2015 has been a break-out year for the sport of rock climbing. From the Dawn Wall media bonanza to the sport’s continued coverage in the New York Times all the way to Hollywood, it certainly seems like climbing has hit the mainstream in a big way.
I started climbing when I was a kid, and I launched my photography career by shooting photos for core climbing publications. These were the days when you knew everyone at the crag, and most climbing companies paid for photos with some free gear and enough gas money to get you to the next destination.
The Dawn Wall was a phenomenon unlike anything I’d ever seen. I was honored to be a part of the media team that helped tell this story through still and motion visuals. More than that, I was happy to see me friend Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson achieve their multi-year dream. Why people from the around the world actually paid attention to the Dawn Wall is a question I’m still not sure how to answer.
My friend Adam Stack took a stab at answering a much more concrete question, which is: Can we actually measure if the Dawn Wall had an appreciable effect on climbing’s growth?
Check out Adam’s post, especially if you’re interested in digital marketing. He used Google search terms to measure this growth over a year period, including my name as one of the search metrics. Spoiler alert: Yes, the Dawn Wall seems to have been a major force in helping climbing grow, resulting in a 378% increase in search terms related to climbing. Even for me, just being the guy behind the camera apparently resulted in a 85% growth. Thanks Tommy!
Here’s another sign that they sport is entering a new glamorous era. The new Point Break film is heavy on climbing–among other action/adventure sports. Plus, the climbing stunts were performed by none other than Chris Sharma! Awesome. See if you can spot him in the trailer…He’s the guy wearing Evolv climbing shoes and doing a crazy dyno on some Tepui rock climb.
From El Cap to Hollywood, climbing certainly seems to be appearing with increasing frequency in mainstream channels.
So what does all of this mean? Hard to say. I predict this will be a situation where both everything and nothing will change. By this I mean that climbers, filmmakers and photographers will get bigger and better opportunities….
But not matter what, I suspect that we’ll remain a tight-knit group of dirtbags, dreaming only of how to get ourselves to the next destination.
The future of climbing is heading in the right direction. And I feel lucky to continue to call myself a member of this awesome tribe.
1 comment
Very interesting report Corey, both culturally and technically. Cheers man!
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