Josh Lowell

Director & actor

Josh Lowell first started climbing when he was a skinny 16-year-old in New York. A couple years later, he began taking a video camera to crags and putting together films of his friends. That was the start of a prolific career in climbing films. Lowell founded Big UP Productions in 1997, and the company produced Rampage, Pilgrimage and King Lines. In 2006, Big UP partnered with Sender Films to found the Reel Rock Film Tour, which has developed into the biggest climbing media platform in the world with over 400 live screening events each fall. With Sender Films, Lowell directed High and Mighty (Mountainfilm 2016), Young Guns and Brette (both at Mountainfilm 2017); The Dawn Wall (Mountainfilm 2018), Age of Ondra (Mountainfilm 2019), The High Road (Mountainfilm 2020), Reel Rock 15: Action Directe (Mountainfilm 2021) and Reel Rock 16: Barefoot Charles (Mountainfilm 2022).

Where to start: The Dawn Wall (2017).