; Sharmafs success there was the first climb that broke the elusive 5.15 difficulty rating barrier. He then spent several years focusing on bouldering, a concentrated and gymnastic form of ropeless climbing on overhanging boulders up to 30 feet tall. He discovered and established some of the world's hardest boulder problems in Switzerland, Arkansas, New Zealand, and India, some of which have never been repeated. On his current worldwide quest-documented in the new movie Chris Sharmafs King Lines-Sharma, now 25, successfully made the first ascent of the magnificent Es Pontas, a climb he considers more difficult than Realization.

Beyond his phenomenal accomplishments, Sharma has always been known for his humility and his spiritual approach to climbing. Raised as a Buddhist, Sharma approaches climbing as a form of meditation, and a way to experience and interact with the natural world. In the summers he runs a series of camps for children, and he started The Sharmafund to introduce climbing to underprivileged youngsters.

 
 
 

 

 

 
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