One of the world’s foremost adventurers talks about making movies and settling down.
Climber, photographer and filmmaker Jimmy Chin’s latest filmThe Shark’s Fin tells the story of climbing the eponymous granite buttress on the 6,310-meter Meru Massif in the Garhwal Himalaya in India. Chin first attempted the Shark’s Fin of Meru in 2008 with Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk, and swore he wouldn’t return after the team missed the summit by a few hundred feet after an 18-day attempt. The film chronicles the three men’s bold decision to try again and their successful summit in 2011. The Shark’s Fin is part of the Reel Rock 7 film tour that premiered in Boulder in September. EO had a chance to chat with Chin about the climb and hear more about the development of his aesthetic.
How do you train for an unconquered climb like The Shark’s Fin?
It’s a lifetime of experience for a route like that. That climb encompassed every type of climbing and every aspect of climbing: mixed, ice, steep snow, big wall, aid and rock. Obviously, you need to know every trick in the trade and you need the experience to be hyper-efficient with your systems. On what I call “low percentage expeditions,” where success is unlikely, it requires more than just being a strong climber, it starts from the day you start putting it together. Logistics, planning, equipment—everything counts. I also spent a lot of time in the gym to focus on my weaknesses. When you really focus on those weaknesses, you can totally elevate your game. It makes your strengths stronger and you erase the weaknesses.
What inspires your visual aesthetic?
Part of my aesthetic came from Chinese paintings because I grew up in a house full of them. Those provided an appreciation for a well-composed aesthetic and I think you see a lot of that in my photography, like a simple figure in a landscape. My experience in the mountains shows the action of the human element to be understated while the landscape is what I’m speaking to. I also looked at other photographers and my eye shifted a bit to look more at seeing layers—people in layers, layers of action—all kinds of different and interesting things happening in different parts of the frame all shot in the moment.
What’s next, professionally and personally?
I’ll be sailing up the Oman coast with National Geographic covering the Kunzari people who have their own language and have had very little exposure to the outside world. Then I head down to Antarctica to search out some skiing and snowboarding first descents. On the personal side, I’d like to look into settling down, starting a family and spend a lot of time surfing, climbing and skiing. Those things are important to me for who I am.
—Cameron Martindell
You can buy the Reel Rock 7 DVD including The Shark’s Fin (along with Chirs Sharma and Adam Ondra in Dura Dura, Alex Honnold soloing the Yosemite Triple in Honnold 3.0 and massive offwidth climbing in Wide Boys) as well as previous years’ Reel Rock films at senderfilms.com
