Cedar Wright’s New Antarctica Film ‘The New Kid’ is a Must-Watch
What if your first expedition was to Antarctica??
Cedar Wright’s new film is centred around a long trip to the far south with a team of athletes who’d never gone on an expedition together.
Enjoy this new never before seen film from the 2017 The North Face Antarctica Expedition as viewed through the eyes of “the new kid,” Savannah Cummins.
In it, she’s mentored by a group of seasoned alpinists and climbers including partner, Anna Pfaff and a motley and yet legendary team, including, Alex Honnold, Jimmy Chin, Conrad Anker, and Cedar Wright.
The New Kid
The Expedition
The team climbed 13 summits and established seven new routes. The biggest was the northwest face of Ulvetanna.
Conrad Anker was likely the most experienced climber on the trip. His countless first ascents and bold repeats make him an important member. In 2011, he climbed Shark’s Fin on Meru (6,310 m) in India with Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk. In 1996/97, Anker visited Antarctica with Jon Krakauer and Alex Lowe. Their trip was featured on the cover of a 1998 National Geographic.
Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright climbed two new routes on granite towers in the Wolf’s Jaw. Savannah Cummins, Anna Pfaff, Honnold and Wright climbed a new peak, The Penguin, in four pitches. “Cedar led it in adventure-style,” said Honnold in 2018.
The four then repeated a route called Sky Walk that was reported to have bolts throughout but they only found two. “We got to the top and had to down-climb the entire thing, versus rappelling it,” said Cummins in 2018. “That was a really big day, one of the bigger… The climb was spectacular, one of the coolest I’ve ever done.”
Honnold said the the route was bigger and more of an undertaking than they expected. “There’s pretty strong winds and its pretty cold… There’s pretty much constant shenanigans here… Cedar and I have climbed three new free routes.”
Wright said in a 2018 trip report from their Antarctica basecamp: “Super inspiring here. Spiky granite peaks coming out of the ice. You can climb barehanded in the sun at times, but in a matter of minutes the wind chill factor is insane. Alex and I have been using a lot of Yosemite-style speed climbing tactic. Every single layer matters out here. I’ve really fallen in love with it here.”
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