Two years in the company of a climber who moves alone up frozen walls and sheer alpine rock, The Alpinist watches a private obsession turn, almost by accident, into a public legend.
What is The Alpinist about?
Director Peter Mortimer sets out to document Marc-André Leclerc, a young climber who scales some of the world's most demanding alpine routes without ropes, partners or cameras trailing him — and who is famously hard to pin down for an interview, let alone a shoot. The film traces how that pursuit itself becomes part of the story, as Mortimer and his crew keep missing their subject on ordinary walls only to catch up with him on extraordinary ones. Alongside the climbing, it stays close to Leclerc's relationship with fellow climber Brette Harrington and to a small circle of mentors and peers, including Alex Honnold, Reinhold Messner and Barry Blanchard, who understand exactly what is being risked with each ascent.
About the cast
The film centers on Marc-André Leclerc and Brette Harrington, whose partnership grounds its most dangerous stretches in something recognizably human. Alex Honnold, Reinhold Messner, Barry Blanchard and Michelle Kuipers appear as figures within the climbing world who can speak to what Leclerc was attempting, giving the documentary a sense of scale beyond any single ascent.
Context & significance
Released in 2021 and directed by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen, The Alpinist arrived from filmmakers already known for chronicling free solo and alpine climbing. Its subject worked largely outside the sponsorship and media structures that surround the sport's better-known names, which shapes both the film's access and its tone — less a polished portrait than an attempt to catch up with someone who never asked to be filmed. At 92 minutes, it moves briskly between remote landscapes across multiple countries and continents.
Watching The Alpinist on Ktime
The Alpinist is available to watch on K-Time with a free account login — the page itself is free to read, and streaming starts once you're signed in. K-Time's library and interface are built with Farsi-speaking viewers in mind, so recommendations and search sit alongside a broad catalogue of international documentaries and features like this one.