The Traditionalist - Chapter One

This first chapter follows Jacopo as he returns to Yosemite Valley with a different aim than his usual big-wall objectives: to experience the valley’s trad culture and history firsthand. The film stays in the valley, visiting classic lines and big-wall terrain on El Capitan and nearby formations as Jacopo attempts one of Yosemite’s harder trad/big-wall challenges. The footage mixes on-route climbing with scenes of gear work, belaying and route-reading that make the climbing itself easy to follow. Directed by Andrea Cossu, the episode is as much about questions as it is about climbing — what does “hard-trad” mean, how do local ethics and history shape a place, and where do grades fit when protection and style are in play. The film is useful for climbers interested in how experienced trad climbers approach route selection, protection strategies and the social history of Yosemite, rather than for pure action or spectacle.