ROCK CLIMBER
RENAN OZTURK
PARK CITY, UTAH
Expedition climber, landscape artist and filmmaker, Renan Ozturk lives to tell stories about our connection to the natural world, often set within the most challenging environments on Earth.
Before Renan was a filmmaker, he spent his days painting while climbing, carrying large swaths of raw cotton canvas on his back to the places he cut his teeth as a professional climber. He used mixed media, found materials, oil pastels, watercolors, acrylics, ink pens and even natural pigments pulled straight from the earth to capture the wild landscapes he experienced.
Born Germany and raised in Rhode Island—much of his childhood on a sailboat—Renan first thought about climbing when he ventured above tree line in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. He remembers feeling an overwhelming sense of joy. Seeing Himalayan expedition climbing in issues of National Geographic fueled his fascination and drive to explore greater ranges and experience different cultures—still his main passion today.
Renan is perhaps best known for his work co-directing and starring in the 2015 Sundance Documentary Audience Award winning film MERU, which documents a first decent in the Himalayas with friends Conrad Anker and Jimmy Chin, and the critically acclaimed Sherpa, which screened at TIFF and Telluride. He’s directed and shot commercial work for major international brands and works as a photojournalist for Sony and National Geographic. In 2013, he was named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and shot his first feature story for National Geographic magazine in 2018, titled “The Last Honey Hunter of Nepal”.
Accomplishments
- First ascent of the Shark’s Fin route on Meru in the Himalaya
- First ascent of The Tooth Traverse across the Moose's Tooth Skyline, Denali National Park
- Free ascent of El Cap via The FreeRider — 5.12+
- First ascent of the SW Cat Ear Spire, Trango Towers, Pakistan Himalaya
- First ascent of ‘The Beholder' on the Eye Tooth, Ruth Gorge, Denali National Park — Grade V 5.12
- First ascent of the SW Buttress of Tawoche, Khumbu Himalaya, Nepal