Arc’teryx’s latest short film Fifty-Fifty follows pro climbers Ines Papert and Sarah Hueniken as they navigate their sport after 50.
Working with a climbing partner on difficult routes means more than just sending the crux together. It’s an act of shared purpose and exploration. In the new Arc’teryx short film Fifty-Fifty, partnership becomes a lens through which we witness not just rock and ice climbing, but the art of aging with grace and intention.
Directed by Angela Percival, Fifty-Fifty (10 minutes, 2025) follows two of the world’s most respected alpinists, Ines Papert and Sarah Hueniken, as they navigate terrain that is as metaphorical as it is vertical.
Hueniken, an ACMG alpine guide based in Canmore, AB, has been a trailblazer for decades. She was the first North American woman to climb mixed routes graded M11 through M14 and has multiple podium finishes in ice climbing competitions, including a North American Lead Difficulty title. She has also spent years leading women-only mountaineering courses and co-founded the mentorship organization Mountain Muskox.
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German-born Papert is a legend in her own right—a four-time Ice Climbing World Champion and long a dominant figure on the international circuit. She has opened big routes in varied styles around the globe, from technical mixed lines to big alpine faces and Himalayan peaks.
But Fifty-Fifty isn’t simply a showcase of credentials or climbing grades. Instead, the film explores how these two women (both post-50) approach the evolving landscape of their sport and their bodies. Through sequences at Helmcken Falls, the Stanley Headwall and the Bow Valley, the film compares moments of gruelling physical effort with candid reflections on life, risk and the joy of continuing to advance even as time moves inevitably forward.
As Hueniken reflected in an interview with Athleta, turning 50 initially felt intimidating, but has become “a badge of honour”—proof that continued personal growth and curiosity don’t end with age. Papert echoes this sentiment, noting that she doesn’t think of herself as “50” in the traditional sense and sees each year as an opportunity to share her experience with others and to continue discovering new edges, both on the rock and within herself.
Fifty-Fifty is more than a climbing film—it’s a meditation on how a life spent in the mountains reinforces connection and mental and physical endurance. It challenges the misconception that peak performance is the domain of youth, offering instead a narrative of partnership and enduring stoke.
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