ANTIGRAV Presents: Friends in High Places // Vol. 2
2024 · 33 min · Bouldering
The ANTIGRAV crew heads up into the Colorado alpine for a session on a run of classic boulders. Keenan Takahashi, Lucas Uchida, Ethan Salvo, Andy Lamb, Katie Lamb and Will Fraker work through a chapter list that reads like a tick list of the state's hard high-country problems: The Automator, Nuthin' but Sunshine, Freshly Squeezed, Insomniac, Ode to the Modern Man. This is the crew-video format done properly. No narration arc, no manufactured stakes, just a group of very strong climbers moving from block to block with the camera close enough to read the movement. At thirty-three minutes it is long enough to settle into, and the pleasure is watching how differently each person solves the same piece of rock.
Review
The best crew video on this site, and I mean crew video as a compliment. The ANTIGRAV group heads into the Colorado alpine and works through a list of the state's hard high-country boulders: The Automator, Nuthin' but Sunshine, Freshly Squeezed, Insomniac, Ode to the Modern Man.
This is for climbers who want to watch movement without a narrator telling them what it means. Katie Lamb, Keenan Takahashi, Lucas Uchida, Ethan Salvo, Andy Lamb and Will Fraker each solve the same rock differently, and the camera stays close enough that you can read the beta. Skip it if you need stakes. There is no injury, no deadline, no last day of the trip. Just a strong group and good weather.
What works is the runtime. Thirty-three minutes is long for a session film, but it is long enough to settle in, and the film uses the space to show full attempts rather than send clips. The chapter structure helps. You can jump to a problem you know.
What it leaves out is any sense of place beyond the boulders. Alpine Colorado is a serious approach and the film never shows the hike. Compare it with In Sequence, Patagonia's film about Katie Lamb in the same range, which gives Box Therapy a two-hour walk and a full-time job for context. That film is about one person. This one is about a group, and it is more fun.
