Climbing SOLO with Alex Honnold **INSANE EXPERIENCE**

A creator's-eye view of what soloing next to Honnold actually feels like, and the format is the value. Magnus Midtbø joins Alex Honnold for a day of ropeless climbing, Markus Skaane shoots it, and the thirty-five-minute edit mixes exposed unroped movement with conversation and the logistics of filming it.

This is for people who want to see a top soloist filmed by a fellow professional climber who is visibly less comfortable. How lines are chosen, how moves are framed, and how climber and filmer manage exposure together are the substance. Skip it if you want a named route or a historic ascent. There is none. The title's capital letters tell you the register, and the film is better than the title.

What works is Midtbø's honesty. He is a very strong climber and he is scared, and he says so. That gap between ability and comfort is the most useful thing in the film for anyone who has wondered whether they could solo. What it gets wrong is padding. Thirty-five minutes includes a lot of talking that a shorter cut would lose.

Alex Honnold Solos The Phoenix is Reel Rock's nine-minute record of a hard solo with a crew trying to stay out of the way. That film is about the climb. This one is about being there, and it is the closer experience to what most of us would feel.