FREE SOLO: Mapping Alex Honnold’s Famous Climb

The directors of the documentary FREE SOLO needed an elegant, beautiful, 3D way to illustrate Alex Honnold’s infamous climbing route. We helped them determine the right technology, and then made the business and technical connections to implement within the Oscar winning film.    

The Task.

This project presented the perfect opportunity to fill the needs of two clients through a partnership. Filmmakers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin sought to showcase Alex Honnold’s route up Yosemite’s famed El Capitan in a geographically sound and visually compelling manner. The second partner, Google, sought to showcase their incredible imagery to newer audiences.

We provided a link between newly available technology (never before seen high resolution Google Earth) and a need from a niche, yet innovating and far reaching client (FREE SOLO). We met with Jimmy and Chai to brainstorm the right solution, Once we determined Google Earth would be the best choice, we pitched the idea to Google, gained their approval, and then coordinated between the film team and Google’s engineering and product teams.  Together, the team built an incredible use case of Google Earth in the Oscar winning film to give audience members a small grasp of Alex Honnold’s incredible rope-less journey up one of the most iconic rock walls in the world.

The Results.

Google Earth featured prominently in FREE SOLO, which won at:

• Academy Awards (Best Documentary Feature)

• BAFTA (Best Documentary Feature)

• Critics Choice Documentary Awards (Most Innovative Documentary)