Connor Herson

Connor Herson appears in a film that documents the revival of a bolted, multi-pitch Tuolumne line and the work involved in turning that project toward a free ascent. Black Diamond Presents: The Pirates Code follows how an original project from 2012 was revisited by filmmaker-photographer Ben Ditto and climber Mason Earle, and later joined by Herson as part of the effort to free the line.

The film foregrounds route development, the practicalities of protection and routefinding on high-country granite, and the collaborative labor of revisiting a long-term project. Ditto’s photographic sensibility shapes sequences that pay careful attention to light, approach, and gear; the climbing footage records concrete moments of problem-solving rather than spectacle. Herson’s role in the film is presented within that collaborative, documentary frame: he is part of the practical, emotional work of reviving and attempting a demanding alpine/trad objective.

For viewers interested in how alpine granite projects evolve over years, the film is a focused record of process, partners, and the incremental steps that go into making a bolted or placed line climbable on natural terrain.