From desert treks to kayak expeditions, from Himalayan summits to the North Pole, this collection of 100 films, both classic and contemporary, offers something for everyone.
1. Chasing the Sublime: What drives us to get too cold and too tired, to battle with fear, in the name of adventure? Follow Kate Rew and Kari Furre in this hauntingly beautiful look at cold water swimming in the UK.
2. This Land: Faith E. Briggs used to run through the streets of Brooklyn every morning. Now she’s running 240km through three National Monuments that lie in the thick of the controversy around U.S. public lands.
3. Full Moon: Closing lifts and the setting sun mark the end of the action for most skiers. But not for Max Kroneck and Jochen Mesle. While ski towns sleep, they head into the mountains to see them in a new light.
4. Wallmapu: The Pehuenche people of present-day Chile speak Mapudungun, which they call the language of the land. Two skiers enter this land, known as Wallmapu.
5. The Ride: Follow Ebbie Hansen, a Montana cowgirl, as she chases her third National Skijoring Championship.
6. For the Love of Mary: When 97-year-old runner George Etzweiler dons his lucky ancient green running shorts, he’s not just running to the summit of Mt. Washington, Etzweiler carries something else special with him: the memory of his late wife of 68 years.
7. Escape: A Montreal-based DJ buys a bike on a whim and decides to attempt to beat the record for the longest continuous bike ride in a single country. What’s more, he’ll ride a single-speed, fixed-gear bicycle and finish in Tuktoyaktuk in winter.
8. How to Run 100 Miles: The odds were stacked against Jayson Sime early in life: poverty, homelessness, dyslexia. But he learned to fight. In 2017, he entered his first 100-mile mountain ultramarathon.
9. Speak to Me Softly: An honest and intimate peek into the headspace of a climber having a not-so sendy day.
10. The River’s Call: Follows seven kayakers through the deep canyons and challenging whitewater of the Rio Apurimac, the farthest source of the Amazon, in the heart of the Andes.
11. The Pathan Project: [film available until at least April 15] An unexplored range in a remote valley of Pakistan, an unclimbed big wall, and a solid team of Belgian, French, and Argentinian climbers ready to combine exploration, music and humor.
12. La Grave: With no ropes, no pistes and no one telling you where you can and can’t go, La Grave represents a very special type of freedom rarely found in other alpine ski areas.
13. Uli Biaho: It is the year 2013, and immediately after their success of Torre Egger in the West, another project takes shape in the minds of Matteo Della Bordella and Luca Schiera: open a new route on Uli Biaho, an elegant 6,109m rock monolith in front of the famous Trango Towers, in the Karakorum. The narration comes directly from the protagonists, without voice-overs or external interviews.
14. Cane Toads, an Unnatural History: National Geographic in accuracy but Monty Python in tone, this hilarious film documents the spread of an introduced toad across Australia and the eccentric people who react to its presence.
15. 8,848 Everest: A full-length feature about Sergi Mingote’s 2001 climb.
16. 72 Dias al Limite: The first stage of Sergi Mingote’s current 14×8,000’ers no-O2 project. In Catalan.
17. Linea Continua: Hervé Barmasse opens a new route with his father. English subtitles.
18. Eiger Solo: A documentary of the first British solo ascent of the Eiger North Face. Welsh mountaineer Eric Jones’ ultimate dream was to climb the notorious North Face of the Eiger, alone. The film skillfully blends expertly done reconstructions of the dramatic epics and tragic history of the Eiger North Face: the pioneering attempt by Sedlmeyer and Mehringer; the epic rescue of Tony Kurz; Harrer and Heckmair’s first ascent. The climax of the film recreates John Harlin’s 5,000 ft fall during the winter ascent of the Eiger Direct in 1966.
19. Cumbre Italiano: Classic film of the first solo of Cerro Torre. In Italian.
20. The Hard Way — Annapurna South Face: A documentary of the 1970 expedition featuring Chris Bonington, Martin Boysen, Mike Burke, Ian Clough, Nick Escourt, Tom Frost, Dougal Haston, Mike Thompson and Don Whillans.
21. Expedition Antarctica: More than 30 years ago, Robert Swan became the first man to walk to both the North and South Poles. In 2017, he found himself back on the ice, trekking 1,000km across Antarctica with his son, Barney. Some geographical restrictions on streaming, so you may need a VPN.
22. Børge Ousland: Breaking Records in the Arctic: The polar traveler shares his adventures exploring the North Pole by ski and circumnavigating the Arctic Ocean by sailboat in this talk for National Geographic.
23. Messner: A biopic of the great Reinhold.
24. Chris Bonington — The Everest Years: Documentary shown soon after Chris Bonington reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1985, after years of leading expeditions to some of the world’s highest mountains.
25. Into the Empty Quarter: Alastair Humphreys and Leon McCarron set out on an expedition inspired by Wilfred Thesiger’s journeys through the Empty Quarter desert on the Arabian peninsula.
26. Don Whillans’ Last Climb: Born and raised in a two-up, two-down house in Salford, Lancashire, Don Whillans climbed with both Joe Brown and Chris Bonington on many new routes, and was considered the technical equal of both. The colorful, hard-drinking Whillans was an apprentice plumber when he first started his climbing career in 1951.
27. Alex Honnold in Wales: Alex Honnold goes to the Welsh slate quarries with climbers Hazel Findlay and Johnny Dawes.
28. A Line Across the Sky: Just a long trailer, but still worth watching seven minutes of Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell on the Fitz Traverse in Patagonia.
29. Jimmy Chin interviewed by David Roberts: Adventure photographer and filmmaker Jimmy Chin — who won an Oscar for his Free Solo documentary of Alex Honnold’s climb of El Cap — speaks to veteran outdoor writer David Roberts.
30. Wild Horses — The Silk Road Mountain Race: A look at the first year of the Silk Road Mountain Race, a brutal, long distance, self-supported bikepacking race that follows the original trading route.
The silk road. Photo: Martin Walsh
31. King of the Ride: The Rift launched their inaugural event last year in Hvolsöller, Iceland. Bringing the likes of cycling legend Tinker Juarez, long-time World Tour pro Christian Meier, Dirty Kanza champ Colin Strickland, stalwart motor Neil Shirley, and Ingvar Ómarsson, this first race was epic.
32. Only the Essential: The story of a 4,294km thru-hike on America’s premier long-distance footpath, the Pacific Crest Trail.
33. Chasing Wild: Three friends set off on a 400km bikepacking and packraft expedition through the heart of the sacred headwaters in northwestern British Columbia, birthplace of three critical salmon rivers, and home to the Tahltan people. In the wake of the devastating Mount Polley Mine disaster, the team’s goal is to understand what is at stake, as a wave of new mines are developed across this remote corner of the province.
34. The Wolf’s Lair: Exploring a 400km bikepacking route that winds through medieval castles, alpine scenarios and ancient Italian villages in the Apennines mountains.Part of a series by two Italian buddies known as Montanus.
35. Engaging The Curve: Graham and Shannon have been dating for five years and live together in Bend, OR. They’ve each had professional athletic careers in two very different sports: ultimate frisbee and alpine climbing. This is the story of how they share their respective sports with each other, and how the idea of learning to mountain bike was inspired by their community and environment.
36. The Al Hajar Traverse: The plan was to bikepack across the Al Hajar Mountains in northern Oman. Things didn’t go as planned.
37. Run Forever: Nicky Spinks is a beef farmer from Yorkshire and one of the UK’s best fell runners. This film looks at her record-breaking attempt of a double Bob Graham Round in the Lake District; a 212km route, with 16,500m of ascent, that only one person has completed in under 48 hours.
38. Liv Along the Way: Since she first summited Mont Blanc as a teen, Liv Sansoz knew she would make her life in the mountains. She was twice crowned world champion in sport climbing, and eventually expanded her professional horizons to mixed climbing, ski mountaineering and BASE jumping. In 2017, Liv set out from her home in Chamonix, France to attempt to climb all 82 4,000m peaks in the European Alps in a single year.
39. Trials of Miles: Beau Miles laces up for a different kind of world-first, running 650km of the Australian Alpine Walking Track.
40. A Long Day Out with Kilian Jornet: The greatest adventure might be hidden in your own backyard. Just outside your door you can put your shoes on and start running, and come back home when you’re tired. Join Kilian Jornet on a journey around the summits of his Norwegian home.
Photo: Kilian Jornet
41. Cape Wrath: Scotland’s epic ultra-running race winds through the beautiful lochs, glens and mountains of the Scottish Highlands.
42. Kungsleden, the King’s Trail: In 2018, Emelie Forsberg went back to her homeland to attempt a Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Kungsleden, a 450km hiking trail in Swedish Lapland that hikers usually cross in no less than 15 days. She completed the distance in 4 days and 21 hours, beating the current FKT, held since 2017.
43. Mountain of Storms: Decades before #vanlife, five friends piled into a Ford Econoline and set out from California for the south of Chile. They surfed, skied, slept in a snow cave for 31 days and capped off their six-month road trip with a first ascent of Cerro Fitz Roy. And they captured the whole thing on film to create this classic film.
44. Artifishal: The Fight to Save Wild Salmon: A film about people, rivers and the fight for the future of wild fish and the environment that supports them. It explores the wild salmon’s slide toward extinction, threats posed by fish hatcheries and fish farms and our continued loss of faith in nature.
45. Sir Edmund Hillary — The Race for Everest: A documentary on Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s ascent of Everest in 1953.
46. K2 — Triumph and Tragedy: Chris Bonington and Jim Curran trace the history of K2 expeditions from 1903 to 1986.
47. The Ogre: Doug Scott and fellow icon Chris Bonington made the first ascent of The Ogre (7,285m) in the Karakorum in 1977. Their climb extended the boundaries of what had been achieved before at that altitude. But their descent from the summit in the dark turned a catalogue of disasters that would have defeated most people. Instead, it became an epic which has since entered mountaineering folklore. It was another 24 years before The Ogre was climbed again.
48. Mount Everest — Mallory and Irvine: Long before Mallory’s body turned up in 1990, filmmakers speculated on what happened to the famous pair.
49. Antarctica — A Frozen History: An exploration of the famous Amundsen-Scott race to the South Pole, including both historical footage and reenactments.
50. The Race for the Poles: A nearly two-hour documentary about the chief rivals for both North and South Pole firsts: Cook and Peary, and Scott and Amundsen.
Roald Amundsen and his team at the South Pole. Photo: Olav Bjaaland
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51. Sherpas, the True Heroes of Mount Everest: One of the early films that focus on giving credit where credit was overdue.
52. Across Labrador by Canoe: The first episode in a series by Justin Barbour about his attempted (and ultimately unsuccessful) 1,700km canoe journey across Labrador.
53. The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition: The first motorized crossing of Antarctica, led by Vivian Fuchs in 1955-8. Edmund Hillary also took part.
54. International Trans-Antarctica Expedition: A brief taste of Will Steger’s 1989-90 expedition across Antarctica — the last journey on the continent that was allowed to use dogs.
55. Cascadia: This has nothing to do with exploration, but if you haven’t seen Danny MacAskill’s bike riding, well, you have to.
56. Never be Nery — Freediving in Vouliagmeni: Lovely footage of a freediver off the Greek coast.
57. William Winram, 145m Freediving World Record: The very odd process of a freediving world record.
58. Jeb Corliss Flies Through Tianmen Cave: Well-known adrenaline junkie Corliss whizzes through a small crack in a cliff in China.
59. The Terrifying art of Free Solo Slacklining: Another type of free soloing.
Photo: Laura Dekker
63. Natalie Panek — Wild Space: Rocket Scientist, Space Junk Crusader, backcountry and extra-terrestrial Leave No Trace advocate Natalie Panek uses her passion for space and genius for aerospace robotics to combat pollution in outer space.
64. Baffin: In 2016, Brette Harrington and the late Marc-Andre Leclerc established two new routes up Great Sail Peak on Baffin Island.
65. The Last Hill: Searching for an honest adventure right out their backdoor, a group of skiers and snowboarders travel south from Reno, Nevada on bicycles loaded down with ski and camp gear.
66. How to Run 100 Miles: A filmmaker who doesn’t take himself too seriously documents his first ultra.
67. How the Two-Hour Marathon Limit Was Broken: A look at Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-two-hour marathon. The event that put Nike Alphaflys into the public lexicon.
68. Keeping the Inuit Way of Life Alive: Labrador’s Derrick Pottle explains the challenges of following Inuit traditions in a modern world.
69. Solo Survival — How to Survive Alone in the Wilderness for a week: A survivalist goes into the U.S.’s northeastern woods with just a knife, to demonstrate how to live off the land.
70. Kissed by God: A moving documentary of the life and untimely death of surf genius Andy Irons. Not usually streamable for free, but currently available. Watch this brilliant film while you can.
71. A Nordic Skater: The very first film in the world about nordic skating –- a Scandinavian-style cross-country ice skating on frozen lakes and fiords.
72. Chasing Monsters: Ever considered trying to photograph a storm with over 200kph winds? Nick Moir tracks America’s wildest tornadoes to capture the images of nightmares.
73. Defiance: A short snowboarding documentary featuring three of the world’s best snowboarders riding some of the steepest terrain in Canada.
74. Siblings: A short coming of age film that celebrates childhood and the relationship between siblings.
75. Thabang: Thabang Madiba somehow found his way into the world of trail running, and in the last few years has become everyone’s favorite in the South African trail scene. He lives in Ga-Rankuwa township, without a mountain in sight…or a physio, chiro or dietician, for that matter. But through hard work, dedication and passion, he has won the South African Trail Running Championships multiple times and was the first black South African to represent the country in trail running.
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76. The Motivator: Filmmaker Aaron Hitchins turns his camera on the person who has motivated him to lead a life connected to the outdoors: his mother, Maureen.
77. Life of Pie: When Jen Zeuner and Anne Keller moved to the tiny, conservative high desert town of Fruita, Colorado almost 20 years ago, it was not on the map as far as mountain biking was concerned, and they were on the fringe and a bit ostracized. Now they’re at the very heart and soul of the community.
78. The Imaginary Line: In an act of political solidarity, a team from Mexico and the U.S. assemble with the sole purpose of establishing a slackline that crosses the border between them. In a world that is constantly tearing us apart, they come together to cross an imaginary line and tell a different story.
79. A Day With Remi Angeli: A professional skydiver’s day, wordlessly/beautifully documented.
80. Electric Greg: Record-breaking mountain endurance athlete Greg Hill has never shied away from a goal. Two years ago he changed his approach and set out to climb 100 peaks without burning any fossil fuels. But the question is: will it make a difference?
81. Danny Daycare: The latest miracle biking moves of Danny MacAskill. No little folk were injured in the making of this film.
82. Billder: The story of mountain bike trail builder Bill McLane as we find out what trails mean to him and how his work impacts his community.
83. The 7 Stages Of Blank: Anticipation. Inspiration. Creativity. Perseverance. Experience. Exploration. And Satisfaction: Documenting the emotional progression through the seven stages of a ski season.
84. Troll Wall: This tallest vertical rock face in Europe was never skied before Kilian Jornet gave it a go in 2018.
85. Of Fells and Hills: Writer, photographer and trail runner Rickey Gates heads to the UK to explore the history, culture and legends of the ancient practice of fell running.
86. The Wanderer: Pro skier and adventurer Kalen Thorien follows the path of the water from its source in Japan’s lush green mountains into the jungle-like valleys and ending at the sea.
87. Trail Dog: In the small village of La Motte-d’Aveillans in southeastern France, Gaëtan Ugnon-Fleury and his dogs, Pépite and Jolyn, discover the beauty and happiness that can be found in the simplest of things — friendship.
88. California to Hawaii by Kayak: A rare interview — on Johnny Carson’s old Tonight show, no less — with Ed Gillet about his astonishing solo kayak in 1987 from Monterey to Maui. One of the greatest adventures of the last 50 years, never repeated.
89. The Fifty: Cody Townsend has set out on an audacious goal to climb and ski all 50 lines chronicled in the book, The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America.
90. The Man Living in Complete Isolation for 40 Years: Since 1965, Faustino Barrientos has lived alone in Patagonia, in a house built from the remains of a shipwrecked fishing vessel. He lives mainly off the land and his livestock, and his nearest neighbors are 40km away.
91. Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years: In 1936, a family of Russian Old Believers journeyed deep into Siberia’s vast taiga to escape persecution and protect their way of life. The Lykovs eventually settled in the Sayan Mountains, 240km from any other sign of civilization. In 1944, Agafia Lykov was born into this wilderness. Today, she is the last surviving Lykov, remaining steadfast in her seclusion.
92. Kayak the Kwanza: In 2016, a two-man team completed the first ever source-to-mouth expedition along the Kwanza River in Angola, using a folding Klepper kayak that they paddled and carried along the 1,300km journey.
93. Storm Troopers: A party of French skiers tackle radical backcountry lines in Alaska.
94. Broadback: The rivers that flow into the eastern shores of James Bay in Northern Quebec are massive. Three paddlers kayak the final 120 km of the Broadback River during spring flows on this seven-day wilderness expedition.
95. Home Wild Home: A pair of Italian bikepackers, who usually film their exploits in remote regions like Patagonia, turn their cycling and filming skills to their home mountains.
96. Climbing Everest at 22: Ever since he was a child, Teodor Glomnes Johansen of Norway dreamed of reaching the top of Mount Everest. At 22 years old, he set out to achieve that dream.
97. Walking the World — Nordkapp to Kautokeino: A Swede and a New Zealander set out to walk from Norway to New Zealand. This first section of their trek takes them 335km from Nordkapp, Norway to their first resupply point.
98. Oman Desert Canyon: A naturalist and TV adventurer plans to drop nearly 400m into the deepest canyon in Southern Arabia.
99. We’ve All Got a Screw Loose: Nine strangers travel to Huaraz, Peru to face the biggest challenge of their lives, 6,100m Mt. Tocllaraju.
100. One Breath Around the World: Lovely, lyrical footage of freediving explorations.
Photo: Franck Seguin
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100 Adventure Films to Stream for Free, Part III
