[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Since Tiffany isn't here this week,
we're having to adapt the competition.
Normally, you'd be climbing to stay in the competition,
but today, the top two from the main climb
will be going head to head, and the winner
will be safe from elimination
in the next round of competition.
- Oh.
- Come on, Cat.
- Get it, Cat.
- He's two draws from the anchors right now.
- The upper section right there--
it gets a little bit steeper.
- Mm-hmm. Oof.
- You see that hold's gonna run out right there.
- Yeah.
Now he just has to figure out
how to get his body in the right position
to be able to clip that last anchor.
He's so close.
Hopefully he can reach it.
- He might be able to just clip from there.
- It looks a little out of his reach.
♪ ♪
If he moves a little taller, he could just clip from there.
If he falls right here, this would be
so devastating for him.
- I'm so stuck.
♪ ♪
- He's gotta clip it. He's almost there.
♪ ♪
- Come on, Cat.
♪ ♪
- Take. [cast cheers]
- Nice job, Cat.
Good fight.
- That was awesome. - Oh, my God.
- That was great, huh?
- Nice job, Cat.
- That was so sick.
- [panting]
- Completely horizontal?
Dude, that was rad.
That was so sick.
- That was awesome.
♪ ♪
- I felt like I was gonna fall so many different times,
and just to be able to fight and stick through it,
and especially at the top, just like, inch by inch,
make my way.
I don't know if it's redemption or not
or if it's just like I'm really proud of it.
♪ ♪
- It's gotta feel good, huh? - Yeah.
Whoo-hoo.
- I mean, he deserves it!
I mean, he climbed really well. - For sure.
That was a great climb.
- Seriously, in my 15 years of climbing,
I have never seen anything like that.
- Okay. Can I go?
I'm just gonna jog quickly.
- So needless to say, the pressure is on.
- The pressure is seriously on for Alice now.
We're getting really close to the end of this whole thing,
so to have the safety from elimination
in the next round of competition is really huge.
- I just have a feeling she's gonna get to the top,
which means I'm gonna have to get on it again,
and I cannot do that while pumped.
- You know, on the arete,
Alice just kind of went up it, did her thing.
So I kind of learned never to underestimate
what she might pull off.
- Oh, my God. - It's just for fun.
- It is. - It's just for fun.
- It is just for fun.
- Alice, are you ready?
- I'm ready.
- All right.
Begin climbing now.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Come on.
- She already just kind of slipped.
- Find your feet.
Find your feet. Good.
Come on.
- This bottom part, I think, is gonna be significantly
more difficult for her.
- Come on.
You can do this.
Come on. You can do it.
Take your time.
Come on.
Come on, Alice.
Come on. You can do it.
- Oh!
- Oh.
- Whoo. - Oh, no.
- Oh!
- Well... you're safe.
- You're safe, right, and you won't climb again,
so, like... - Give me some of that.
- Bow.
- Hell, yeah. - Fuck yeah.
- It looked like her foot slipped, like her heel
kind of slipped up.
- Good try.
- Whatever.
- Falling off, like, so close to the bottom,
like, felt pretty much the same as it did in Majorca.
Like, I was too pumped with adrenaline.
Like, I couldn't really focus.
So I definitely made mistakes.
- I wish--I really wish you were able
to feel the top. Fucking go.
- It's all right. - Good effort.
- Kind of an uneventful try.
- That's frustrating. - Yeah.
I feel like Alice is going to be really hard on herself
about this because she was definitely capable
of climbing the route.
So I hope she doesn't let this define her
and is able to work through it and show us
some great climbing next round.
It's really exciting to watch you both climb.
Congratulations, Cat, again.
- Yeah, Cat, that was amazing. - Thank you.
- You've secured the pass through the next round
of competition, so you'll just get to enjoy the climbing
without any pressure.
[laughs]
- Good job. That was super proud.
- Yeah, really exciting.
- As climbers, we adapt to the unknown
so we can face new challenges with courage and trust.
That trust will be put to the test
in the next leg of this competition
as these climbers venture even further
into the great expanse of Wadi Rum.
♪ ♪
[serene music]
♪ ♪
Being on Wadi Rum-- it's pretty cool, man.
I mean, we're, like, giving these guys a huge opportunity.
I want to just keep pushing these guys
out of their comfort zone, you know?
We're just, like--wanna keep throwing them
into new situations, keep testing them in new ways.
And so next thing we got on the list is,
like, we gotta put them on a crack climb.
- I think this is gonna be the most scariest part for me.
I'm absolutely terrified of trad climbing.
- Not your favorite thing. - Not my favorite thing.
- Not really my favorite thing.
- I always feel like I'm gonna break the rock.
I don't trust me.
- Trad, or traditional, climbing is placing
your own protection in the rock
using these cams or other types of devices.
Back in the day, before they had bolts and fixed anchors,
you know, the only way to get up rock faces
was climbing the cracks.
People would be climbing up these mountains
and basically trying to find ways of protecting themselves,
so they would usually wedge things in the crack.
So that's really where
the origins of climbing come from.
Trad climbing, you know, placing your own gear,
climbing cracks, can be totally safe when it's done properly.
You really have to know how to place things well
to be able to trust those pieces.
If you don't know how to place them properly,
they could easily pop out,
and you could fall to your death.
I think this is gonna be one of the most challenging
and potentially most dangerous climbs
they've done on this whole trip.
- This, for me, is like terror.
- Oh, yeah, dude.
Trad climb is dangerous, man.
Like, those things do rip out,
especially if you don't know
how to place them properly, especially...
- On sandstone. - On soft sandstone.
- This is the part where I would absolutely fail.
- I think it's gonna throw them for a loop,
man, I mean, and that's the idea.
If this is a competition to see who's
gonna be the most well-rounded climber,
it's like, we've gotta throw a crack in there.
- Absolutely.
♪ ♪
- The warm-up, I think, would be like something
around these corners, man.
- This is gonna be good. - Yeah.
- I'm happy that we're here, man.
- Same.
- 'Cause I don't know about you,
but I was, like, nervous.
First on the incline, you know, just
going against you
because fucking love you, man.
It's just--you know? - Yeah.
It's the first time either of us
have been in this position. - Yeah.
Tiff wasn't with us in the last week,
and we couldn't figure out how it was gonna work out
in a way that would be fair to her
and fair to all of us.
So having the non-elimination round
last week turned out to be, like, a great surprise,
and it was definitely a wake-up call for me.
There was a lot of things to learn from that experience
for sure, man. - Seriously.
- For this week, I'm just gonna be like, you know,
a little bit more centered and just be trying
really hard towards it, you know,
'cause it's a blessing just being here.
It's a good reminder for us both, you know, to just--
- Keep it tender. - Keep it tender.
Keep it with the tiny holds.
At least they don't break.
You know, you can just--
- No!
- Are you kidding me?
- What? - What?
Bring it in. - Ah!
You made it. - Oh!
- Fuck, yeah.
- Welcome.
- Tiff. - Right?
- Here's everyone. Go. Go.
- Go. Go. Go. [laughter]
- Yeah.
- I'm very grateful to be out here,
sitting in this, seeing this, feeling this.
Having COVID, I'd been knocked down pretty hard
in a way that I wasn't expecting.
I just kept holding on to the notion and the idea
that this isn't entirely over for me.
- How are you feeling, like, health-wise, like?
- I'm tired. - Yeah.
- But I'm just like...
- Ready to go? - I'm going.
I just want to be here
and be here with you
and have a--
I just want to touch this and--and see
what you guys have been doing.
- Touch it, but be careful.
- Don't break things. - It breaks.
- I've been immobile.
I am concerned
about what my fitness is gonna be like,
and how dramatically have I fallen off the playing field?
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- I set up a little demonstration
here for you guys. - Oh.
- Tiffany, we're really happy to have you with us again.
- Thank you so much.
- I wanna just, like, go through this
with you guys a little bit.
What we're gonna focus on this week
is trad climbing.
- Spice. - Oh, man.
- Placing your gear, putting your hands in the cracks.
Your lives are in your hands
when you climb with natural protection.
This is gonna be a really new experience
for some of you guys.
And it really is super important
to know how to place these things properly,
especially in this soft sandstone.
You're gonna be mostly just be placing camming devices.
You want to place them-- the sweet spot
is kind of, like, halfway.
That's kind of their ideal position.
So the more you pull out,
the more they push out on the crack.
So really, what we're gonna focus on here
is making good decisions,
and when you do have to take risks,
you make calculated risks.
- Trad climbing can be dangerous.
You may place the protection, but that doesn't mean
that it's going to hold.
There's a term called zippering,
where you take a fall
and everything just pop, pop, pop, pop--
pops out like a zipper, and you hit the ground.
And more times than not, it's not gonna end well.
- So, Deco, you want to do the honors, man?
See if you can find some good placement for those.
- Oh, yeah.
Think I've done trad climbing
maybe three times in my life.
I don't know, maybe 10 years is the last time I trad climbed.
So it's gonna be a funky experience, man.
I have almost zero experience trad climbing,
to be completely honest.
I actually need to learn
how to use the gear properly
and make sure that I have
a little bit more experience on it.
- ...really important points, you know.
Like, you want to put the cam in in the direction
that you would be weighting it, so if you were to fall.
So that's why it's nice to place it
kind of at an angle.
In theory, it will hold, but the cam
can also move quite a bit
if you place it in the wrong direction.
Once you know how to identify what a good placement is,
then you can, you know, actually be quite confident
in all of this.
- I don't like trad climbing at all.
[laughs] So there is definitely a fear component
when I'm trad climbing.
And, like, I know climbing is always risky,
but, like, it just seemed like so much extra risk.
- It's a very empowering thing
that you can be able to come up to, like, a virgin climb,
like this crack.
And you don't need any bolts.
You can just come in and kind of, like, regulate
your own safety, right?
So yeah, you're gonna get a little bit more practice
before the main climb.
But yeah, on this trad climbing adventure.
Yeah, it's gonna be good.
- I'm very apprehensive about trad climbing.
I really do hope, in this context,
that this will be a reinforcing experience,
trying to make good decisions,
and, first and foremost, being safe,
and that's the most important thing.
- Yeah. How do you feel about it?
- I'm afraid. I had that one friend
who passed away,
and after that, I honestly just avoided it.
I had a friend pass away trad climbing.
She had three pieces of gear in,
and all of them popped,
and she just hit the ground, and that was it.
So...
I was, like, trying to take steps, you know,
towards, like, not being afraid,
and especially because it's just all around.
Like, in Chicago, I could avoid it,
but in Utah, like, everyone trad climbs.
When she passed away,
I just could never imagine myself trad climbing
because so many things can go wrong, and that's scary.
Like, it's really scary to just have that much loss
in, like, a second.
You know, like, I've been trying
to put myself into it, but I struggle, too,
'cause at home, I'm like, "Okay, I should go do it,"
but then I'm like,
"Oh, I don't want to 'cause it's scary."
It's so overwhelming to just think like, that's a piece
of gear that could pop out.
I don't know if I put that in great.
Like, it's hard to, like, be able
to just push that thought away
and focus on just the climbing.
- When you get into that competitive mind space,
which is, like, very focused and very calm,
you're able to kind of juggle good-decision making,
and you know, as well as, like, moving yourself
like, physically
and pushing yourself physically.
So I have lots of faith.
- Yeah.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Yeah, so here we are.
Here's that crack I've been telling you about.
♪ ♪
- It's beautiful. - Beaut.
- [laughs]
- When I first saw the main climb,
I was 100% nervous.
I was really scared.
- There's, like, a pretty well-defined crux,
I think, you know.
- Looking at the climb, everyone else is saying,
like "Oh," like, "I can tell where the crux is."
I literally couldn't tell at all.
Looking at a crack line for me is just like, "Huh."
- I'm just having this moment
where I'm going...
[whispering] I really don't have
a bloody clue what I'm doing.
- I mean, I don't, either.
- I feel like I have a lot
of nervous anticipation,
and I just don't really want it
to get worse.
- For our main climb, we chose this really splitter crack,
and it's kind of like an open book
with a really clean seam in the back.
Not really anything for your hands and feet
outside of the cracks, so you actually just
have to stick your hand in the crack and flex
so it kind of wedges your hand in the crack.
That is a hand jam.
It's very technical.
These guys know how to do it properly,
but it is a very different style of climbing.
It's all about jamming your hand in the crack
and wedging it in there versus holding on to something.
On top of that, they will be placing their own gear.
So it's gonna be one of the most mentally challenging
climbs so far.
I just want to remind you, this is
one of the most serious climbs
we've done on this entire trip.
You know, your life is in your own hands.
Whether or not you get to the top,
let's just make sure
we all get home in one piece.
[soft suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
The main climb is very vertical.
Then there is a section about halfway up
that's super-continuous,
where you'll be forced to climb in the crack
for multiple moves without any rests.
This is the most painful and exhausting part
of the entire climb.
Near the top of the route, there are some solid holds,
but you're gonna need to be super careful
to not rush and make proper placements of your gear
in order to reach the final anchor point.
- Because no one went home last week,
there will be a double elimination
this round.
The person who finishes last
on the main climb
will be going home.
And then the climbers that end up fourth and fifth
on the main climb will go into an elimination climb
later this week.
- Well, that just got really heavy.
- As you all know, Cat is safe from elimination this week.
Take all your gear, and we'll start getting you all
warmed up and ready to climb.
- Best of luck, guys.
♪ ♪
- Have some fun.
I mean, it's all just rock climbing.
That's what we do for fun, isn't it?
- That's true.
- You got this.
- Okay.
- Robyn--I think she was feeling quite anxious.
Be careful up there.
- I will.
Going!
- That's her battle.
You know, she's battling against herself.
- It's definitely a lot to be dealing with...
- Nice, Robyn. - Nice, Robyn.
- Trying to climb competitively and well
and perform while also trying to deal with, like, my fear
and the past.
I'm just trying not think about it too much.
- She obviously has the strength to do this,
but we'll see how it goes for her
with the crack technique.
- She already, on this first flake,
was trying to avoid
stepping in the crack.
- Come on, Rob.
She's starting the most continuous section
of the route.
- Where you're, like, in the crack,
or if you're refusing to be in the crack,
you're standing on small feet
that could go at any minute.
[dramatic music]
Without having a lot of trad climbing experience,
if you're unsure about your gear placements,
you better be sure about your crack climbing.
That's when you really need to trust your movement
and trust your feet and stay calm
to hopefully make as good of placements
as you can in a situation
so that you don't have a catastrophic event happen.
- It's stuck.
- Oh, it looks like it might be stuck, actually.
- Come on, Rob, you got this.
- I'm scared.
I just have, like, a weight on my chest.
I'm kind of just hoping that my competitive side takes over,
as opposed to, like, freaking out.
I can do this.
I can do it.
♪ ♪
- Awesome, Robyn. Come on.
- She's moving through pretty quick.
- Robyn has dealt with some, you know, pretty big fears.
- In the back of her mind, she's probably thinking
about her friend that she lost.
- [grunts]
- It's not just a physical moment for her.
It's also a very emotional moment.
♪ ♪
She needs to place one more piece of gear
here before she gets up to the anchor.
She's super close to it, but a fall here--
with where her last piece was,
that would be a really big fall.
♪ ♪
- Awesome.
Finish it off.
- So good. Come on.
- You can take.
- There we go. Just one on.
Nice job! - Thank you.
- Good job. - Good job, Robyn.
- She's tired.
Nailed it. - Okay.
[crying]
I did it.
- You did so good.
- That was amazing, Rob.
- It was actually really fun.
- Awesome job, Robyn.
- Good job, Robyn.
- I was just so stressed all day long,
and then, like, I finally did it
and I was just like, "Oh, my God."
I think my friend who passed away--
she would be really proud.
She would not have wanted people
to avoid trad climbing because of what happened to her.
Trad climbing brought her a lot of joy.
- Fuck, Rob. You okay?
You're balanced? - Yeah.
- All right.
I'll give you some slack.
Give me a fucking hug.
- Thank you. [indistinct]
It was really fun.
Now you're gonna kill it.
- I'm gonna try.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Yeah, Deco, you got it, dude.
- I think it's interesting, you know?
I mean, after what happened
last time on the arete,
you know, Deco broke a hold,
and he wasn't taking it
as seriously as he should have. - Mm-hmm.
- You know, luckily, he didn't have to go
to the elimination round. - Mm-hmm.
- It's a good, like, reality check, right?
- I feel like he's already expended
so much energy on this lower section,
and this isn't even the hard part.
He's got so much climbing to do still.
- This is like a first dose of, like, proper crack climbing
right there. You can use so much energy...
- Exactly. - Just kind of thrashing
your way up the crack.
- [exhales heavily]
- Oh, wow, he's definitely in trouble.
- One of the key things in climbing
is being able to stay calm and breathe.
It's very easy to panic and not know where to go
and start making bad decisions.
I'm just hoping he, like, gets into his rhythm.
- A good flow, yeah.
♪ ♪
- Nice, Deco.
Nice, dude. Come on.
- I mean, he's really not that far from the top now.
He needs to place another piece.
Oh, here he goes.
That piece is important.
- Stick with it.
- [grunts]
Whew!
- Come on, dude. - Clip the chain.
Clip the chain.
- Fuck, yeah.
[all cheering] - Yeah, dude!
- Nice job, Deco.
- Whew! - That was stressful.
- Fuck, yeah.
Whoo.
That was a little bit below average, probably,
but it was very good for me.
Whoo.
Fuck, crack climbing is hard, man.
I don't know how you do it.
It hurts, man.
- Let's go, Alice.
- If everyone ends up getting at the top of this,
then it's actually gonna come down to time.
- It would be a huge factor.
- You can see just the style of crack climbing.
She's just straight in hand-jamming right there.
When you're climbing on a face and your fingers
and your arms get, you know, too pumped to hold on,
you fall.
- Come on, Alice. - Keep at it.
Keep at it. - Come on.
- And when you're crack climbing,
you can find ways to just keep
wedging your appendages
into the crack. - Body parts in, yeah.
- And you kind of hang off the bones.
You can get more and more pumped.
- Whoo! - [sighs]
Oh, God!
- Really good, Dom.
- He's currently avoiding the crack,
which is gonna pump him up.
The biggest physical challenge for the climbers
is gonna be figuring out how to climb in the crack.
- Oh.
- There's a lot of pain tolerance involved
in hanging from hand jams,
so they'll have to figure out
how long they want to be in pain.
How important is this to them?
How badly do they want to be doing well
in this competition?
- Fuck, yeah.
- Nice job. - Go Dom!
- That being said, Cat has really small hands,
so, like, I think it's gonna be pretty challenging for him.
- And if they choose not to climb in the crack,
that will be quite the struggle
and it'll make the route become a lot harder.
He's getting really close.
I think he'll get it done.
- Yeah! [cheering]
- Good job. - Yeah, Cat.
- Oh, it's so pretty.
- Everybody has topped so far.
It's pretty obvious that it's gonna come down to speed.
- I've been quite unwell.
I haven't climbed in nearly three weeks.
And I don't know where I stand with myself physically.
And I obviously have never done this before, ever,
so this is very much out of my comfort zone.
We'll see how it goes.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- The added pressure of going last
and seeing that the five people before you topped
is a real thing.
Like, you know that there is no choice but to top.
Otherwise, you're going home right after this.
- That's not to her advantage, but you know,
she's pulled it out of the hat
on multiple occasions, you know.
So yeah, it's gonna be interesting.
- I feel like, for her,
always the biggest fear is getting hurt.
So she's really gonna need to trust herself
and trust the placements.
♪ ♪
- One jam at a time.
You got this.
- We believe in you, Tiff.
Stay strong. Stay present.
- Good. Good moving.
Come on.
♪ ♪
- [quavers]
- Looks like she's having some serious doubts now.
- Yeah.
I think she's a little scared.
♪ ♪
Right now, it looks like she's trying
to stay more on the face. - This is kind of, like,
right where they are confronted
with, "All right, I have to just embrace this
as a pure crack climb."
- Mm-hmm.
♪ ♪
- Come on. You're almost there.
There.
♪ ♪
- She needs to figure out how to jam in there with her feet.
- I just don't think I can.
[grunts]
- You're okay.
- I mean it. Come on.
You got this. - Come on, Tiff.
- Come on, you got this. - Come on, Tiffany.
- Come on.
You're almost there.
There. Good.
- Here we go.
Here we go. - Yeah, Tiff!
- Come on.
[ringing noise]
[muffled voices]
- Sorry, I'm taking. - Come on!
- Sorry. - I got you.
- [panting]
[moody music]
♪ ♪
- Well...
- [grunts]
- You did really well. - I did?
- You did. You did really well.
- I just didn't know how to make it work.
- Yeah. - I didn't know how to...
I didn't know how to do it. - Yeah.
It's hard to do stuff when you don't know how to do.
It sucks so hard that Tiffany's going home
because we just got her back,
and it really sucks that it happened the way that it did.
But I'm so proud of her.
She pushed as hard as she could.
You're safe. You're on the ground.
- I know. - You're on the ground
in one piece, and you're safe.
I know you're not on the ground
the way that you want to be on the ground.
- Yeah. - I think you did really good.
♪ ♪
- It was so great to see all of you up there,
and you all handled the pressure so well.
And it was awesome to see some of you
really find your groove with the jams,
and then also others find a way through the jams
without really using as many as they needed.
[laughter]
- Yeah. [indistinct]
- Yeah, so...
Tiffany, we're sad to see you go,
but thank you so much for fighting out there.
- Good effort up there.
- Thank you so very much.
- Back. - I know.
- [laughs]
- You will continue to do great things.
And for the rest of you, it was so awesome
to see you all top out the route.
But because that happened,
it ended up coming down to time.
And the person who had the fastest time today
was Robyn.
[all cheer]
- I told you, Robyn.
- You jammed the shit out of it!
- So the two people that will be going head to head
in the elimination climb will be Deco and Dom.
- Once again.
- And on the bright side, I mean, you guys
get to climb again Wadi Rum.
- This is true. - Totally.
- We've got an epic climb set up for you guys,
so it's gonna be good.
- Hey! - ...where you come.
- Hey.
- I have so many emotions right now.
It's not the result that I wanted.
It's not the climbing that I wanted to produce.
But I tried as hard as I could.
It just proved to be sort of a step too far.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- If you feel like you're falling, just roll with it.
[laughter]
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
[camels groaning]
- Hi.
[laughter] - Oh, Lord.
Ah! Jesus!
Okay.
- Dude.
- This is some bucket list shit
that I didn't know was on my bucket list.
- I know!
[flatulence]
- Now was that you, Deco, or the camel?
- Dude, look at this.
- Look at the shadows. - Look at the shadows.
- I know! - So cute.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Now we're out here.
- We're out here.
- Do you guys want some tea?
- Oh, heck yeah. - Let's get this going.
- [sighs]
- I think there's only one thing
that would make this moment just that much better.
It's like the sweet, velvety chocolate-ness of a Twix.
[laughter]
- Maybe, like, Tiffany being here.
- Yeah. - Oh, yeah.
That would be sweet. - That too.
- That would be nice. - I don't know about you guys,
but I will definitely remember this forever.
- Regardless of what happens tomorrow,
like, I'm psyched to be here with you all.
- Back in the elimination round
with Deco again,
and it is not a good feeling.
And, you know, I had a conversation with myself,
like, "Do you want to be here or not?"
Yeah. It's like, "All right.
Get your shit together. Let's keep it going."
Coming here, I didn't think that I had
what it takes to make it this far,
you know, and I realize that's not what it's about.
It's about simply providing something
very inspiring to the people closest to me
and the climbing community at large.
My little sisters and their friends,
like--you know, he's in the-- in the literal Middle East,
doing something so like, like crazy.
It's like maybe I can try out for the dance team,
or you know?
Like, it doesn't have to just be
about rock climbing specifically.
It's just about breaking through perceived barriers.
It is very important for me to be
a good role model to my community.
African-Americans are often pigeonholed
into very stereotypical roles.
While I am an athlete,
you know, I'm not a basketball player.
I'm not a football player.
Some kid, you know, they're looking for something
to put that energy into, and just to let them know,
like, we can do this.
And that's what gives me motivation
to give the best effort I can every day,
just letting people know that you can follow your own path.
It's a beautiful thing to be a part of.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Welcome to this beautiful crack.
It's gonna be your elimination climb.
This is an off-width climb.
On the main climb, you guys were, you know, hand-jamming.
This time, you guys are gonna be jamming
with your entire body on this thing.
This is gonna be one of the most difficult climbs
you've ever done, perhaps,
in your entire climbing career. Get psyched.
You know, this is gonna be a huge battle.
- Came here to step outside the comfort zone,
and here it is.
It'll be good.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- The elimination climb is 125 feet long.
That's about 40 feet higher than the main climb.
The first section of the climb
is very straight in-crack climbing
where you'll have to use hand and foot jams
to get up the crack.
Halfway up the climb, the crack will begin
to get wider and wider until you reach
the off-width section.
Here, you're gonna have to wedge your entire body
into the crack and wiggle your way up it
to reach the ledge, which will lead you
to the top of the climb.
I think it's really gonna put these guys
way far out of their comfort zone.
Excruciating, gnarly, kind of terrifying forms
of climbing, because you're not even
holding on with your hands.
You're just, like, trying to, like, wedge
your entire body, and it's really uncomfortable,
and it's really hard to gain upward motion.
I don't think either of them have ever climbed
anything quite like this,
so it could go either way.
- So for this elimination climb,
you will be required to place gear on this route again.
So, hopefully, you learned a bit from the main climb.
It's a little different this time
with it being an off-width
and how you're gonna have to navigate
your way up the route.
So, Dom, you performed better
than Deco in the main climb,
so you're gonna get to choose
when you want to climb today.
So do you have an idea?
- Yeah, I'm actually gonna go first.
- Awesome. Best of luck.
Fight hard.
- Whoa.
- Go, Dominic.
- Come on, Dom, you got this.
- Breathe...
- Choosing to go first--
it's very, like, kind of samurai,
you know, like, just, like basically accepting your fate
and going for it.
- To get into this crack is actually
much more of a straight in crack
than what they climbed on the main climb.
- Nice, Dom! - Nice.
Come on, Dom.
- But, you know, right now, they're just--
it's just hand jams,
but it's starting to get wider
and wider and wider
until it literally swallows up
his entire body.
- Good.
Just a little bit at a time.
- You got this, Dom.
- So now he's getting into the off-width part.
This is the part that's really exhausting,
but you don't want to rush it and make a slip-up.
♪ ♪
This is definitely, like, a critical spot right here.
- He could easily just fall out the crack completely
if he starts to panic.
- Oh, fuck.
- Come on, Dom.
You got this, brother. Come on.
- Oh, there he goes.
- Just to have a bit more protection.
Yeah, Dom.
- Nice, Dom.
This is really tricky to clip right here.
- Very tricky,
but he might be able to.
♪ ♪
Really good, Dom.
- He's climbing much more solid than on the main climb.
He looks like he knows what he's doing.
- He really does. I think he's crushing it.
♪ ♪
- Nice, Dom. Come on.
- I mean, he's literally
a couple feet from the top now.
And right now, what he's having to do
is figure out where he can place
one of his last pieces
just to have a bit more protection
before going to the top
and getting to the anchors.
Just got to stay in that crack.
- He's out. - Oh, he's off the crack now.
He's on the face now.
- He's on the face. - He was fully in there,
and then now he's off.
- Only part that's-- what's he doing?
Oh, God.
- There's so much rope drag.
- He's trying to manage it a bit
and readjust that last placement.
♪ ♪
- You're almost there, brother.
He's crushing it.
♪ ♪
- Yeah! - Come on, Dom.
Yeah.
[cheering]
- Way to go, Dom.
That was awesome.
- Nice, dude.
- Oh, my gosh. - That was epic.
- That was amazing.
I was so nervous.
- You crusher.
- No matter what, I feel proud of the way that I climbed.
And it was a battle.
Fortunately, I was able to see myself to the top.
That was a fucking battle.
- Yeah. - What's his time?
- 28, 28:41. - Wow.
- That was super smooth.
- Wow. - [exhales deeply]
- My palms are so sweaty. - I know.
That was scary. - Jeez.
- I've never done an off-width in my life,
and Dom showed me that it's not impossible, you know?
You just have to really hustle your way through it.
You know, warrior mode, and send that thing
because it looks amazing.
Just one shot, baby.
Let's see if Deco can get
to the top of that thing.
[suspenseful electronic music]
♪ ♪
- Take your time, Deco. You got this.
- Going into elimination climb against Dom--
it's pretty sad, you know?
It's one of those things.
I can't really control
how this plays out.
But if I can be completely honest with you,
I'm going against myself.
And I don't feel bad if this is my end, you know?
But I would feel bad if I wasn't going 100%.
- I think he's very focused.
He knows this is the moment of truth for him.
He only has one chance.
Like, he has to do this faster than Dom.
Nice, Deco. You got this, man.
♪ ♪
- He looks like he's already jamming a lot better
with his hand jams than he did on the main climb.
♪ ♪
- Dude, he's such a fucking boss.
Like, he literally didn't know how to hand jam,
like, last week. - I know, and, like...
♪ ♪
- He is entering into the really crux-y part
where it gets, like, full-on off-width.
So if he's already going into it tired,
you can tell he's, like, already got
like a full body pump going.
- [grunting]
- Yeah, Deco. Good job, man.
- Nice, Deco.
Come on, you got this.
- That's it, come on. - Come on, Deco.
- [roars] - Yeah.
- Come on, Deco. Oh, look, he's able
to get in a little bit more.
- Whoo!
♪ ♪
Oh, fuck.
- Yeah, this is where the feet get sandy.
- Oh, fuck.
- I think the crack is getting smaller
and he's not gonna be able to fit in there anymore.
- Exactly. - And now he's facing
the wrong direction, so...
[dramatic music]
- You got it, dude.
- [groans]
- Oh, look, he turned himself around again.
Nice, Deco.
- Nice, dude.
- You got it, Deco. That's it.
Come on. - Get in.
It's gonna end up being, like,
pretty close.
- You can do it! - Deep, dude.
[dramatic music]
- Come on, careful.
- Yeah. - Whoo!
- Yes, Deco. [cheers]
- Yeah, Deco.
[all cheering]
- Nice job.
- Oh, man. - That was epic.
- Yeah.
- What was his time? - 34:57.
- There's a lot of, like, dignity,
the way he's going out, you know?
- Yeah. - Of course, you know,
Dom is gonna be the climber going to the next round,
but I think
Deco ended on a high note. - Yeah.
- I mean, look, he's up there, taking this all in.
- I feel like I did try my best.
I did, like, fucking endured as much as I could, you know?
- That's a lot of blood on the wall.
- There was definitely moments
I thought I wasn't gonna succeed,
but I just kept fighting and kept fighting
and I kept fighting, and eventually,
I was on the top,
clipping the chains.
I felt such a relief.
- Oh, my God! - Never give up, man.
Keep on fighting.
Sometimes life can surprise you in a very good way,
and you find yourself on top of the world.
- I've never seen you look exhausted like this.
- Yeah? - Are you okay?
- You look all peaceful. - Yeah.
- Even though Deco did get eliminated,
it was a great way for him to leave.
He tried harder than he had,
you know, this entire competition.
He managed to get up without any falls.
So I was really proud of him.
- Come on. Bring it in.
I feel that I've just grown so much.
You know, I conquered my fear of performance,
my fear of being vulnerable, my fear of,
you know, stepping out of my comfort zone.
And I feel like I'm gonna be going back home
knowing myself much more.
[sighs]
♪ ♪
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- As climbers,
when we face our fears and trust in ourselves,
we discover we're stronger than we ever imagined.
We move on from the past and look to a new summit
in the distance.
And in climbing, sometimes you can't reach that summit alone.
You guys are gonna be climbing in pairs.
- Okay. - Let's get it.
♪ ♪
- This formation is called Aguja Roja.
- Whoa. - Okay.
- Returning to Spain, the climbers will team up...
- All right, secure. - Holy shenanigans.
- To attempt a multi-pitch climb,
their highest route yet.
- Got a twisty. Hold on, hold on, hold on.
- He is clearly on a mission.
- Rock.
- Oh, Lord.
- Welcome back to Majorca.
But only three climbers
will return to Majorca,
where this competition began,
where they will have to go face to face
with one of the world's most notorious
deep water solo walls, El Diablo.
- Very good. Come on.
- Hold on!
♪ ♪
- Whoa!
- Who will rise up to The Climb?
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪