[dramatic music]
- So far this journey has been incredibly
revealing on so many levels.
I've met professionals who've pushed themselves
and have helped push me--
- Come on, Orlando.
- --in ways that I never thought possible--
It was twisted and locked, and I couldn't get it.
- --emotionally--
- Hold it in.
Good. - [exhales]
Physically and mentally.
But this-- this one--
is probably the one I'm most worried about.
If all goes according to plan,
I'll have climbed a 400-foot tower
in the Utah desert known as Ancient Art,
where I'll be standing at the top of a pinnacle
the size of a pizza box.
* *
[jazzy piano music]
* *
Excited to be here in Red Rocks.
I'm just outside of Vegas, training to climb.
It's amazing actually-- incredibly beautiful.
* *
[wind whistling]
[dramatic music]
* *
Well, what do you know?
You must be Mo. - Hello.
Hi. - [laughs]
- Welcome.
- Wow, that was an entrance.
- Nice to finally meet you.
- I thought I was the one who supposed to make
the kind of cool entrances.
I don't know about this, but that was dope.
- This is about to be you. - Yeah.
- So I hope you're ready, and I hope you're stoked.
- I am.
- Well, first of all, welcome to your first time--
- Thank you. - --outside rock climbing.
So before we get started, I think we should just address
the elephant in the room.
I'm a professional rock climber.
- Yeah.
- I only have one hand.
- Well, I wasn't going to say anything.
- [laughs]
- It's actually-- I think it's a good thing.
I get half-off manicures.
- [laughs]
Maureen, AKA Mo Beck,
was born without a left hand.
But she had a dream of becoming a competitive athlete
and the courage to do it.
She's an adaptive rock climber,
a sport that makes climbing accessible
to people with disabilities.
So then what led you to climbing?
- I went to a really cool Girl Scout camp.
When it came to rock climbing, one of my counselors
told me I could sit it out-- probably too hard for me.
- And you're like--
- Pretty much.
As a 12-year-old does, you know.
- That's awesome.
- Like, yeah, OK, I'll never be able to juggle,
but I think my life-- the way I have it,
and the way I can climb-- is pretty fricking cool.
- Yeah.
Amazing.
To me, Mo embodies so much of what
we should all strive for--
grit, determination, and courage.
- We have a really amazing week together.
I'm stoked.
Today, first day out, stretch those muscles.
And we're going to do a lot of the gear stuff today.
- Great.
- But then in only a week from now,
we're going to be climbing Ancient Art.
[dramatic musical sting]
It's this classic tower in Utah.
You finish on top of a pinnacle with only a room
for one person to stand.
I think most climbers from their first day
outside to something like that, it's maybe
a two- to three-year process.
And we've got a week. - [laughs] Great.
- And I'm not going to lie. It's going to be a hard week.
- Wow, great.
- It's doable, but it's also-- it's still serious.
- Yeah.
- You know, the rope is both a real and symbolic lifeline
between the two of us.
We've just met, and by the end of the day,
my life will be in your hands, and vice versa.
- Yeah.
- So don't drop me; I won't drop you.
- There's a few aspects to this that
are getting my heart racing.
- It sounds like you're a little nervous.
- I mean, yes--
[laughs] Suitably.
- Yeah.
- I had a fall in my 20s that was significant,
and I broke my back.
When I was 20, I fell three stories out of a window,
narrowly escaping death.
My best friend, Kris, was there
and witnessed the whole thing.
I was told I may never walk again.
But somehow I managed to walk out of hospital
after only 13 days, which is why
rock climbing may be the most terrifying challenge yet.
Obviously, the idea of falling is
not something I'm really particularly
enthusiastic about.
- Well, I mean, so you're going to fall this week.
One of my favorite things about climbing--
- Why? Why do I have to fall?
- It sounds scary.
One my favorite thing about climbing is you
have to fail to learn, because when you fall,
it means you're at your limit, and you're
flexing that fear muscle. - That, I like.
I love that concept.
- And I think, by the end of the week,
you won't associate falling with fear.
You're going to associate falling with,
"I have pushed myself to the max."
- That will be the winning moment, literally,
because that's like the whole falling thing
for me is pretty major, because it was
a near-death kind of thing.
- I haven't dropped anybody yet,
so I think it's going to work out.
- Oh, great. - Yeah.
- [laughs]
- I know you've been doing a little bit of prep for this.
What's your training been like?
- Well-- [laughs] Ah.
Rock climbing requires strength,
agility, and flexibility.
A few months ago, I met up with another adaptive climber,
Jake Sanchez, in Los Angeles.
He helped me with some climbing techniques,
so that I would be somewhat prepared to meet Mo.
- Now, I'm going to be spotting you as you fall.
You have a mat. - As I fall?
I don't want to fall.
[grunts]
Part of my training included strengthening my fingers--
[grunts]
--to help me hold on to the rock.
[grunts]
- Just like that. Good.
You got this.
- [grunts] That's no joke.
- All right, you ready? - I'm ready.
Let's go.
The difficulty of a climb is measured on a scale
from 5 to 5.15.
Today we're starting with a 5.4, which, you know,
should be doable.
- To start, we're just going to do single pitch.
- Great.
- So we pretty much go from the ground, top your climb,
and then right back down.
We're not going above this 1-pitch length.
- All right.
So where do I start?
[tense music]
Shit.
- So that could be a good spot to unclip that carabiner.
- Right.
I see.
Oh, yeah, this is really freaky, actually.
OK.
- And the most important thing, especially
when it feels freaky--
- Yeah.
- --is to move slow and breathe deeply.
It's so easy to forget to breathe.
- I have a hard time putting my life in anyone's hands.
So relying on Mo to keep me safe
is definitely outside my comfort zone.
I'm just not looking down.
- Yeah, it's sometimes almost good in a way
to get some tunnel vision.
- Yeah.
There's an element of just finding,
what's the best hold for me here?
- That's the problem-solving.
- Right.
- You're looking confident, though.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
- Well--
- I've seen worse.
- Well, I am an actor.
I'm supposed to make it look like I know what I'm doing.
- [laughs]
* *
This is really beautiful.
- How's the rope feel?
Do you feel me?
- A little, yeah.
- That's that lifeline, though.
You're on it.
- So how do I avoid smashing my shins?
- I typically will keep my feet above the roof,
and I bucket really low.
- So I've got to lean back out more.
- Yeah.
- This is a trust exercise.
Oh, yeah.
- That was it.
- Wow.
- Well done. Proud of you.
You did look good.
- Holy shit.
- [laughs]
- So, for top rope belaying, I pull the slack out, I break,
reach underneath my other hand, and I slide my hand up.
- So it's pull.
- Pull.
- Break.
both: Under, slide.
- There you go.
- And then as she descends,
just you're slowly letting that up.
- And if anything were to happen--
all of a sudden, she starts coming down real fast,
you hold the brake strand and let go of everything else.
- Got it. Got it.
- Don't confuse let go of brake strand,
hold on to anything else.
- This is the most important thing.
I'm never letting go.
- That's the most important thing, mm-hmm.
- Yeah.
- Never, ever, ever, let go of that line.
- That's the bit that I'm afraid about.
- OK, Orlando, on belay?
- On belay. - OK.
Climbing.
- Climbing.
Never let go of that rope, Orlando.
OK, slow down. - OK.
- Sorry.
- No, you're good.
- Climbing is a two-person sport.
Since I'm a novice, Mo is going to need
to put her life in my hands and trust
that I know what I'm doing.
- Little bit of slack.
- OK.
- That's perfect.
- Until she's clipped into an anchor point,
it's on me to catch her if she slips and falls.
Hang on.
- I trust you.
- Nice.
* *
Good job, Orlando. Nice.
- Yeah.
- Nice job, Mo. Yeah.
- Whee-hoo. - Good job.
- Awesome. Wow.
We did it.
I mean, obviously, there's people here,
so it's great for right now.
But in a few days, we're going to be probably
in an environment where it's just me thinking
all this stuff through.
And so I'm just like, my brain's
scrambling a bit to catch up.
- So next, we're going to do multi-pitch,
where I'm going to go up first.
You're going to come up, but I'm going to stay up there.
I'm going to belay you from above.
And then we're going to continue on to the summit.
- OK, say that again.
- [laughs]
- So you're going up.
You'll be up there.
And you're going to be doing what you do on the ground
but up there? - Yeah.
I'm going to build an anchor. - Oh.
That's super strong. - And stand there?
- I'll stand there, and I'll bring you up to me.
That's how you get hundreds and sometimes thousands
of feet off the ground. - Wow.
How high have you been off the ground?
- 2,000 feet was my biggest wall.
- Was it cool?
- It was the Lotus Flower Tower.
- Lotus Flower Tower. - Lotus Flower Tower.
- You know I'm Buddhist, right? - Yeah.
- And my practice is the Lotus.
The Lotus Sutra. - This could actually be--
- The Lotus Flower-- the Lotus Flower Tower!
* *
- When I get up there, I'm going to anchor myself in,
so I'm nice and safe--
I can't fall.
And then I'm going to call down to you, "Off belay!"
- So when you say "off belay," you can't fall.
- Yeah, exactly. I'm anchored.
I'm safe. Trial by fire.
Whoo.
* *
- So now that I have my rope clipped in,
now I'm actually on belay.
So I fell down there.
There was nothing you could do, right?
There's no rope above me or attached to the rock.
Now I'm attached to the rock.
* *
Orlando, off belay.
- OK, so she's good.
So now I'll take this.
Mo, off belay.
* *
- Is that you?
- That's me.
- Awesome.
Orlando, you are on belay.
Climb when ready.
- OK, here I come.
Is that what I say?
Climbing. - Climb on.
* *
- So undo this blue carabiner.
* *
Jesus Christ.
This is crazy.
- OK.
So now, I'm want to get you off belay
so that I can keep climbing.
- Mo climbs while I belay her from below.
- Nice.
And give her a little bit more slack.
- Once she clips into the bolt, or anchor point--
- OK, Orlando, off belay.
- Off belay.
--she switches the ropes--
- OK, Orlando, you are on belay.
- OK.
Here I come.
- --and belays me from the top as I climb upwards.
[grunts]
Then repeat, repeat, and repeat.
- All right.
- I'm safe, right? - Let me off.
Do you want to fall right now?
- Not particularly.
- [laughs]
- Quite a trust exercise.
I mean, I just Mo for the first time,
and she's got my life in her hand,
which is really something else.
I think the other part of it is about having the focus
and concentration, because I've got
to have her life in my hands.
It feels like a lot.
* *
- Today went way better than I expected.
- Fantastic.
I mean, it's crazy, the fact that your life's
hanging on a knot, as opposed to something
that's drilled into the wall.
- Mm-hmm.
- That's a big leap very quickly.
The craziest thing is, we just met.
- Yeah.
- [laughs] And that's the thing--
it's a trust exercise, right?
It's a massive trust exercise.
- We're going fast and big tomorrow,
because today we would go up and come back down.
Tomorrow we're going to be up on the wall
for hours and hours.
We have 600 feet where we're tied together
and depending on each other-- - Yeah, yeah.
- --keeping each other safe.
So, physically, you did a harder climb here
than we're doing tomorrow.
But mentally, it's a mental battle for sure.
- Great. - Tomorrow's big.
I'm not going to lie.
- Ooh.
- It's a big day.
* *
[wind whistling]
[tense music]
* *
So we are ditching the camera crew today,
because we are climbing in a wilderness area,
so no production-style shooting is allowed.
So, this is our the ridge.
- Yeah.
- That's where we finish up.
We'll see what happens.
I think today might be the day where I'm just like,
maybe he'll be a climbing partner for life,
or maybe I will say goodbye at the end of this week.
[laughs]
Climb when ready.
- Climbing, Mo.
- We're looking at your feet.
Perfect.
- The initial ascent, the first climb was like--
it was just this gnarly little overhang.
- How's it going so far?
- So far, it's interesting.
This is way more technical than yesterday.
* *
I just can't believe Mo does this with one hand.
I mean, I'm literally like, this shit's crazy.
She is a super human.
Feeling frustrated and trying to keep cool.
But actually, it's, like, really pissing me off.
It's like you're suddenly climbing
up this treacherous vertical pitch standing on nothing.
And it was pretty stressful.
- What do you do whenever you're
in these moments of just, like, I'm pissed off--
- I'm grateful.
- You're grateful?
OK.
Because like we all have a mantra we go through.
- I say, "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo."
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
- Yeah, so keep saying that as you're
getting frustrated, yeah, as we're going up the mountain.
- Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
It really helped.
It was amazing.
You get in your head, don't you?
You definitely get in your head.
You definitely go, wait, what?
* *
- Nice, Orlando.
- Wow.
- How do you feel about the exposure?
- It's very real, and it's just like--
just keep looking at one--
do one foot in front of the other,
and just stay focused on the task at hand
and try not to overthink it.
[rock music]
- That slope-y sandstone.
- Yeah.
- Whoo.
That's a little headache.
- Coming around that corner?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, that looks hairy as [bleep], to be honest.
- Make sure your toes are pointed--
yeah, like that, exactly how your right
and left foot are planted.
- I'm in my pocket of just do the things that
are right in front of you, which I like.
Just one foot in front of the other when shit goes south.
Just take it a beat at a time and take a deep breath,
and then chant nam-myoho-renge-kyo
and see what happens.
[laughs]
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Day two.
- 500 feet off the deck.
* *
So you have a high right flat hold.
Full body. - Yeah?
- Full body.
- Jesus Christ.
The opportunity is there for me to just get another lesson
from the universe around control, releasing,
and letting go, and getting into a flow state,
and staying present to the moment.
That hand hold, that foot hold, you're breathing.
You're not dying.
Or at least you are, but not today, necessarily.
- Yeah.
Well done. - Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
- Whoo.
- I don't know what you guys got in store for me,
but that was day two.
I'm definitely tapped.
- I guess I was worried at the summit,
because I could tell you pulled up to the top just in time.
That was your last ounce of energy.
- Well, you know, like I normally do,
I underestimate how intense it's going to feel and be.
I'm so freaked out right now.
I mean, it was a lot.
Just like, oh my god.
- It was a lot more than I thought it was going to be.
- It's a really, really intense feeling.
- The day went big.
Yeah, this climb is 600 feet, and we started at sunrise.
- It was definitely a hell of a--
hell of a thing.
- And it wasn't easy. - Yeah.
It went good, though.
We're all here.
And we're all living. No one got dropped.
And by the end of day, I feel like I've
been climbing with someone that I've climbed with 1,000 times.
So it was great. - Aww.
- Thank you.
No, really, thank you.
- Tomorrow, we say goodbye to sunny, warm Red Rocks
and on to a snowy Moab.
- Oh, my God. - You want to make it harder.
We're going to add some elements to it.
[laughs] - Oh, my God. Great.
* *
[tense music]
- I'm here in Moab for the Ancient Art climb.
I'm going to do a couple more days' training
before we actually climb it.
[wind whistling]
[light music]
* *
I have never been to Moab, but I am super stoked to be here.
I went to Zion.
Zion's fairly close, I think.
Don't quote me on my American geography.
Today is another day of preparation.
I think one of my challenges is more around
getting comfortable with the gear, the technical aspects
of the gear.
And once I'm comfortable with that,
they'll become my touchstones
to help me stay focused.
You know what I mean?
My kind of reference to be like,
well, wait, you weren't freaked out by the height.
If I fall, I'm not going to feel great about it,
because I've had an experience with falling.
I don't ever want that to happen again.
I remain incredibly impressed just with Mo
and her enthusiasm for life.
It's, like, people who do these sports, they're living.
It's like you suddenly go, wow, that's what living looks like.
* *
Oh, wow.
[serene music]
* *
It's epic.
- Whoo!
- Mo, we're in Moab.
- [laughs] I like it.
We should make that a T-shirt.
[laughter]
- This is pretty spectacular.
- Isn't it awesome?
I told you I was only going to take
you to my favorite places.
[funky percussive music]
Today's climb isn't particularly hard.
However, there's two reasons that we're here.
- Right.
- First is learn this rock.
This is still sandstone.
- Look at that.
- Yeah, it's not confidence inspiring.
- Makes me like-- not like the most confidence
inspiring, yeah.
- But this is what our big, final destination,
Ancient Art, is made out of.
So it's kind of nice to learn this rock on easier terrain.
- Got it.
- Our second goal today is how to repel.
So far, when we've gotten off our climbs,
you've either hiked off or lowered off.
This time, you're going to be getting yourself off
on the rope under your own power
because that's how we're going to get
off the top of Ancient Art.
- Right.
- It's going to feel scary, because what we're rappelling
is down that big arch.
[tense music]
It's a completely free-hanging rappel the entire way.
Today's climb is really important.
I never know how much to tell him, but getting down
is the most dangerous part of climbing.
Most accidents happen when you're rappelling.
So for him to be dialed at the end of a long,
tired day is super important.
We've said the last two days, we need to trust each other.
- Yeah. - It's still important.
But today, it's going to be a lot of trusting yourself.
- OK, good.
Let's get your kit on and get started.
- All right, let's go.
- So this climb is three pitches,
but it's going to go way faster than the other day.
- Climbing.
- Climb on, Orlando.
- Rope up. Rope up.
- Ooh, you're moving.
- I'm rappelling for the first time.
The bits that aren't in my control that are freaking me
out are the ropes, the knots, the gear, the aspect of wait,
have I done that the right way?
Is that in the right way?
Is it going to hold me in the right way?
I mean, it's things like that which
you just go, wait a second.
* *
- You're moving really fast, so go ahead and slow down
as I'm taking the rope up.
* *
- Whoa.
Man.
- It doesn't feel good when it slides, does it?
- No, that was a nice feeling to come to terms with.
- Yep.
So the technique for this kind of slab
is the head down, ass out, and that makes the rubber stick.
- OK.
Because that was a little weird.
* *
- All right.
- All righty.
Here we are.
- Boom.
- I have a confession.
- Did you take your brake hand off?
- No. - [laughs] OK, good.
- Worse.
When we got to the second anchor--
- Yeah.
- --before you said belay on, I started to undo the gear.
- Any time you're at an anchor, if you're not actively
climbing off of it or to it, you need to always
be like, how am I attached?
I'm always need to be attached to this wall.
That's not good, because that means he wasn't
attached to the mountain at all.
And if he had slipped, he would have just been gone.
And it was a super dangerous thing to do.
All right.
On to the scary part, because today's whole objective
is the rappel.
We're about to throw you off the edge of a cliff.
- Another fine mess you've got me into.
- This is you. This is on you.
I'm not involved anymore. - Oh, really?
- This is where break up, we split up.
- Ah. - It's on you.
This is accelerated, remember?
Is this three years in one week.
And I just want you to be super careful,
and it's OK to feel nervous.
But if you feel that gut feeling like earlier, when you
accidentally came off, stop, because there's
no recovering from this.
Most accidents and most fatalities in rock climbing
happen rappelling.
- Now you got my attention.
All right, let's go.
- Let's get this rope down and wrap.
Rope!
On screen.
It's always a good sign.
- We'll take it.
* *
- So I'm going to go first.
I will affix to the anchor point.
Then I will put my rappel device on the rappel line.
That's on.
Then I will use that third hand below it
so that if something hits me in the head
or I get knocked unconscious,
that will grab and lock the rope.
- OK.
- And then we're going to put it below the knot.
For you, it's your purple tether.
You're still being lowered.
It's just are doing the lowering, not me.
- OK.
- Ease my way over.
So I'm attached permanently by something that is fixed.
It won't slide.
Whereas if I took this off and didn't have this
and went over now, that'd be bad.
OK, on rappel.
[dramatic music]
* *
Ooh, this is not an easy rappel.
* *
OK.
* *
- This is really crazy.
Suitably, I'm intimidated.
* *
OK, so now-- now I'm locked in.
Oh, shit.
OK, one.
Now this goes to this.
- Orlando has a hard time absorbing the gear
that we use and how they work together.
He's not trusting them.
- How the hell--
OK. OK.
- He's nervous, for sure.
He was very quiet.
And, generally, he's not a quiet person.
So he doesn't have a lot of time to observe us,
and then we're just gone.
Like, he just disappeared already.
But he'll make it.
He has to, unless he wants to spend the night up there.
* *
- This is attached here.
This is attached here.
I've got this safety here, so I can unclip this.
- [laughs]
- I'm good to go?
I'm not unclipping anything else?
- Yeah. - OK, let me just unclip this.
Ah! [laughter]
Are you serious?
Holy shit, bro.
OK. OK.
* *
This is really awkward, actually.
My hand's caught.
Oh, god.
Oh, [bleep] me.
[whimpers]
OK, now I've got some purchase.
* *
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Nam-myoho.
[serene music]
Whoo!
* *
The hardest thing to trust is myself.
Oh, shit.
I'm not worried about the gear failing.
I'm worried about me failing the gear.
Ooh!
- Yeah.
But he's been kind of hard to teach,
and it's not because he's a bad learner.
I just can't figure out his learning style.
I don't know if he's a visual learner,
if he's an experiential learner,
if he's a verbal learner. I can't quite crack it.
- Whoo.
- Work that core.
- I learn best by doing--
trial by error.
Maybe my dyslexia helps, because I feel like I
problem-solve under pressure.
- Pretty good, huh?
- That's a great feeling.
Thanks, Mo. - We're done.
- Super fun.
Why?
What does she say? [laughs]
[line trilling]
- Good morning.
- It's not like the big, big-- the biggie biggie.
But it's just training.
Still kind of getting used--
getting comfortable.
- Love you.
- All right. Love you.
[serene music]
* *
[tense music]
* *
Today we're going to Wall Street.
* *
I want to try and really sort of stretch
myself today in ways that maybe I feel like I haven't pushed.
Push my edge-- see how far I can take it.
It's going to be hard, and I think it'll be good prep.
So I really want to just take it as a great opportunity
to be prepared for the big climb at Ancient Art.
It's that way, yeah.
Hey, guys. - Hey.
- Morning. - Here's everyone.
We've got a whole team.
- Yeah, so I was really lucky.
Russell, my best friend's, out climbing today.
So my friend, Justin--
- Mm-hmm.
- --he's a world champion at rock climbing.
He's also blind. - How's it going?
- Yo, dude, I don't want to--
I know you're at a higher level.
- No. No problem at all.
- Hi.
- I'm just keeping Melissa safe,
giving her the old belay.
- Melissa, up there, she has CP--
cerebral palsy.
But she is a medal-winning international para climber.
- Hi. - Hi.
- Oh my god. - She's focused.
- She's crushing.
- She can use her legs but not that great.
She has a hard time sort of pushing off of them,
and she doesn't have a lot of ankle flexion.
But her arms are so strong.
- Wow.
It's just so inspiring to meet people
like Melissa and Justin.
Most would think that a blind person
and a person with cerebral palsy could never rock climb.
But here they are not only climbing,
but they're killing it.
It's just the greatest reminder
of what we can achieve when we don't limit ourselves.
Hi, that was impressive.
- Thank you.
- Wow.
How did you get into climbing?
- I met some paraclimbers, and they were like, "Hey, yeah,
so we do this, and there's competitions."
And I was like, "Whoa, really?
Competitions?"
And two months later, I decided I was going to compete--
- Oh, yeah.
- --just for the sake of doing it
and somehow did not come last.
- Wow.
- And I've been doing it since.
- Justin, I didn't get your full story.
- So for me, my visual field, the central vision
is almost completely gone.
It's important for me to have a sight guide
when I have the ability.
- Right.
- As we go up the route, I'm building
this catalog in my head of what I'm supposed to do.
And then when I get on the rock,
I have a pretty good idea of what I'm supposed to do.
- That's super impressive.
- A lot of memory.
- Yeah, that's a lot of memory.
- OK, so we're going to kick it up a notch
with our crack technique.
So use feet in the jogs when you have them.
But pretty quickly, they're going to go away.
They're going to be in the crack, like so.
You probably won't have to go all the way to your armpit,
like I do.
And it's going to be pretty physical.
- All right.
[dramatic music]
- Nice.
Experiment with turning your body, just like that.
- [grunts]
- We need to work on his footwork.
- Yeah, that could be better.
The more pressure you put on the foot,
the better it will stick.
- [grunts]
- I gotcha.
- Jesus Christ.
This is crazy.
- There we go.
Come on.
- Point your right knee back up towards the sky,
and that will-- - Huh?
- So your foot's in like this, right?
- Yeah.
- And your knee's pointing this way?
- Yeah.
- Twist your foot till your knee is up,
and that's going to lock your foot jamb in
and let you step up on it.
- My hands are going.
[grunts] My hands.
- It hurts, right? - Jesus.
My forearms-- - [laughs]
- --are killing me.
Oh my god.
[grunts]
- You got it, Orlando.
Come on.
- How do I do that?
- No pain, no gain.
Let's do it.
- OK, thank you, that helped.
- [laughs] - Come on.
- Nice, Orlando.
- When I do that, I try to keep my feet pretty close
together to keep the pressure good.
- Ah!
Ah!
- It's fine.
You're almost a third of the way there.
- Oh, god.
Everything hurts.
I want to go home.
- Just remember, if everything hurts, and you want to puke,
you're doing it right.
- I like to think I'm somebody who picks up
on things pretty quickly, and I'm not really
in the habit of failing.
But I am really challenged by this crack climbing.
Let's go back to the easy stuff.
- [laughs]
- Everything hurts.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
* *
- Nice, Orlando.
Come on.
- Keep breathing. Keep breathing.
Stay on. Yeah. - Nice. Nice.
- Good job, dude.
That was awesome. - [grunts]
- You're Mo, yeah? - Yeah.
- Hey, I'm Kris. - And you must be Kris?
Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
He looks broken right now.
- Yeah.
- [grunts]
- He's really struggling.
So when he's coming in two days, what kind of height
is he going to go?
- We're going to be at about 400 feet.
- What's he at now?
- 40?
So 10 times that.
- [laughs]
- Come on, Orlando.
- OK. - Yeah.
Nice.
- Oh, god.
- Are you confident in his climbing?
- We're getting there, and we're
working together as a team.
Yep.
- Nice good foot, yep. - You're right there.
Come on.
- The learning's been hard for him.
The body part's easy. - Yeah.
- It's the learning part. - Yeah.
- He's not quitting, though.
- No, he's not quitting.
- He is groveling and fighting.
- Yeah, he's not a quitter.
- He's not a quitter.
- What would you do here?
- So I would put my hands in that crack--
my fingers in the crack.
- Feet on the left wall.
- So other way.
- Other left, Orlando.
- Yeah.
- Hey, mate.
- [bleep] off.
- [laughs]
- Yeah.
Yeah.
- A little more.
- Yes. Yes.
- Yeah.
Nice give, O.
- Yeah. - OK.
- Strong finish.
- He's going to fall, isn't he?
[dramatic music]
- Yep. Yeah.
- There you go. Touch the feet.
Use them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Climb. Climb.
- Now you got to move more right than up.
Think about moving right versus up.
- Yeah.
- Tap the anchor.
Boom.
Send.
- [shouts]
[all cheering]
- Nice job.
- [howls]
- Well done, Gibbo.
Amazing.
- That was intense.
Oh, god.
That was, like, 100.
Everything else was, like, a 10, honestly.
Nothing has compared to that.
- That was a proud moment, dude.
- Oh, god.
- So the good news is that was 5.10.
You just broke into double digits.
- Oh, wow. Felt like--
- The bad news is Ancient Art, our big tower, is all that--
- Oh, great. - --is all 5.10.
[laughs] - Is it really?
- Yeah, it's 5.10, yeah. - Holy shit.
- I'm quite challenged at the moment, mentally, physically.
And I'm taxed.
I'm feeling taxed.
- You look like you're struggling.
What is it?
- I'm just exhausted.
- Exhausted?
- It's just very, very, very, very challenging.
- Yeah.
- That's way harder than it seems.
- You feel confident about your climbing now?
You feel better about it?
Did that--
- I mean, the thing is--
- Look at that thing.
You just climbed that, right?
- Is it going to be a lot of this?
- No.
It's a different style of climbing.
It's harder climbing, and it's more exposure.
* *
- It sounds bad.
- It's not good.
[bleep].
[exhales]
* *
I'll just be in here.
* *
- Do you think he's crying in there?
- That did work him, though.
- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
And it's the end of the easy. - Yeah.
Yeah.
This is no easy, yeah.
* *
[dramatic music]
* *
- Tomorrow is the biggest climb of my life.
To clear my mind, I've got to work off a little bit
of this nervous energy.
Come on, Gibbo.
Come on.
Oh, he gave into it.
- [laughs] He gives in.
- Nice.
- All right.
- Where are you climbing tomorrow?
Do you know? Do you know where it is?
- Ancient Art? No.
- Do you feel ready?
- I'm ready as I'm going to be
based on having a limited amount of time
to train and prepare.
But--
- Has she gone over the climb with you and the points and--
- No.
Oh, she did send a text.
It says, "Hey, Orlando.
"A little bit of info for the climb for tomorrow--
"Ancient Art's stolen chimney should not be
"attempted by any climber who is not very
comfortable climbing 5.10."
* *
- Are you comfortable climbing at 5.10?
- I mean, not really.
I mean, 5.10-- that was yesterday's hardest climb,
and it was really hard, and I don't think I could do it.
I mean, I got it, but just about, but--
- OK.
"There are places on each pitch where if you fall
you will likely die."
* *
Oh my god.
If someone texts me that, I don't do the climb.
Simple.
Right?
- Oh, god.
Don't get me in my head about it.
Look, I think--
- We're trying to find out if there's anything in your head.
- [laughs]
- You don't know what you're doing,
and you have no success in this at all.
And you're laughing thinking that tomorrow
it's all going to go well.
- Well, no.
- You have to take it seriously.
- Yeah.
* *
Training is-- I think mostly it's just been a mental prep.
[gentle music]
It's been accepting that it's not going to be perfect
and that based on time, the schedule
that I'm under at the moment, it's going to be challenging.
But it's not impossible.
When I started in the gym, I was immediately
confronted with the enormity of the task and the fact
that I couldn't just muscle it up and make it happen.
So getting to the Buddhist state of mind,
which is accept.
This is the journey, step by step,
what's right in front of me.
I can handle this piece in front of me.
I can do that.
Take one step, and then I can make the next.
* *
I've been kind of slightly anxious about this one,
and I'm not necessarily feeling
as prepped for all of this, so--
- Do you feel as prepared as you can be
after a week of training?
- I'd like to have had more, but I feel like the training
routine you got me on in the last week
has been super helpful in terms of exposure
for the first Olive Oil in Red Rocks.
- Today is going to make the exposure on Olive Oil
look like kindergarten.
- Oh, great.
That lovely link you sent me was--
- I just wanted you to know what was up.
- Yeah.
- He's got kids, so I'm going to make sure he
knows all of the risks.
* *
- I feel like I'm an experiment on this.
Honestly, I feel like I'm a human experiment in some ways.
It's like, how much pressure can one human
take before they explode?
- That's the spindle.
That's what you're going to be on top of.
- It leans pretty precariously.
- It looks like it'll just fall over.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, and you're going to be standing--
- On the top of that. - --on the absolute top.
Like, your feet will be absolute top.
There'll be nothing above you.
- This is really crazy.
* *
From top to bottom, Ancient Art is 400 feet.
We'll be climbing it in five pitches--
a combination of nonexistent handholds, a tight 100-foot
crevice we call a chimney, and an extremely
narrow catwalk at the top.
* *
- All right, here we are.
* *
You have your belay device? - Yeah.
- Your rappel device? - Yeah.
- Oh, before you put me on, go ahead, and you get in.
- OK.
- This is a very real, risky climb,
because you have to climb quiet and methodically.
- You got to ghost first. - Huh?
Oh, yes.
- Orlando and I both need to have 100% focus and 110%
trust to pull this off.
- OK, so--
Where can I go?
- No. I think turn it over.
- Oh, yeah.
- Every time-- yeah, so turn it over.
- I got to turn it over.
Turn it.
Got it? - Got it.
All right, partner check.
Buckles.
Knot.
Stoke. - Stoked?
- Stoked.
All right, let's go get that feeling.
So the first short pitch, it's chunky.
It's easy.
- Where is your first anchor point?
- Just on the top of this pile.
- OK.
- Yeah, it's pretty short.
- This is the bit that always makes me nervous,
because these first-- until she's anchored
into the first point,
I can't really do anything or she could fall.
[tense music]
- Oh, this is just awkward.
- OK.
- He's going to have me on belay,
and if he somehow were to lose his focus and drop me,
that's-- that's a no-go.
That's a no-go.
On belay.
Climb when ready.
- Climbing rope.
* *
OK, we're on the left here?
- Yes.
- This is interesting.
- Yeah, you have some choices to make.
Just look for the feet.
* *
- Well, howdy, partner.
- Hello.
This next pitch starts to get a little real.
And the next short pitch is a really
difficult sort of face climb.
There's not a lot of features.
So that's going to be physically difficult.
So, yeah, it's a little spooky because I'm
going to be no protection till I get
all the way up to that bolt.
- Yeah, that's true.
- So definitely keep an eye on me here.
- Yeah.
- So I'm gonna have you step in a little closer
because if I fall, I don't want to rip you a ton.
- Yeah. - So now that we're settled--
OK, so this section, especially, just--
[exhales] - Yeah, take it slow and easy.
- OK.
Here goes nothing.
- This is another one of those sections
that really freaks me out.
Hang on. Sorry.
- You're good.
- OK.
- Yeah, you just let me know if I need to slow down.
- Mo is climbing across soft sandstone without an anchor.
If she slips, there's nothing I can do
to stop her from falling.
* *
- OK.
- Yay.
- [laughs] All right, this is where we
get that funky funk going on.
[tense music]
So there's not very good handholds.
You can try using that crimp.
* *
OK.
* *
- Just keep talking to me.
- Good.
Now I'm just going to repeat that.
- So you need a bit more slack, or no?
- Not yet.
OK, slack now.
- OK.
- And take.
Good job.
* *
Whew.
OK, so this is a bit of a move in order
to reach this next one.
- What about that-- look at that stone on the left.
Is that not trustable? - This guy?
Or that guy? - Yeah.
- That might be too far away.
- Yeah.
- Let's see.
Actually, it's not. - Nice.
- Ooh, that was the ticket.
- Yeah, baby.
Nice, Mo.
Nice.
Whoo!
- [laughs] Good teamwork.
- Beautiful.
- That was spooky.
[laughs] Because once I like unclipped from that--
- Yeah, no.
- --I would have actually fallen.
- I need to pee.
That's how real that looked.
- That was the first time this week
I've had to go for it and just trust that he had it.
I knew he was good.
And sometimes, when you're spooked out on lead,
you just need to know your belayer is good.
- OK.
Climbing.
- Climb on.
* *
- Yeah, there's not a great deal to pick from here, huh?
- How's it looking?
Can you see a way?
- How the hell did you do this, Mo?
You got me?
- I got you, yep.
You feel me?
* *
- OK.
All right.
I'm back on the base.
Give me a bit of slack.
- OK.
Good?
- Yeah.
But, I mean--
[exhales]
* *
Shit.
* *
- Whoo-hoo.
* *
- You got me?
Yeah, take me there. - I got you tight, yep.
* *
- I'm using the gear thing.
- So with the gear thing, you still have to find your feet.
* *
Yep.
Good feet. Good feet.
Nice, dude.
Nice.
- Shit.
Holy shit.
- Right?
[serene music]
I find all of these knobs so hard to trust.
They seem like they're just going to pop out.
- Yeah.
They don't look like you can, but you can, right?
- Until they don't.
- [laughs]
- You did great.
I mean, you made it.
[laughs] We both made it.
- We both made it. You made it.
We made it.
We did it.
Yo, that was awesome.
What a feeling.
- Some real rock climbing.
I think that was the first time that you were belaying me
that I was like, I might fall.
- Yeah. I felt that. - Of the whole week.
Yeah.
And then our next pitch is classic chimney,
which we did on Olive Oil.
But this is dirtier.
This is actually the pitch I'm the most nervous
about falling on.
- OK.
* *
- The chimney, that's the first really
dangerous part of the climb, because there's
a lot of loose rock.
It's going to be easy for me to knock rock down on him.
It's going to be easy for someone above us
to knock rock down.
This is the part where we can't control
how dangerous it is.
Things can go sideways really fast.
* *
[tense music]
* *
- Awesome, Mo.
- It's just a lot of using your whole body.
* *
[whimpers]
- Wow.
Wow.
Whoo!
Well, this is where it gets real now.
* *
This chimney is the highest I'll climb in a single pitch.
- I hope I impressed upon him enough to be
extremely careful where he puts his feet on and pulls on.
- Shit.
* *
This is real.
[bleep].
Tiny bit of slack.
Whoo!
* *
Oh, yeah!
[exhales]
- That is not right.
It's too steep.
That is just a sheer wall.
* *
- [grunts] - Yeah, bud.
- [grunts]
It's not pretty, but it's happening.
Oh my god.
- Yeah, bud.
Dirty, right?
- Yeah.
I'm just grateful for two hands right now.
You know what I'm saying?
I can't believe you did this.
Mo, the superhuman.
- Got to hand it to you.
* *
- Nice.
- I heard you huffing and puffing.
- Yeah, that was good.
Oh, my lower back is just--
ugh.
Super challenging--
- Thoughtful.
- --but using your whole body to get through all of that.
- So we have another short little pitch.
That's another difficult climb.
This is really loose right here, so be careful.
Oh, you're so close.
- You've got me, right?
- I've got you.
Right below that orange carabiner's a little bit
of a ditch for your fingers.
Nice, Orlando.
Nice.
Tight core.
Good feet.
- [grunts]
Whoo!
- Nice work.
- Ah!
[shouts]
- You can tell Orlando's getting
slightly nervous, because he's become very vocal.
* *
- [grunts]
Oh, yeah.
- Great fight.
- [laughs]
- That was a good fight. - Whoo!
Ah!
[bleep].
- That was a fight.
Everything hurts. Everything hurts.
[grunts]
I don't know if I can keep going.
I'm exhausted mentally and physically.
Everything hurts.
I've never felt so far beyond my edge.
- This is the most high-consequence,
dangerous stretch.
This is 1,000% do-not-fall territory.
* *
From here on out, we're going to summit this alone.
- I'm shitting it.
I'm going to walk across this plank with, like, [bleep]
how many foot drop?
* *
OK.
* *
- It's kind of a step.
Yep.
* *
Yeah, that's it.
- [grunts]
- [laughs]
- Whoo!
I'm feeling a bit more worried about this than I was.
- You got it.
You got it.
Yep, belly flop.
Get those legs up. Scooch.
Legs up.
Yeah.
Nice.
First shot.
- That is some crazy exposure.
- [laughs]
- All right.
* *
- Take your time.
Think of all those moves you did in the chimney.
It's a lot like that.
Yeah, nice.
- You got me?
- I've got you.
* *
- Oh, god.
- OK, now don't forget to bring that rope over with you.
Walk out to that ledge and bring it with you.
- What ledge? Right or left?
- To the right.
- Sorry. - You're good.
- Right.
- It's very stressful.
You got it.
You're so close to stability.
Nice.
There you go.
Yeah, there you go.
Boom.
Money.
- OK, well, that was a first.
- [laughs]
- At the top of this [bleep] mountain.
Holy shit.
Wow.
This is really next-level.
OK, I got to get up on this?
- This is the last big move.
The rest is pretty straightforward.
- You got me?
- I got you.
That was it.
Yep.
Get that leg out.
* *
I got you tight.
- [grunts]
I don't know what to do here.
- Get that right foot really high and wide.
That works too.
It's ugly.
You just kind of hump your way up there.
Yeah!
- [shouts] - Yeah!
- Ahh! Ahh!
- [laughs] - Ahh!
- Whoo! My heart rate.
[laughs] - Whoo!
* *
This is it.
* *
[laughs]
- Whoo!
[bleep] yeah! - [laughs]
- Whoo!
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
- Whoo! - Whoo!
[serene music]
* *
Whoo!
Holy shit.
* *
[chanting]
* *
- He turned it around, you know.
He's turned it around; from falling and breaking
his back to climbing something like that, is just impressive.
- That's really emotional.
- You did it! [laughs]
* *
- I just remember him falling out the window in London.
I just remember him looking up at me.
He had this fear in his eyes,
and he was just like, "I can't feel my legs,
I can't feel my legs."
And he just was like--
it was just horrific.
- I'm gonna lower you slowly, and then
you could put that other rope back onto your harness, OK?
- Just thinking about him in that position
and then how much he was suffering and screaming
and how sad and depressed he was--
- Come back to me.
- Oh my god.
- --and now seeing him screaming
at the top of the mountain with joy, it's amazing.
- [exhaling]
- Sit.
Sit.
I'm so proud of you! - [exhales]
I was full tears up there.
- That was so hard.
- Holy shit.
I felt so connected.
I felt like I've never felt. I was like,
I don't want to move, and I just
get comfortable with this remarkable feeling
of discomfort.
I was so open, so vulnerable, so, like--
I was just like--
it was really intoxicating, actually.
It was like a real high.
* *
You know, when you are present to the experience,
when you follow all of the things--
the handholds, the footholds, metaphorically--
and trust, you do way more than you think
is even humanly possible.
You just have to keep stretching that fear
muscle, right?
You have to keep getting out of your comfort zone.
You have to keep trying to evolve and grow and not
get stuck in the minutia of whatever life
is throwing at you.
[serene music]
[line trilling]
I did it. - Let me see.
Let me see.
Oh my god!
You did it.
Oh my god, you did it.
That's so cool.
- Unbelievable, right?
- I love you so.
- Here's Mo.
- You should be so proud.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
- Let me see it one more time.
- [laughs]
- It looks so small so close.
Wow, but that's so far down, for sure.
Wow.
* *
- As I sit, I'm thinking, why am I doing this?
[laughs] I literally want to just pull my inner child
out and go, "You're OK, bro.
"You're OK.
You don't have to keep doing this wild shit."
[laughs] "I got you."
* *
In Buddhist terms, we expand to be our greater self,
and that only happens when we go further
than we ever thought we could.
I didn't really just set out to jump out of a plane
or dive down to the bottom of the ocean
or climb a mountain, for that matter.
So why did I do this?
I think so that I could learn that the answers to the myriad
of questions I constantly ask myself exist within me,
and that my thoughts, words, and deeds
have a far greater impact when I'm able to trust them.
And I'm just so grateful to everyone
that I've learned from along the way--
- Dude!
- --because the benefit I received from
this extraordinary journey was so much
greater earned than given.
- I'm so proud of you! - [exhales]
So glad you're here.
- Yeah, and thanks, mate, for not making me do anything.
[laughter]
What a perfect day.
You're going to remember this for the rest of your life?
- Yeah.
[serene music]