{"id":18523,"date":"2026-10-27T16:27:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T16:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=18523"},"modified":"2026-10-27T16:27:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T16:27:16","slug":"tanner-wanish-and-michael-vaill-are-climbings-new-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=18523","title":{"rendered":"Tanner Wanish and Michael Vaill Are Climbing\u2019s New Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Updated October 27, 2026 10:11AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

My favorite scene from the new adventure film Nobody & Goliath<\/em><\/a>\u00a0involves cigarettes.<\/p>\n

Having completed most of the gargantuan Goliath Traverse in California\u2019s Sierra Nevada\u2014a 32-mile ridgeline that passes over 60 summits\u2014rock climbers Tanner Wanish and Michael Vaill are dizzy with exhaustion. They\u2019ve spent the past eight days climbing in the no-fall zone. They\u2019ve gone long stretches of the trip without water or food.<\/p>\n

To celebrate almost<\/em> being done, Wanish and Vaill spark up a couple of lung darts and puff away at 12,000 feet, giggling and backslapping like a couple of high schoolers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just daydreaming about all of the food and comforts we wanted once we finished, and Mike randomly said he could go for a smoke,\u201d Wanish told me recently. Both he and Vaill sometimes chew nicotine pouches for an extra burst of energy on the crag, he added, but never puff cigarettes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a smoker, but that one was quite enjoyable,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Look, I\u2019m no smoker either\u2014tobacco products of all forms make my stomach turn. But I still love the scene. It hammers home the film\u2019s primary thrust, which is to introduce mainstream audiences to Wanish and Vaill, alongside an intoxicating message: Climbing\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0newest superstars are a different breed.<\/em><\/p>\n

And no, it\u2019s not just because they enjoy a cig every now and then.<\/p>\n

Speedy Ascents in Yosemite<\/h2>\n

I called Wanish and Vaill recently to talk about the film and their newfound stardom in rock climbing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do still feel like outsiders,\u201d Wanish told me. \u201cI do have this really significant sense of imposter syndrome when I\u2019m with these professional climbers. But it\u2019s starting to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t feel bad if you\u2019re unfamiliar with their names. The duo has built a following within rock climbing circles for their speedy ascents of the biggest walls in Yosemite National Park. Nobody & Goliath<\/em>, which is touring theaters across the U.S. in 2026<\/a>,\u00a0is their first big film project.<\/p>\n

Outside<\/em> has written about them once before. In October 2024, they became Yosemite\u2019s new power couple with a speedy finish on the so-called Yosemite Triple: El Capitan, Half Dome, and Mount Watkins. They did it faster (17 hours, 55 minutes) than any team in history, surpassing times set by some of the valley\u2019s greatest climbing duos: Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell, Dean Potter and Timmy O\u2019Neil, Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds, among others.<\/p>\n

A week after the triple, Vaill and Wanish did the route again, and then tacked on a fourth climb, the south face of the Washington Column. They called this pioneering test of endurance the \u201cYosemite Quad<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lost in many of the news stories about their fast climbs was an eye-popping datapoint. Neither Vaill nor Wanish had been climbing for very long. At the time, Wanish had been in the sport for less than five years. Vaill, similarly, had started climbing in his mid-twenties.<\/p>\n

Wanish (right) and Vaill celebrate their record atop Half Dome back in 2024<\/span>\u00a0(Photo: Tanner Wanish)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cChristmas Day, 2016, that was the first day I ever touched rock,\u201d Vaill, who is 34, told me. \u201cI\u2019d seen pictures of Yosemite, but had no idea I\u2019d end up doing those types of climbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to becoming full-time climbers, Wanish served in the Navy SEALs, while Vaill was a scientific researcher with a PhD in biomedical sciences. They grew up in the southeastern U.S.\u2014Wanish in South Carolina and Vaill in Georgia. Both guys told me their early twenties revolved around booze and school and attending college football games\u2014not pushing their bodies on vertical faces of rock.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was partying way too hard,\u201d Wanish said. \u201cBars every weekend, drinking with the guys. That lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty of late bloomers go on to achieve lofty goals in climbing, but few become the focus of the feature-length films. It\u2019s no secret that climbing\u2019s marquee documentaries tend to focus on athletes with long and storied histories in the sport: think Girl Climber<\/em>\u2018s Emily Harrington, or\u00a0Dawn Wall\u00a0<\/em>and Caldwell, Honnold and his many films, and even more recent movies about wunderkind Connor Herson.<\/p>\n

Even more core climbing filmmakers train their lens on the sport\u2019s child prodigies, like Adam Ondra or Chris Sharma.<\/p>\n

Wanish and Vaill recognize their outsider status amongst climbing\u2019s biggest athletes. Ondra and Herson tackle routes rated 5.15. Vaill and Wanish, meanwhile, hit their limit on routes in the 5.11 or 5.12 range.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t spent the last 20 years training on a campus board,<\/a>\u201d Vaill said. \u201cOne in a million people has the genetic potential to climb a route rated 5.15, and we\u2019re not those guys. Our story is about simple things that every single person out there has. Our story is about how we tapped into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlikely Climbing Superheroes<\/h2>\n

The secret sauce behind Wanish and Vaill is their climbing partnership. Neither guy, on his own, is anywhere near being crowned the world\u2019s best rock climber. But when teamed together, the duo push each other to climb harder and faster and longer than even Honnold and Caldwell.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we would be able to do this stuff without each other,\u201d Wanish said. \u201cBoth of us have this ability to really commit to something\u2014like a big climbing objective or to the micro moves that get you up a single pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody & Goliath<\/em>, which was made by filmmaker Joshua Noll, shows what this actually looks like. Footage captures the two egging each other on as they zip up big walls in Yosemite at 2 A.M. They coach each other as they grab at tiny holds on the side of El Capitan.<\/p>\n

\"Two
Wanish leads a pitch during the Goliath Traverse<\/span> (Photo: Stephen Campbell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They move fast on the rock wall and rarely stop to rest. When one guy is exhausted and the other is still going strong, they use this imbalance to push on until they reach the top.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are times when you\u2019re climbing and you get tired, and you think, \u2018This kind of sucks. Should we just go down?\u2019 And if your partner agrees with you, then you\u2019re probably going to bail,\u201d Vaill said. \u201cWith Tanner, I know he\u2019s going to want to keep going, which means I am, too. And after talking it over, I know we\u2019re going to be 100 percent ready to rage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first half of Nobody & Goliath<\/em> showcases how their partnership propelled them from anonymous dreamers to the pinnacle of Yosemite big wall climbing.<\/p>\n

The two met on a Mountain Project message board after Wanish, who had just become obsessed with the sport, was looking for a climbing partner with equal levels of enthusiasm. At the time, both guys were at that very special period in one\u2019s relationship with outdoor recreation, when all you want to do is practice your specific sport, all day, day every day.<\/p>\n

When they found each other, their mutual desire to push one another\u00a0led them to progress from local crags near San Diego to El Capitan in under a year.<\/p>\n

It then propelled them to take on the valley\u2019s speed climbs. As Wanish said, their ability to push each other \u201cpulls every second of slack out of these walls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the way a normal person climbs a pitch, they look up, look down, think about what they\u2019re going to do, and then maybe make a move,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are able to commit to these moves without thinking about them. We\u2019re not hesitating or pausing because we\u2019re not scared. And when you do that, you\u2019re able to take these walls that take people three or four days and do them in five hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaill called his partnership with Wanish a \u201ccheat code.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like Tanner and I have been on this rocket-boosted trajectory through rock climbing because we tapped into the power of partnership in climbing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

An Outsider\u2019s Perspective on Adventure Storytelling<\/h2>\n

Stories come and go about famed duos in the world of adventure, and the tales usually include platitudes like the ones Wanish and Vaill have expressed about teamwork and commitment. To see a world-class climbing partnership actually take shape on film gives Nobody & Goliath<\/em> mainstream appeal that other climbing movies don\u2019t always capture.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve watched most climbing documentaries that have attracted casual audiences, and many have a similar structure. A prodigious climber becomes obsessed with a mountain or route, and commits all of their energy to completing the goal. The climber can\u2019t move on with his or her life until they reach the summit.<\/p>\n

Nobody & Goliath<\/em> is different. After their Yosemite exploits, the two take on the Goliath Traverse, a brutal trek across the Sierra Nevada\u2019s highest peaks, hoping to become the second group to complete it behind climber Vitaliy Musiyenko, who first did it in 2021.<\/p>\n

\"Two
Wanish (left) and Vaill during the Goliath Traverse<\/span> (Photo: Joshua Noll)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But at no point during the arduous trip do Wanish and Vaill seem singularly obsessed with the accomplishment. Sure, they want to complete it. But the trip isn\u2019t a life-altering mission, \u00e0 la Harrington free climbing the Golden Gate route up El Capitan in Girl Climber.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Instead, Wanish and Vaill commit to each other. Cameras capture them as their strength and stamina ebb and flow over eight days of punishing climbs. At times, Vaill is totally depleted\u2014the result of a recent climbing injury. Wanish must navigate the strength imbalance, and eventually finds ways to pick him up.<\/p>\n

In other scenes, the guys find humor in the sucky repetition of climbing loose and dangerous pinnacles and then rappelling back down, only to face another tricky ascent. Wanish and Vaill come across as guys you\u2019d want to grab a beer with\u2014a quality that lifelong elite climbers don\u2019t always possess.<\/p>\n

The camaraderie and friendship is what ultimately help them finish the route.<\/p>\n

In some ways, this story is more relatable to the average outdoor athlete than that of uber-talented pro climber taking on a lifelong dream that mere mortals will never approach. Wanish told me the film\u2019s name originates with this idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why they call it\u00a0Nobody & Goliath,\u00a0<\/em>because we are the nobodies,\u201d Wanish said. \u201cWe\u2019re just two guys who are willing to try hard and commit. And in a way, it shows that most people are capable of doing something like this. You just need to be willing to go all-in, and you\u2019ll be shocked what you\u2019re capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaill echoed the sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re living proof of that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n


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Updated October 27, 2026 10:11AM My favorite scene from the new adventure film Nobody & Goliath\u00a0involves cigarettes. Having completed most of the gargantuan Goliath Traverse in California\u2019s Sierra Nevada\u2014a 32-mile ridgeline that passes over 60 summits\u2014rock climbers Tanner Wanish and Michael Vaill are dizzy with exhaustion. They\u2019ve spent the past eight days climbing in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wild-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}