Jimmy Chin is an absolute legend in the rock climbing and mountaineering game. If you’re not familiar with him by name, you’re certainly familiar with his work: Jimmy is the director of Free Solo, the Oscar-winning film about Alex Honnold’s historic solo climb of Yosemite’s El Capitan in 2017. It’s probably the most dizzying, vertigo-including movie I’ve ever watched; absolutely impossible to sit down and watch it without your palms sweating.
In addition to his work behind the camera, Jimmy is a total badass in the outdoor adventure game; He’s accomplished some truly impressive Himalayan expeditions, including a National Geographic trek across the remote Chang Tang Plateau in Tibet, where the average elevation in the plains is 16,000 feet (20,000+ mountains). In 2006, Chin became the first American to successfully ski down Mount Everest after summiting with fellow climber / skiers Kit and Rob DesLauriers.
You get the point – Jimmy feels right at in high alpine environments, where the air is thin and the terrain impossibly tough.
That’s why this short surf film from YETI (yes, the cooler company) is so much fun. Jimmy Chin has accomplished it all, with the exception of jumping on a surf board and getting barreled in a big wave.
By most anyone’s standards, Jimmy has done it all: climbed and skied Everest, crossed Chang Tang Plateau on foot, and won an Academy Award. But when he’s asked if there is anything he still wants to do in his life, his response is “get barreled.” With the help of renowned surfers Mark Healey, Jon Rose, Jeff Johnson, and Keith and Dan Malloy, Jimmy heads into the biggest waves of his life to find his barrel moment.
It’s just Jimmy chillin’ with some of his professional surfer friends in Hawaii, shredding monster waves. These surfing legends make it look so easy, especially when they boat out to the outer reefs for some serious rippers.
Jimmy does a pretty good job holding his own too.
What a cool film. YETI does such a killer job with these videos and it’s been really fun to watch them embrace stories about surfing and skating over the last few years, in addition to great hunting and fishing content. And best of all, they’re not ads – it’s just badass content that supports really unique creators who embrace the YETI lifestyle.
We call that “native content” in my line of work (running all the branded / partner content you see on this website) and they’re one of the few brands out there that have really mastered it.
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As a person who owns many, many YETI products of all shapes and sizes and a digital content guy, I have the utmost appreciation for what they do. This past Saturday night I was up for hours watching them on YouTube. Went down a huge wormhole. Just me and a bag of veggie straws, vegging out to YETI Presents on the couch.
Stay tuned on that – I’m going to share some of my favorites here on BroBible the next couple days.
