Alphane
2022 · 47 min · Bouldering · Mellow
Mellow's feature on Shawn Raboutou is the rare bouldering film that earns its runtime. The centerpiece is Alphane in Chironico, Switzerland, the boulder that became one of the world's few V17s, but the film ranges across Raboutou's staggering season of first ascents with his crew of the world's strongest boulderers.
Raboutou is famously quiet, and the film lets his climbing do the talking: impossible compression, invisible footholds, a style that looks like levitation. Shot and edited by Mellow with the polish of a brand film and the patience of a documentary, presented by The North Face and released free. If you want to show someone what the top of modern bouldering looks like, start here.
Review
The rare bouldering film that earns its runtime, and Mellow's patience is the reason. The centerpiece is Alphane in Chironico, the boulder Shawn Raboutou climbed on April 6, 2022 after roughly 25 sessions and that became one of the world's few V17s. Around it the film ranges across his season of first ascents with a crew of the strongest boulderers alive.
This is for anyone who wants to see what the top of modern bouldering looks like. Raboutou is famously quiet, and the film lets the climbing talk: impossible compression, invisible footholds, a style that looks like levitation. Skip it if you want him to explain himself. He does not, and forty-seven minutes of a person who will not narrate is a real commitment.
What works is the sessions. Alphane breaks down into a V14 opening and a V15 finish, nine moves in total, and the film gives the link the time it needs to come together over months. That is the patience of a documentary inside the polish of a brand film, and it works. Only seven climbers had repeated the problem by late 2024, and the film makes that plausible. What it gets wrong is that the season around Alphane gets less time than it deserves, and the crew is mostly background.
The North Face presents: ALPHANE is the ensemble version of the same season, with Hong, Webb, Woods, Camargo and Cameroni given their own problems. Watch that for the scene. Watch this for the ascent, and start here if you want to show someone what V17 means.
