National Geographic

National Geographic brings an expedition and science‑forward approach to climbing on film, and the pieces in this catalog pair large alpine objectives with broader environmental and logistical storytelling. Founded as a magazine in the nineteenth century, the organization’s climbing films here operate at the intersection of polar travel, field science and high‑end rock objectives.

At the center is the Greenland trilogy collected as Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold: Mega Episode, a ninety‑four‑minute assembly that follows a six‑week expedition in eastern Greenland toward one of the highest unclimbed sea walls. The series interweaves climbing with glaciological fieldwork: glaciologist Heidi Sevestre travels with the team and collects measurements while the climbing sequences move from a 1,500‑foot free climb to a Renland Ice Cap traverse and finally the 4,000‑foot sea wall. Individual episodes such as Alex Honnold Survives Deadly Ice Falls | Arctic Ascent and Alex Honnold Climbs a 4,000 Foot Sea Wall (Full Episode) | Arctic Ascent emphasize objective hazard, approach and the hauling and route‑finding demands of polar big‑wall work.

Complementing the Greenland pieces is Before Free Solo (Full Episode) | Edge of the Unknown with Jimmy Chin, a focused short that follows scouting and decision‑making around big‑wall free‑soloing in Morocco. Across these films National Geographic treats climbing as a platform for exploration and scientific observation, prioritizing expedition process, objective risk and the environmental context that frames modern big‑wall projects.