To Climb the World

Climbing dream team Alex Honnold, Mark Synnott, and Jimmy Chin face rugged cliffs, knife-wielding thieves, and deadly waters as they traverse the globe searching for the next great rock to climb. The National Geographic Live! series brings thought-provoking presentations by today's leading explorers, scientists, photographers, and performing artists right to your YouTube feed. Each presentation is filmed in front of a live audience at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. New clips air every Monday.

Chris Sharma Free Climbs a Giant Redwood Tree

Like most kids, Chris Sharma grew up climbing trees. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, Sharma’s earliest climbing experiences involved scaling the limbs of trees in his parents’ backyard. In 1992, a 12-year-old Sharma traded trees for both indoor and outdoor rock climbing when he discovered the sport in one of the earliest indoor climbing gyms in the U.S. He quickly went on to be recognized as one of the best rock climbers in the world, winning both national and international climbing competitions as a teen, and ultimately pushing global standards into the realm of climbs rated at 5.15. (For a primer on climbing grades and terminology, click here.) His iconic first ascents of routes named Realization (5.15a) and Jumbo Love (5.15b) were the first of those respective grades in the world and milestone achievements in the sport of rock climbing.

Disco 2000

Dave MacLeod, Jacob Cook and Calum Muskett making the first free ascent of Disco 2000 on Blåmman, near Tromso in the northern part of Norway. The pitches were 7b, 8a+, 7a, 8a+, 7c, 7c, 7b+, 7a, 7a, 6a, 6c, 6b+, 5+ and was freed over three days, after aid climbing and working the lower part of the route.