Coconut Connection

The Belgian formula without the boat, and the two-month timescale changes what the film is. Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll returns to Baffin Island in July with Nico Favresse, joined by the Italian alpinists Matteo Della Bordella, Matteo De Zaiacomo and Luca Schiera, with free climbing as the explicit goal. They ski in across broken sea ice and end up voluntarily stranded for nearly two months in a valley full of rock.

This is for people who like expedition texture over summit pushes. Friendship, music, weather and a lot of waiting at the edge of the Arctic are the substance, and Villanueva O'Driscoll's direction treats living somewhere as the story. Skip it if you want to know what was climbed. Great Sail Peak is the objective but the film gives you very little about routes or grades.

What works is the mix of crews. The Belgians and the Italians have different habits, and the film is honest about the friction and the fun of sharing a valley that long. The sea ice approach is the best sequence. What it gets wrong is the same thing every film from this crew gets wrong: the climbing is secondary, and at thirty-eight minutes I wanted at least one pitch shown properly.

Arc'teryx Presents: Baffin is the alternative view of the same peak, sixteen minutes of Marc-Andre Leclerc and Brette Harrington making two first ascents. That film is precise. This one is expansive. Watch Baffin for the wall and Coconut Connection for the valley.