Jimmy Chin

From 1999 to 2001, Chin organized climbing expeditions to Pakistan's Karakoram Mountains. He signed a sponsorship agreement with The North Face in 2001.{{cite web|title=Photographer Jimmy Chin on Mastering the Art of Chill |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/features/interview-photographer-climber-jimmy-chin-master-art-of-chill/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912204638/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/features/interview-photographer-climber-jimmy-chin-master-art-of-chill/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 12, 2018 |publisher=National Geographic|author=Andrew Bisharat |date=2 February 2018}}

In 2002, he was asked to join a National Geographic expedition to make an unsupported crossing of the remote Chang Tang Plateau in Tibet with Galen Rowell, Rick Ridgeway and Conrad Anker. The expedition was featured in National Geographic{{'}}s April 2003 issue and documented in Rick Ridgeway's book The Big Open.

In 2003, Chin headed to Everest with Stephen Koch. They attempted the direct North Face via the Japanese Couloir to the Hornbein Couloir in alpine style (eschewing supplemental oxygen, fixed ropes, and camps). They were unsuccessful and both were nearly killed in an avalanche.{{Cite web |date=2021-11-24 |title=Over the Top: For 20-plus years, no one has done more to document the limits of climbing than Jimmy Chin. Now, with a new anthology of his life’s work, it’s time to honor an artist and climber who has transported intrepid souls to the edges of the world. |url=https://www.redbull.com/us-en/theredbulletin/photographer-jimmy-chin-portfolio |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Red Bull |language=en-us}}

In May 2004, Chin climbed Everest with David Breashears and Ed Viesturs while filming for Working Title on a feature film project with Stephen Daldry. Chin later accompanied Ed Viesturs to Annapurna in 2005. Viesturs successfully climbed Annapurna and finished his quest to climb all of the world's 8000-metre peaks without oxygen. Chin photographed the expedition and the story was featured in the September 2005 issue of Men's Journal.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

In October 2006, he achieved the first successful American ski descent of Mount Everest with Kit DesLauriers and Rob DesLauriers. They skied from the summit and are the only people to have skied the South Pillar Route on the Lhotse Face.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

In May 2007, Chin joined the Altitude Everest Expedition as a climber and expedition photographer in an attempt to retrace George Mallory and Sandy Irvine's fateful last journey up the North Face of Everest.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

In 2007, Chin ventured to Borneo with Mark Synnott, Conrad Anker, and Alex Honnold to make the first ascent of a 2,500-foot overhanging alpine big wall at an elevation of 14,000 feet on Mount Kinabalu.{{cite web | url=https://gripped.com/video/throwback-to-alex-honnolds-borneo-big-wall-dyno/ | title=Throwback to Alex Honnold's Borneo Big Wall Dyno | date=29 April 2021 }}

In 2008, Chin, Conrad Anker, and Renan Ozturk made their first attempt on the "Shark's Fin", a 1,500-foot blade of granite leading to the summit of 21,000-foot Meru Central, in India's Garhwal Himalaya range. They spent 19 days on the wall but were forced to turn back just 100 meters short of the summit.{{cite web | url=https://www.insidehook.com/article/travel/jimmy-chin-remembers-meru-sharks-fin-impossible-summit | title=Jimmy Chin Remembers Shark's Fin, the Summit That Launched Him to Stardom }}

In 2009, on an expedition to Chad's remote Ennedi Desert, Chin, Alex Honnold, Renan Ozturk, Mark Synott, and James Pearson made numerous first ascents of sandstone towers and arches.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Outside of major Himalayan expeditions, Chin has participated in numerous exploratory climbing and skiing expeditions to Baffin Island, Borneo, Mali, Chad, the Pitcairn Islands, Antarctica, and other remote regions of the planet.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

In April 2011, Chin survived a class-4 avalanche in the Grand Tetons, his home mountain range.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2016/07/03/484199296/the-beast-born-of-snow-what-it-feels-like-in-the-jaws-of-an-avalanche?t=1586855759686|title=The Beast Born of Snow|last=Breslow|first=Peter|date=July 3, 2016|website=NPR}}

In October 2011 Chin, Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk made the first ascent of the Shark's Fin route on Meru Central in the Garhwal Himalayas in India. They had tried the same climb in 2008, but were forced to turn around 100m from the summit.{{cite web|url=https://rockandice.com/climbing-news/climbing-film-meru-makes-it-into-the-sundance-film-festival/ |publisher=Rock and Ice |title=Climbing Film "Meru" Makes it into the Sundance Film Festival |author=Hayden Carpenter |date=20 January 2015}} His film of the climb, Meru, was released in theaters in 2015.{{cite web|title=A Filmmaker's Epic Journey to the Peak of Meru|url=http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/25/a-filmmakers-epic-journey-to-the-peak-of-meru/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150302065756/http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/25/a-filmmakers-epic-journey-to-the-peak-of-meru/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 2, 2015|publisher=National Geographic|access-date=13 August 2015|date=25 February 2015}}

In 2017, Chin and Anker established a new route on Ulvetanna Peak, called The Wolf's Fang, in Queen Maud Land, in Antarctica.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

In 2020, Chin, Anker, Jim Morrison, and Hilaree Nelson climbed and skied Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica, in a one-day push. The team spent less than 48 hours at the mountain. They then attempted to climb and ski the French Route on Mount Tyree, the second-highest peak in Antarctica but turned around due to avalanche danger.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

In 2024, exactly a century after Irvine's disappearance, an expedition led by Chin recovered a detached foot inside a boot and sock on Rongbuk Glacier. The sock was embroidered with 'A.C. Irvine' and is believed to be Andrew Irvine's. Per Chin, it is suspected the remains had melted out of the glacier about a week prior to discovery. Due to the presence of scavenging birds, Chin and his team removed the foot and turned it over to the China Tibet Mountaineering Association, the governmental agency which oversees the North Side of Mount Everest.{{Cite news |last=Schaffer |first=Grayson |date=2024-10-11 |title=Remains of Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine believed to have been found on Everest |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/sandy-irvine-body-found-everest |access-date=2024-10-11 |work=National Geographic}}{{cite news |last=Wong |first=Tessa |date=11 October 2024 |title=Family tells of 'relief' after 1924 climber's foot found on Everest |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0g2p47xd5o |access-date=13 April 2025 |work=BBC News}}{{cite news |date=11 October 2024 |title=Remains of Everest explorer Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine found 100 years after disappearance |url=https://www.itv.com/news/2024-10-11/remains-of-british-explorer-found-on-mount-everest-100-years-after-disappearance |access-date=13 April 2025 |work=ITV News}}

Chin began filming in 2003 under the mentorship of Rick Ridgeway. He was a cinematographer for the National Geographic television special Deadly Fashion. He later worked with David Breashears, shooting Ed Viesturs climbing to the summit of Mount Everest. He worked as a cinematographer with Chris Malloy of Woodshed films on the feature documentary 180 South.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

In 2010, Chin started the commercial production company Camp 4 Collective with Tim Kemple and Renan Ozturk. He sold the company to his partners in 2014.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Chin collaborated with his wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi to produce and direct the feature-length documentary Meru, about his 2011 climb.{{cite web|url=https://www.outsideonline.com/2342126/Elizabeth-Chai-Vasarhelyi-free-solo-movie |publisher=Outside Online |title=Free Solo's Director Doesn't Give a F**k About Climbing|author=Lisa Chase |date=12 September 2018}} It premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, winning the US Audience Documentary Award.

Alex Honnold and Chin started climbing together in 2009 but it was not until 2015 that Honnold chose Chin and wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi to film his process of climbing up El Capitan.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2018/09/alex-honnold-jimmy-chin-free-solo-yosemite-el-capitan-explore-through-the-lens/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225043451/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2018/09/alex-honnold-jimmy-chin-free-solo-yosemite-el-capitan-explore-through-the-lens/|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 25, 2019|title=How Jimmy Chin Filmed Alex Honnold's Death-Defying Free Solo|date=2018-09-27|website=Magazine|access-date=2019-05-07}}

On June 3, 2017, Chin led a team that filmed Alex Honnold on the first ever rope-free ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Collaborating again with Vasarhelyi, they produced and directed the feature-length documentary Free Solo.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/features/athletes/alex-honnold/most-dangerous-free-solo-climb-yosemite-national-park-el-capitan/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603192910/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/features/athletes/alex-honnold/most-dangerous-free-solo-climb-yosemite-national-park-el-capitan/|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 3, 2017|title=Exclusive: Climber Completes the Most Dangerous Rope-Free Ascent Ever|date=3 June 2017|access-date=22 October 2017}} Free Solo went on to win the People's Choice Award: Documentaries at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival,[https://www.indiewire.com/2018/09/tiff-2018-awards-green-book-peoples-choice-1202004060/ "TIFF 2018 Awards: ‘Green Book’ Wins the People’s Choice Award, Upsetting ‘A Star Is Born’"] the 2018 BAFTA Award for Best Documentary,[http://awards.bafta.org/award/2019/film/documentary], 10 February 2019 and the 2018 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Chin and Chai's 2021 documentary, The Rescue, chronicles the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, during which twelve boys belonging to an association football team and their assistant coach were rescued from inside a flooded cave in northern Thailand. The film, which premiered in select theaters in October 2021, won the People's Choice Documentary Award at the Toronto International Film Festival{{Cite web |title=Awards |url=https://tiff.net/awards |access-date=2024-11-02 |website=TIFF |language=en}} and received generally positive reviews.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Their 2022 documentary Return to Space centered on Elon Musk and SpaceX.{{cite web |url=https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/return-to-space-documentary-spacex-facts-elon-musk |title=The Top 10 Things We Learned from 'Return to Space' |last=Nelson |first=Samantha |date=November 2, 2022 |website=Tudum |access-date= |quote=}}

The 8-part documentary series Edge of the Unknown with Jimmy Chin premiered on Disney Plus on September 7, 2022. Chin and Chai co-directed and produced 2 episodes, while Chin was featured throughout the series.

Chin and Chai's 2023 National Geographic documentary Wild Life follows Kristine Tompkins and Doug Tompkins for decades of their love story, life of entrepreneurial and conservation work, culminating with their visionary effort to create national parks in Chile and Argentina through the largest private land donation in history.{{cite web | url=https://films.nationalgeographic.com/wild-life | title=Wild Life }}

Co-directed with Natalie Hewit, Chin and Chai's 2024 National Geographic documentary, Endurance, tells the story of Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic expedition in the 1910's and the 2022 rediscovery of his ship, which had sunk to the bottom of the Weddell Sea, by the Endurance22 mission.{{Cite web |last=Page |first=Thomas |date=2024-11-01 |title=With 'Endurance,' an Oscar-winning duo meet their toughest subject to date |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/01/entertainment/endurance-documentary/index.html |access-date=2024-11-02 |website=CNN |language=en}} The film includes preserved film footage from the original expedition's photographer, Frank Hurley.{{Cite web |last=Sancton |first=Julian |date=2024-11-01 |title=The 'Endurance' Filmmakers on Bringing Ernest Shackleton Back From the Dead With AI |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/endurance-ernest-shackleton-ai-documentary-1236050435/ |access-date=2024-11-02 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}

Chin was born and raised in Mankato, Minnesota, and graduated from Wayland Academy. Both his parents are from China, his father was born in Wenzhou, and his mother was born in Harbin.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150811160320/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150810-chin-jimmy-meru-documentary-everest-teton-mountaineering/ "Why Jimmy Chin Takes Pictures While Climbing and Skiing Mountains"], Mark M. Synnott, 10 August 2015, National Geographic They both worked as librarians.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/features/interview-photographer-climber-jimmy-chin-master-art-of-chill/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912204638/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/features/interview-photographer-climber-jimmy-chin-master-art-of-chill/|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 12, 2018|title=Photographer Jimmy Chin on Mastering the Art of Chill|date=2 February 2018|access-date=12 September 2018}}

He is a 1996 alumnus of Carleton College,{{cite magazine |url= https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/27/pipsters |title= Pipsters |author= Nick Paumgarten |date= 20 July 2015 |magazine= The New Yorker |access-date= 11 March 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150724224324/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/27/pipsters |archive-date=2015-07-24}}

{{cite web |url= https://www.carleton.edu/news/stories/jimmy-chin-96-picks-up-oscar-for-best-documentary-feature/ |title= Jimmy Chin '96 picks up Oscar for Best Documentary Feature |author= |date= 25 February 2019 |website= 25 February 2019 |publisher= Carleton College |access-date= 11 March 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240312000203/https://www.carleton.edu/news/stories/jimmy-chin-96-picks-up-oscar-for-best-documentary-feature/ |archive-date=2024-03-12}}

where he received a BA in Asian Studies. He first became involved in climbing while at Carleton.{{Cite news|url=https://www.esquire.com/sports/a44165/how-jimmy-chin-climbs-a-mountain/|title=Jimmy Chin Just Can't Stop Climbing|date=20 April 2016|work=Esquire|access-date=12 September 2018|language=en-US}} After college, he became a climbing "dirtbag", despite his parents' disapproval. He serendipitously discovered photography when he borrowed his sleeping climbing partner's camera to take a photo. They sold the picture for $500, and this started his photography career.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/27/pipsters|title=A Mountaineer in Manhattan|date=27 July 2015|access-date=4 December 2018}}

On May 26, 2013, Chin married film director and producer Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.{{Cite news |date=May 26, 2013 |title=Elizabeth Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/fashion/weddings/elizabeth-vasarhelyi-jimmy-chin-weddings.html |access-date=June 23, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}

As of 2015, Chin splits his time between New York City and Jackson, Wyoming.

Chin and Vasarhelyi have two children: Marina and James.{{cite news |last=Laudato |first=Anthony |date= 14 Nov 2021 |title= Climber-filmmaker Jimmy Chin: Living life on the edge |url= https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jimmy-chin-the-rescue-there-and-back-photographs-from-the-edge/ |editor1-last= Brenner |editor1-first= Karen |work= CBS Sunday Morning |access-date= 11 March 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211114153945/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jimmy-chin-the-rescue-there-and-back-photographs-from-the-edge/ |archive-date=2021-11-14 |quote= Chin and Vasarhelyi themselves have two young children, James and Marina.}}

{{BLP unreferenced section|date=December 2022}}

Climbing

• Meru-Sharks Fin, FA of East Face VII 5.10 A4 M7, India
• Mt. Everest, South Col Route, Nepal
• Ulvetanna, FA of the Anker Chin Route, VII 5.10, A3, Antarctica
• Mt. Kinabalu, FA V 5.12 A2, Borneo
• Kaga Pomori, FA IV; 5.11R South Face, Mali, Africa
• Chiru Mustagh, first ascent Southeast Ridge, 21,000 ft., Xinjiang, China
• Free solo of the Grand Traverse, Grand Teton National Park, 12 hours car to car
• Tahir Tower, FA VII 5.11 A3, Kondus Valley, Karakoram, Pakistan
• 15 one day ascents of El Capitan
• Native Son, VI 5.9 A4, Pacific Ocean Wall, VI 5.10, A3+
• Beatrice Tower, FA VII 5.10+ A3+, Charakusa Valley, Karakoram, Pakistan
• Fathi Brakk, FA VI 5.10+ A3 WI4, Charakusa Valley, Karakoram, Pakistan

Ski mountaineering

• Mt. Everest, South Pillar Route, first American ski descent
• Tai Yang Peak, first ascent and ski descent, Xinjiang, China
• Chang Zheng Peak (22,800 ft.), first ski descent, Central Rongbuk, Tibet
• 25 ski descents of the Grand Teton
• First solo winter ski descent of the Grand Teton
• Skied the Grand Teton, Middle Teton and South Teton 10 hours car to car
• Skied multiple lines off all the primary peaks in the Teton Range including the Newcomb Couloir on the north face of Buck Mountain, the Spooky Face on Nez Perce, the Amore Vida on the South Teton, the Glacier Route on the Middle Teton, the Colvin on Mount Owen, the East Face of Teewinot and the Skillet on Mount Moran among others.
• Denali, West Buttress, Rescue Gully

• There and Back (2021)

• Nyad (2023)

• Meru (2015)
• Free Solo (2018)
• The Rescue (2021)
• 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (2021)
• Return to Space (2022)
• Wild Life (2023)
• Endurance (2024)

• MasterClass' Jimmy Chin Teaches Adventure Photography{{Cite web|date=2018-12-05|title='Free Solo' Director Jimmy Chin Will Be Your Photo Instructor|url=https://www.cntraveler.com/story/free-solo-director-jimmy-chin-launches-adventure-photography-masterclass|access-date=2021-07-15|website=Condé Nast Traveler|language=en-US}}

{{BLP sources section|date=December 2022}}

{{BLP sources section|date=December 2022}}

• Navy SEAL Foundation Fire in the Gut Award (2024){{Cite web |date=2024-03-07 |title=Navy Seals Foundation 2024 NYC Benefit Dinner |url=https://impact.navysealfoundation.org/event/2024-nyc-benefit-dinner/e458330|access-date=2024-04-05 |website=navysealfoundation|language=en}}
• Nominee Piolet D'Or International Climbing award{{Cite web |date=2012-06-15 |title=Americans, Slovenians Win Piolets d'Or |url=https://www.climbing.com/news/americans-slovenians-win-piolets-dor-2/ |access-date=2022-06-27 |website=Climbing |language=en}}
• Outside Magazine's Adventurers of the Year 2012{{Cite web |date=2012-04-09 |title=2012 Outside Adventurers of the Year |url=https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/2012-outside-adventurers-year/ |access-date=2022-06-27 |website=Outside Online |language=en-US}}
• American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) Sports and Adventure Winner{{Cite web |title=MAGAZINE EDITORS CHOOSE THE COVER OF THE YEAR |url=https://www.asme.media/magazine-editors-choose-the-cover-of-the-year |access-date=2022-06-27 |website=www.asme.media}}
• Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) Foundation's Award
• National Geographic and Microsoft Emerging Explorers Grant
• Galen Rowell Memorial Photography Award
• Lyman Spitzer Adventure Award: K7 Climbing Expedition
• Polartec Grant Recipient: K7 Climbing Expedition
• Honorary Doctorate, Sustainability Science, Unity College, Unity, Maine
• Carleton College Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement{{cite web |title=Carleton College |url=https://apps.carleton.edu/alumni/council/awards/2016/}}
• National Geographic Photographer's Photographer Award (2020)
• National Geographic Further Award (2020){{Cite web |title=Jimmy Kuo Wei Chin - National Geographic Society |url=https://explorer-directory.nationalgeographic.org/jimmy-kuo-wei-chin |access-date=2022-02-08 |website=www.nationalgeographic.org |language=en}}
• Murie Spirit of Conversation Award (2019){{Cite web |date=2019-05-01 |title=News Release: Jimmy Chin to Receive Murie Spirit of Conservation Award |url=https://www.tetonscience.org/news-release-jimmy-chin-to-receive-murie-spirit-of-conservation-award/ |access-date=2022-06-27 |website=Teton Science Schools |language=en-US}}
• Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival for Meru (2015)
• Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Free Solo (2018)
• GQ Man of the Year (2021){{Cite web |title=GQ Men of the Year |url=https://www.gq.com/about/men-of-the-year |access-date=2022-06-27 |website=GQ |language=en}}
• Ken Burn's American Heritage Prize (2022){{Cite web |title=2019 Recipient |url=http://www.kenburnsprize.com/prize-recipients |access-date=2022-06-27 |website=Ken Burns American Heritage Prize |language=en-US}}

• List of Mount Everest summiters by number of times to the summit

{{Reflist}}

• {{official website|www.jimmychin.com}}
• {{IMDb name|3011011}}

{{Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin}}

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{{Critics' Choice Documentary Award for Best Director}}

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Category:1970s births

Category:American mountain climbers

Category:American people of Chinese descent

Category:American people of Taiwanese descent

Category:Carleton College alumni

Category:Directors of Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners

Category:Living people

Category:National Geographic photographers

Category:People from Wilson, Wyoming

Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners

Category:Sportspeople from Mankato, Minnesota

Category:American summiters of Mount Everest

Category:Wayland Academy, Wisconsin alumni