This is not your usual “climbing” film; in fact, it’s hardly about climbing at all … at least in our everyday understanding of the term.

This week’s Friday Flick Pick follows Renan Ozturk and Mark Synnott deep into the Nepalese jungle, where they document a lesser known culture, whose way of life is under a grave risk of disappearing. In this behind-the-scenes look at their expedition, we learn about this community’s vanishing tradition of harvesting a rare hallucinogenic honey from the cliff faces that surround them.

Among these people remains only one surviving Honey Hunter, Mauli, who bears an unfathomably challenging and risky duty of taking on the bees and their hives from heights and exposure that even some of the most experienced climbers feel uneasy about. This film captures the story of this unsung hero.

We call ourselves professional climbers, but we couldn’t even follow them up the steep jungle cliffs; so they put our ropes up for us.


Explore More

Related articles you'll love

Our 40+ most popular articles ever
Today’s Best Rock Climbing Gear Deals
200+ rock climbing videos
Essay: What a Long, Strangely Normalized Trip It’s Been—Counterculture in Modern-Day Climbing
“I Will Climb, Too” — A Story on Mentorship and Responsible Climbing
Podcast: An Interview with Renan Ozturk
Nursery Rhymes, Biomechanics, and Bad Attitudes — Why I Stopped Climbing
Video: Within Reach — Featuring Shelma Jun, Lynn Hill, and Cedar Wright
Essay: Words from Conservationist and North Face Founder, Doug Tompkins
Video: Down to Nothing — The North Face Myanmar Expedition
Essay: A Bad Month, Or, The Broken Man’s Guide to Climbing
Video: On Assignment with Jimmy Chin
Get daily updates by Liking us on Facebook
Free rock climbing PDFs on technique, training, knots, and more