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We’re living in a golden age of adventure documentaries. Disney+’s National Geographic section serves up nearly endless high-quality films of people pushing their limits. The rising popularity of climbing and mountaineering has made the genre a lucrative business, with companies such as Red Bull and North Face sponsoring beautiful filmmaking, while the mainstream (and Oscar) success of Free Solo (more on that below) has lent it additional sheen. This year’s Peabody winner Mountain Queen exemplifies the best of the genre, centering the extraordinary accomplishments of a single mom and abuse survivor who has summitted Mount Everest a record-breaking ten times. You almost can’t go wrong when it comes to these films, given the built-in gripping narrative of someone attempting something incredibly hard—and not always succeeding. As a rock climber myself, I’ve seen scores of these docs, and they never fail to thrill me. Here, some of the best watches to get you started in the genre.
Directed by Lucy Walker, this Netflix film follows Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to climb and survive Mount Everest—who goes on to do it a whopping ten times. What’s striking about her story is that this unassuming single mom and Whole Foods employee notches such remarkable feats in her off time. Her survival of an abusive marriage to a fellow mountaineer makes it all the more poignant. A beautifully shot work that soars in the mountain sequences but achieves great intimacy with its subject as well.
Where to Watch: Netflix
The Peabody-winning documentary Fire of Love chronicles the extraordinary lives of French scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft—a couple bound by both love and an unrelenting obsession with volcanoes. Through stunning archival footage, the National Geographic film captures their daring pursuit to document Earth’s most explosive phenomena, often at great personal risk. With warmth and wonder, it reveals their deep bond, eccentric charm, and fearless devotion to science and each other. Their story ends tragically in a 1991 eruption in Japan, but their legacy lives on—both as pioneers in their field and as a poignant reminder of nature’s beauty, danger, and ultimate power.
Where to Watch: Disney+
‘Free Solo’
This 2018 breakthrough hit made Alex Honnold the most famous climber in the world, both because he achieved a breathtaking feat—climbing the 3,000-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes, a partner, or protective gear—and because his wisecracking, quirky personality pops onscreen. Shot and directed flawlessly by Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi (Peabody winners for the series Photographer), Free Solo plays almost like a thriller, with Chin shown onscreen fretting anxiously as he watches Honnold ascend the cliff, facing down certain death if he were to fall. Honnold would (spoiler alert!) make it, and go on to become climbing’s most charismatic, goofy-charming spokesperson.
Where to Watch: Disney+
‘The Cobra and the Heart’
A more obscure choice from this year’s Reel Rock online collection of films, this emotional journey rivals any Oscar-bait drama. There are several twists worth savoring without spoilers, but the story begins two decades ago, when Swiss climber Didier Berthod had a youthful, passionate love affair with boulderer Thomasina Pidgeon amid the cliffs of Squamish, British Columbia. After a well-documented and devastating failure on a climb called Cobra Crack, Berthod skipped town and landed in a Christian cult, and did not return even when Pidgeon told him she was pregnant with their child. The film picks up when they reconnect with high emotions—and, of course, climbing.
Where to Watch: Reel Rock
‘Touching the Void’
Touching the Void tells the harrowing, but riveting, story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates‘ disastrous trip down the mountain after making the first successful ascent of Siula Grande in Peru in 1985. The 2003 film pieces the narrative together through interviews with the two and re-enactments, tracing how Simpson broke his leg during the increasingly icy descent, portending a series of devastating events. In a life-altering moment, Yates accidentally lowered his partner off the end of a cliff, then found himself being pulled down with the rope as well. Unsure if Simpson was still alive, unable to communicate over the whipping wind, and fearing death if he, too, was dragged into the abyss, Yates cut the rope. Both men survived, and spent this film, plus two more—What Happened Next and Return to Siula Grande—trying to unpack and untangle their trauma and guilt.
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime