The Illness - Rock Climbing Film

The Illness, a short adventure film about rock climbers from the southeast looking to free an old aid climbing route.

The Illness

This adventure documentary follows a loud-mouthed crew of Appalachian adventure seekers deep into the mountains of the Western United States as they climb, talk shit, fish for their dinner, and try to use their single-pitch skills to summit a 1,300ft rock face. Their main objective is to free an old aid route first established over 30 years ago, but will they succeed? Will they be strong enough? Will they be struck by lightning?

The first attempt of the climbing route was in 1988. It took two additional attempts before the route saw an aid ascent eleven years later in 1999. The summit team remarked, "It must be an illness to come back all this way in here three times!" The team thus dubbed the route, "The Illness."

Our crew first laid eyes on this route in 2018, and two years later are back to attempt to free all of the pitches.