Sometimes its hard to imagine what bouldering was like 20 years ago. Many of the climbers I interact regularly with weren’t even born yet. I was ten years old. Pogs were at thing. Lets hop in the time machine and take in a classic that’s old enough it was sponsored in part by No Fear. Remember No Fear? No? You must be one of those people I was talking about in the second sentence.
Where to begin? This is not your typical modern bouldering film, for any number of reasons. Its a full two and a half minutes before any rocks are shown, and a good seven before anything that I’d qualify as proper climbing footage appears. That opening sequence, showing our heroes Ben Moon and Jerry Moffatt in a bitchin’ blue collar industrial montage, sets the tone. This is a film mostly about the people, not the lines. Large portions of this film capture the strife of the every-man climber; getting forced to go sledding when your Fontainbleau road trip gets snowed out, training indoors, the joys of 1-5-9 campusing, and great views into the very different motivations of our protagonists. It also takes time out to show the community that comes in climbing – group meals and singing along as German powerhouse Kurt Albert strums the guitar and displays a better command of English than most of us. This type of footage would have been relegated to the bonus features or the cutting room floor of a modern flick.
No Fear though, there is climbing to be had! The film makes up for a number of false starts with some great old school Font footage. How old school? I saw crashpads under exactly one problem. The camcorders used are the size of shoeboxes. People smoke nearly constantly. Bleached hair. Sorry, back to climbing related things. As a reminder, its 1996, V15 didn’t exist yet. This film really hinges on Ben Moon chasing the newest super hard line in the forest, Karma.
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| Behold your King Line |
In the end, what are we left with? I’ll file this as the bouldering version of Hard Grit. Undeniably old school. Unapologetically British. A classic that’s worth an hour of your time.
Verdict: Borrow It.
Filmed By: Postive Power Productions Simon Tucker
The Who:
Ben Moon, Jerry Moffatt, Kurt Albert, Sean Myles, Marc Le Menestral,
The Where & What:
Sheffield
-Westside Story
-Breadline
-Ben’s Extension
-Jerry’s Traverse
-Fernhill (Free Solo)
-Ben’s Dyno
Fountainbleau
-La Aero Dynamite
-Hypothese
-Balance
-Carnage Berezina Combo
-Biceps Mou
-Malesherbes Traverse
-Sur Prise
-Carnage
-Le Saux Bacquet
-El Poussah
-Double Dyno
-Douze B
-Alta
-The Piano
-Rubis Sur L’ogle
-Sur Plob De La Vallee De La Mee (OMG a crash pad)
-Charcuterie
-Elephant
-Big Golden
-Karma
-Justin Meserve, keep sit real and brings you the classics. Update your library and educate yourself!
