180 Degrees South: Conquerors of the Useless
180 Degrees South: Conquerors of the Useless, or simply 180° South, is a 2010 documentary directed by Chris Malloy that covers the journey of Jeff Johnson as he travels from Ventura, California to Patagonia, Chile. He retraces the 1968 trip that Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins took in their Ford E-Series Econoline Van with the end goal of climbing Fitz Roy, one of the more difficult climbs in the Andes. After finding footage of the 1968 expedition, Johnson decided to make climbing the Corcovado Volcano in Patagonia his own goal and, after speaking to Chouinard and Tompkins, planned his own journey.
Theatrical poster
Douglas Rainsford Tompkins was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. He founded the North Face Inc, co-founded Esprit and various environmental groups, including the Foundation for Deep Ecology and Tompkins Conservation.
Tompkins in 2009