Pictures and film — as much as we love them — can sometimes have a hard time expressing things: the vastness of the Grand Canyon, the height of Dikembe Mutombo and the misery of climbing mountains come to mind. Look at any picture of Sir Edmund Hillary on Everest and you’ll probably think “boy, that looks like a good time”. This film by Arcteryx doesn’t do that.
Ines Papert, Jon Walsh and Joshua Lavigne take a trip to climb Mt. Asgard on Baffin Island in northern Canada. It looks like it sucks. Don’t get me wrong — the film is gorgeous, the scenery is incredible and the mountain itself is a daunting piece of geology, but the whole “climbing” thing looks rather miserable. The 10-minute film raises interesting questions on why some of us decide to embark on these extreme adventures and why some of us enjoy sitting in a big comfy chair watching videos on the internet.