UKC

This week's Friday Night Video follows the 'new kid' Savannah Cummins as she embarks on an expedition to Antarctica with the likes of Ana Pfaff, Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, Cedar Wright and Alex Honnold.

Sponsored hero fan porn! Nice scenery though.

I probably got off on the wrong foot with this- Americans unable to pronounce the name of the place they had travelled to - but I can't help thinking it would be worth trying to keep Antarctica as a truly pristine wilderness if we can.

Surprised by this on 2 counts. Firstly as Matt says this is basically a thinly veiled advert for North Face. They put out a similar thing, also to Antarctica, a couple of years ago as part of the Reel Rock tour. This was worse because you had to pay to see it.

Secondly and more importantly I'm surprised and disappointed to see people like Alex Honnold participating in trips like this which involve flying half way around the world just for some frivolous climbing and making an advert for North Face. Antarctica is disintegrating because of climate change and trips like that are exactly why that is happening.

I really hope UKC were paid by North Face to put this up otherwise it's even sadder.

The one thing I have got from this is a mental reminder not to buy North Face equipment in the future.

You could argue that all climbing is frivolous. 

It looked to me like they were enjoying an amazing time doing some great climbing in an incredible place.

They were sponsored by TNF - but it's a film about "North Face athletes" doing an expedition, so hardly unexpected that they are all wearing TNF kit. The only mention of equipment is the one who holds up his or her (can't remember) shredded "pants", which shows that even top of the range kit has definite limitations if you go somewhere rough enough. 

I was interested how warm it got at least at times - quite a few shots of people doing things without gloves on and maybe just wearing microfleece over a baselayer. 

Did anyone see when the film was made? There were lots of pics a year or two ago from Honnold and Anker climbing there if I remember correctly, so I wasn't sure if this was a different more recent trip, or just a different perspective on that older trip.

Yes, this.

Oh, ffs.

Billions of people eating meat, billions of people driving cars, billions of people eating and using stuff shipped from far away.

A few unnecessary climbing trips to Antarctica? No

Of course, a group of climbers flying to Antarctica is a drop in the ocean, when comes to global carbon budget. But I assumed @stp was getting at that, these trips by high profile elite climbers, continue to normalise hugely polluting flying for what is really a non essential activity, when all said and done.

It appears Honnold is a genuine guy that wants to use his fame and wealth to do good in the world. So i’m a wee bit puzzled that while his charity is providing solar panels to villages in African countries, he’s jumping on a plane to go on a trip like this. I do wonder how he squares that.

Flying/Expeditions etc. sadly will all have to change. Which means the climbing media, like UKC may want to begin thinking whether it can continue to implicitly endorse this sort of stuff. But at the moment money still talks.

For the record, Antarctica is not pristine; it has been the location of industrial exploitation for 200 years and it's ecosystem has still not recovered from that history

As a former TNF athlete once said.......a sponsored chimpfest in a beautiful place to provide eye candy to sell jackets at sea level. Anyway didn't Leo and Co do similar - take a young novice to a wild place?

And yes, I'm jealous.