Gripped: A Climber’s Review

I finally got around to watching Hollywood’s most recent dip into the climbing world… Gripped: Climbing The Killer Pillar

Here’s a link to the movie on YouTube (for free).

This post is going to be similar to Alex Honold’s climbing movies analysis with GQ. But first I’ll let you in on the basics of the plot.

Newbie Rose and a friend come to Bishop for their first outdoor climbing experience. While they boulder (climbing without ropes only a few feet off the ground) Rose meets Bret, a blond haired bro. They fall into an awkward romance. Bret takes Rose on a multipitch (a climb more than one rope length long), which she flails all over on. Bret encourages her to lead a pitch, which she attempts and bails off. Bret climbs the pitch for her and they top out.

After returning to camp (and having an awkward near falling-out) Rose urges Bret to take her on a GRADE 5 (a climb they plan on doing quickly, even though a grade 5 takes experienced climbers multiple days)…

Things go horribly wrong (of course). At first they drop some gear and flounder, but the situation escalates quickly. Bret falls and hurts his shoulder. This leaves Rose to finish leading the climb and get them back safely as Bret ascends the rope behind. After being benighted and an overdramatized effort from Rose, they top out. Post-rappels they stumble awkwardly down, Rose hurts her ankle, and she starts dragging a now unconscious Bret. Thankfully the drama is finally halted by a rescue party made up of their friends. 

The movie shifts to the concluding scenes, the aftermath and recovery, and Bret and Rose’s return to climbing.

Now that the plot is out of the way I can discuss the mistakes Hollywood made, as well as the things they did that actually made the movie decently accurate (relative to other movies)…

The pros:

1) The people weren’t  TOO far off from regular climbers. Beginner gym climbers congregating at boulder fields and moving on to bigger objectives is quite common.

2) The movie also showcases actual climbing moves and gear. This makes it a step above movies like Cliffhanger. Actual hand jamming and gear over bolt guns and hanging onto icicles.

The cons:

1) Bret talks about just following what your body wants to do… while flow is a part of climbing, I disagree. Sometimes you need to go against what you want to do and get out of your comfort zone to climb a difficult section.

2) As Rose is learning to belay, Bret hands her a Grigri, saying, “It’s auto locking so just lean back…” Don’t do that. Yes, a Grigri is auto locking, but you should always keep a hand on the brake end of the device (the side that isn’t going to the climber) to prevent a fall. Also, leaning back won’t do anything if you keep the locking unit open (which is needed to give the climber rope). 

Keep a hand on the bottom, braking end!

3) Another thing they do in the movie that I wouldn’t suggest is the ways they clean slings: sliding them over their shoulders on both sides. This “x” can be dangerous in the event that the slings accidentally get clipped to something… if you fall you could choke.

4) Rose falls and pulls a piece of gear out, a type called a stopper or nut. This kind is meant to be placed in constrictions where the crack progressively gets thinner, therefore keeping the gear in the rock. But, in the case of this piece, the shallow placement didn’t keep the gear in because the rope pulled OUT, not down. A cam or deeper placement with an extended sling to connect it to the rope would’ve have likely been better since it would be less likely to be pulled out horizontally and become a shallower, insecure piece of gear.

The stopper that popped… too shallow.

5) This one is hard to notice for non-climbers but pretty obvious. The shot of Rose topping out the route (from above) has her green screened onto a view looking down from the top of the notoriously steep El Capitan, completely different from the slabby Sierra granite they show them climbing earlier.

6) Finally, why is that Bret can barely walk down after the rappels when HE HURT HIS SHOULDER… ?!

These are just a few of the things I noticed… but overall, the movie wasn’t too bad. The shots were nice, the moves realistic… just cringy.