When Mike Call started his third documentary for Black Diamond, he knew he needed to make a tribute to Maria Cranor.
Though she’s not well-known outside of the climbing community, it’s impossible to understate the impact she made on the sport. For most, Cranor is remembered as the creative genius who helped co-found Black Diamond. When Yvon Chouinard’s climbing hardware company, Chouinard Equipment, declared bankruptcy in 1989, Cranor and Peter Metcalf decided to rebuild it.
What they made became Black Diamond, a company that laid major groundwork for climbing’s eventual break into mainstream consciousness. In fact, Call said, the sport climbing revolution of the 1990s owes a huge debt to Cranor. Her marketing work for the company galvanized many people to give climbing a try.
“Climbing was such a weirdo sport. People today can’t appreciate how weird it was to people back in the ’80s,” he said. “Maria [pronounced like Mariah] was adept at taking the whole picture and giving it dignity, making it something you could be proud of … Climbing became cool because of people like Maria.”
Here’s our edited Q&A with Call about his newest film about Cranor: The Mentor.
GJ: Why did you decide to make a film about Maria Cranor?
Call: I have already done two other films for Black Diamond, The Lifer and The Artist. Maria was one of the connecting people for all three films. By the time I got to the third one, it became obvious she had to be the subject.
She was my first mentor other than my own parents. We both worked at Black Diamond at the time, where she was already a powerful force, and this was during the transition from Chouinard Equipment. She always seemed to have time for people like me and she always made time for the people around her.
I just couldn’t imagine a tribute to her not existing. She was from a generation that didn’t brag about what they did. It seemed like a tragedy that someone like her would not be recognized for what she did.
