Great Wide Open: Climbing with Jared Leto

Jared Leto’s Great Wide Open is a 5 part short film series where Leto meets up with world renowned climbers such as Tommy Caldwell, Alex Honnold, Sasha DiGiulian and others. An effort to celebrate America’s National Parks these series will leave you wide eyed and ready for an Adventure.

Episode 1: The Conquistador

Tommy Caldwell is best known for his ascent of Yosemite’s Dawn Wall with Kevin Jorgeson in 2015, but this only scratches the surface of Caldwell’s impact on the climbing world. From first ascents across the globe to being held captive in Kyrgyzstan; Caldwell’s resume is impressive. In this episode Caldwell shows Leto the literal ropes of climbing in Yosemite National Park set to an incredible sunset.

Episode 2: The Dirtbag

In Episode 2 Leto meets up with Renan Ozturk who recently gained attention for his first ascent of Mt. Meru in the Himalaya with Conrad Anker and Jimmy Chin. A true dirtbag climber, Ozturk got his start in the climbing world by getting rid of his belongings and hitchhiking across the country climbing. A true artist Ozturk now spends much of his time working on film projects with Camp 4 Collective. Here Ozturk leads Leto in fast pace simul climbing in Yosemite Valley.

Episode 3: The Rockstar

Episode 3 brings us Alex Honnold, the legendary free soloist whose climbing is near incomprehensible. Alex opens up to Jared Leto about risk, and his late father. Alex takes Leto and company on an epic traverse of Matthes Crest in Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. The crew takes on the beautiful knife edge ridge. For "dessert" Alex takes the team up Cathedral Peak on a nighttime free solo mission. This makes us wish we could have Honnold take us on an epic climbing adventure in Yosemite.

Episode 4: The Wolfman

In a change of pace from climbing with some of the best climbers in the world in the iconic Yosemite National Park, Leto heads east to Yellowstone and meets up with Douglas Smith, a wolf biologist in Yellowstone National Park. They go in search of wolves to learn and debunk the myth that wolves are villains. The wolves are an indicator of the health of an ecosystem, this episode is a great commentary on the importance of protecting our wild places.

Episode 5: Independence Day

In the final installment of the Great Wide Open we meet Sasha DiGiulian, one of the best climbers in the world. Sasha climbs the famous Devil’s Tower in Wyoming with Brittany Griffith following a brief history of the National Monument. The episodes finishes with some of the crew taking in the Independence Day celebrations from the top of a climb.