The Alpinist

The Alpinist follows Canadian climber Marc-André Leclerc, a young man who chooses to climb alone, far from the attention that the sport increasingly attracts. Working in remote alpine terrain, he completes some of the boldest solo ascents ever recorded, with no camera crew, no rope and no room for error. The film also accompanies him to Patagonia, where he pursues first winter solo ascents on the Torre Egger. Peter Mortimer begins by waiting at the base of a British Columbia cliff, hoping the climber will come down and talk to him, while Leclerc would rather return to the forest where he lives in a tent with his partner, Brette Harrington.

Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen directed this documentary, which runs 93 minutes. It is a co-production between Austria, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, made by Universal Pictures, Roadside Attractions, Dogwoof and Red Bull Media House. Alongside Leclerc and Harrington, the film features fellow climbers Alex Honnold and Reinhold Messner as themselves, with archive footage of Ueli Steck and Dean Potter.

Released in February 2021, the film took about 1 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.9/10 from around 17,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.8/10 from 188 votes, indicating a strong response from the audience, though the smaller TMDB sample is more limited.