Netflix’s intense and unique extreme climbing extravaganza Skyscraper Live has been a big success for the streamer, attracting a reported 6.2 million views and currently sitting at No. 2 on the Netflix U.S. Top 10. The stakes were high, as the world’s most famous free solo climber, Alex Honnold, Spider-Manned his way up the 1,667-foot Taipei 101 skyscraper, one of the world’s tallest buildings—no ropes, no safety harness, no nothing.
It was a nailbiting watch, to be sure, made even more exciting because it was streamed live, adding a touch of macabre—would he fall? What would happen if he did? It’s this kind of adrenaline-infused intrigue, and even morbid curiosity, that often attracts viewers to these kinds of shows and movies. What makes these extreme athletes tick? Why are they so compelled to risk their lives like this?
Honnold’s Oscar-winning documentary, Free Solo, is more evidence of this fascination, so if you’re still jonesing for more extreme climbing and climbing-related documentaries, I’ve pulled together this list of even more thrills you can find on Netflix.
5
Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa
Like the other extreme climbing documentaries on the list below, Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa has all the jaw-dropping elements that make them so compelling—deadly ascents, human perseverance against the elements, and stunning on-mountain footage. But what separates it from the rest is the incredible and emotional personal story of Nepalese mountain climber Lhakpa Sherpa and her journey from an impoverished childhood in the Himalayas through her unlikely life in the U.S. raising two daughters, and an abusive marriage, to becoming a legend of the climbing world having summited Mount Everest more than any other woman in history.
The tear-jerking documentary tracks her life story with archival footage of all her climbs, and intimate and candid interviews with Lhaka and her daughters Sunny and Shiny, as she returns to Everest after years away to complete her record-breaking 10th climb. The 100% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes is more than earned. Have tissues handy.
4
14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible
More proof that Nepalese Sherpa climbers are some of the most extreme and talented climbers on the planet, this documentary by the producers of Free Solo is truly insane. There are only 14 mountains in the world higher than 8,000 meters, and as Nimsdai Purja lays out early in the film, “The fastest time to climb all the fourteen was seven years. If I can stay alive, I can do this in seven months.”
The aptly titled 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible traces Purja around the world, mixing vertigo-inducing, high-altitude footage with an inside look at the planning, logistical challenges, and downright mayhem that he and his tight-knit team of Sherpas endure to achieve what seems totally impossible. Purja’s confidence and resilience is addictive, and a little scary, as his family and friends show support but also fear for his safety. 14 Peaks has a solild 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
3
Meru
Ratcheting up the stakes and intensity, 2015’s Meru feels scarier and more alone for some reason. Maybe because it follows the tight-knit trio of expert climbers, Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin (who also co-directed Free Solo), and Renan Öztürk, as they attempt to navigate the terrifying “Shark’s Fin” route up India’s 20,700 foot Mount Meru, a coveted Himalayan wall that had humiliated climbers for decades.
With expert commentary from author and journalist John Krakauer, whose bestselling book Into Thin Air details his experience as a survivor of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, Meru tracks the trio’s first failed attempt in 2008 and then their second do-or-die push in 2011. It’s a nerve-rattling mix of incredible mountain cinematography with as story of friendship and trust at its core. Meru has an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Meru
Release Date
January 25, 2015
Runtime
89 minutes
Director
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
2
Free Solo
Whether you’ve seen Skyscraper Live or know who Alex Honnold is or not, 2018’s Free Solo is the film that put modern climbing documentaries on the map, winning Best Documentary Feature at the 2019 Academy Awards. It also made a star and free-solo poster boy out of Honnold, as the film follows his iconic race to become the first person to climb the sheer 3,000-foot face of Yosemite’s El Capitan with no ropes of safety gear—a.k.a., free solo.
Alongside filmmaker/director/climber Jimmy Chin (Meru, Skyscraper Live), Free Solo digs deep into what drives Honnold’s obsession to climb, let alone do it free solo, and the impact it has on his life and personal relationships, notably with his girlfriend Sanni. If you haven’t seen this critically acclaimed 97% Tomatometer-rated doc, you should. Now.
Free Solo
Release Date
September 28, 2018
Runtime
100 minutes
Director
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
1
Race to the Summit
As if free soloing wasn’t crazy enough, Race to the Summit ramps up the adrenaline and insanity by turning it into a race. Yep, this doc from 2023 tries to keep up with fearless Swiss “speed soloing” climbers Ueli Steck and Dani Arnold and their fierce rivalry to break each others world records for climbing the Swiss Alps “North Face Trilogy” of faces—the neck-breaking Eiger, Matterhorn, and Grandes Jorasses—the fastest.
With the added risk of haste, the risk of error is even greater in an already zero-sum game, as the two rivals go back and forth, breaking each other’s records, some of which are controversially disputed. The mountain footage is astounding, and some scenes are hard to watch, as the film also delves into the lives of Steck and Arnold and the emotional toll their obsessions take on their friends and families. The German-language doc is honest, raw, and a must-watch.
Netflix has a metric ton of excellent non-climbing related documentaries and docuseries to watch, which we cover each week in our roundups of the best documentaries the service offers.
Subscription with ads
Yes, $8/month
Simultaneous streams
Two or four
Stream licensed and original programming with a monthly Netflix subscription.
