♪ (dramatic music) ♪
David Lama, the guy I'm climbing with, was in diapers when I came up here
and chose this route.
He's crushing it today.
Zion has a special place,
many of my formative climbs took place there.
One of them was the Streaked Wall, I climbed with Mugs Stump.
The first time that Conrad and I met was in Las Vegas at the airport
because we decided we wanted to go to Zion and climb there.
But we never met before.
We've talked about doing routes in the Himalayas.
Before you go do something as big as a Himalayan route,
you want to figure out who your partner is,
do a climb or two with them.
David Lama is a young Austrian climber.
His father is a Sherpa from [Pathari], Nepal,
his mother is from Austria.
He started climbing at a really young age.
The name Conrad Anker is just known all over the world for being
one of the most legendary mountaineers.
(Conrad Anker) We made a name for ourselves
by going out and doing new routes or repeating hard routes,
or doing bold routes, things like that.
Pretty much any professional climber in the 21st century
got started with competition climbing.
That was David's start and then he segued into the mountains.
He did the free ascent of Cerro Torre which was a huge landmark ascent.
(David) When we arrived in Zion, Conrad proposed we should try
to onside the Moonlight Buttress.
(Conrad) I offered to be there in support,
belay every pitch so he could rest, and then lead every pitch.
For me, it was not as tempting as putting up a new line.
(Conrad) I think that was a real similar thread
that David and I have,
to go look at unclimbed pitches and unclimbed features and climb them.
(Dave) It's your vision that only you can see
and that's the beauty about the creative process I would say.
At the entrance to the narrows of Zion Canyon
there's on the left side this really impressive wall.
It's steep, it's got a waterfall on the right side.
(Conrad) David goes, "Yeah, let's go to the Temple of Sinawava."
I was like, okay.
It took me a little bit by surprise, but I was really psyched.
We were looking up and the first thing we saw
was this white rope hanging there that Conrad left.
(Conrad) I started on this route I think in 1988 with Doug Heinrich
pulling our ropes and the knot got caught in a flake.
We were sure we were going to come back. But then the days turned to weeks,
the weeks to months, and months to years and the years to decades.
Twenty-five years of shame and guilt after having garbage in the park,
I've come back to clean it up.
Phew.
♪ (energetic electronic music) ♪
(Conrad) It's steep, your chin is against the wall
and you're pulling up the tag line behind your back.
(David Lama) In total we ended up spending four days on the wall,
going up and down every day.
On day three, the weather changed completely.
Looks kind of worse.
Rappelling down is a good decision.
I'm the type of guy that likes to [...] if for fun.
I wished we got up early, we'd have a good time with it.
Oh, damn. Warmth!
It's cold, huh?
I think I'm a basketcase.
I'm up here with my basketcase friends,
because who in their sane mind would want to be up there,
hanging on a hook on sandstone with lightning and rain happening,
and you're hand-drilling with loose choss everywhere?
And we're thinking it's fun.
You want to zip first?
(David) Okay.
Yeah.
(Conrad) It rained that night and really hard that morning,
and the waterfall was flowing.
(David) One reason why Conrad just wanted to go back
was to clean up that rope.
This rope is
25 years old or something,
and now it's down off the mountain.
The last pitch-- it's hard to predict what they're going to be like
when you look from down at the bottom,
but it either looked wide or it looked brushy.
Halfway!
We ended up being the first team of climbers
to climb that feature in the Temple of Sinawava.
♪ (warm electronic music ) ♪
Beautiful place to be.
We carried out the old rope;
we brought it up to one of the rock climbing shops.
They were like, "Whoa! Dude, that rope."
I didn't think it was going to be this significant.
The thing that is really outstanding when talking about Conrad
is that he still has so much joy when he's out there climbing.
I hope that I will always enjoy climbing as much as he does.
(Conrad) When I was young, some climber took me under his wing
and showed me the ropes, and maybe he'll go do that
when he's my age, 25 years from now.
I'll be almost 80, David will be 50 and then it will be some young kid
that isn't even born that's going to be up there, just...whew.
(David) The last couple of years, it's turned into having an idea,
having a vision in your head and then turning that vision into reality.