La Sombra del Chamán | The North Face
2026 · 15 min · Sport Climbing · The North Face
La Sombra del Chamán follows Emily Harrington and Matt Segal on the towering limestone of El Salto, Mexico as they attempt to free climb La Sombra del Chamán — presented in the film as one of the country’s hardest routes — in a single day. The footage focuses on the climbing itself: long sequences on steep, pocketed limestone, the pacing and route-reading required for a large multi-pitch sport line, and the small, precise movements that decide difficult leads at sustained length. Directed by Jon Glassberg and produced by Louder Than Eleven, the short frames the climb through the partnership between two experienced climbers. The film pays attention to logistics and rhythm — how a pair manages effort, rests, and transitions on a long route — so its clearest value is as a portrait of endurance and team dynamics on serious sport limestone rather than a how-to or a portrait of a single ascent.
Review
A partnership film that becomes a support film halfway through, and it is honest about the shift. Emily Harrington and Matt Segal set out to free La Sombra del Chamán, 385 meters and 14 bolted pitches from 5.12 to 5.14- at El Salto, Mexico, in a single day. Harrington moves into a belaying and coaching role partway, and Segal completes the route in a day, the second free ascent, shortly after Damián Zepeda and Álvaro Basich made the first over three days in December 2025.
This is for climbers interested in pacing and team dynamics on a long sport route. Jon Glassberg directs for Louder Than Eleven and The North Face, and the film pays attention to how a pair manages effort, rests and transitions across nearly 400 meters of pocketed limestone. Skip it if you want both climbers to send. That is not this story.
What works is the coaching. Harrington from below, talking Segal through the hard leads, is a portrait of what a partner is for. What it gets wrong is context. Alejandro Patiño and Paco Medina bolted the original line in 2001, Italians finished it in 2015, and the local first ascent came a month before this film. None of that is here, and fifteen minutes had room for it.
ORBAYU, the Petzl film with Nina Caprez and Cédric Lachat, is the same structure on the Naranjo de Bulnes: one partner completes the route, one does not. That film sits with the doubt. This one moves fast, and I wanted it to slow down.
