Stéphane Hanssens

Stéphane, a rock-climber, wants to make a name in the world of climbing. With his girlfriend Alizée, a renowned climber, he spends the winter in Siurana, Catalonia – the perfect place for tough climbing. ‘The Big Boys’ Playground’ is about the mindset of climbers. Sometimes the hardest part is simply accepting that one is able to succeed. Performance, more than a physical achievement, seems to be a state of mind. Through the sport of climbing the film reflects on universal topics such as the pursuit of excellence, achievement of goals and life as a couple … ‘The Big Boys’ Playground’ has the ambition to reach the general public, but at the same time it takes a critical look at already well-established climbing film industry.

Film from the Belgian climbing team, following Asgard Jamming and Vertical Sailing Greenland, Venezuela Jungle Jam features Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll, Nico Favresse, Stephane Hanssens and Jean-Louis Wertz as they attempt a new free climb on the overhanging 500m wall of Amuri Tepul in the Venezuelan Jungle.

This original, light-hearted film follows a skilled team of five climbers on an expedition to climb the North-West face of the remote Mount Asgard on Baffin Island... 45 days, 0 nights, 600km on foot, 11 days on the wall, 4 men, 1 woman - this film follows Sean, Nicolas, Olivier, Steph and Silvia on a rock climbing expedition on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. Mentored by Freyr, the Viking god of weather and fertility, these 'warriors' ventured on a quest to enter the fortress of the gods (Asgard) without the magical rainbow bridge. Confronted with rock hard climbing on divine vertical granite; this is serious buiness...!

A 1000m vertical wall of excellent granite. We carried all the gear and food for one month in the mountains and we spent one entire week on the wall living in our portaledge to try to reach the summit. This series tells the whole adventure! After our expedition in Torres del Paine (Chile) in February 2013, Sean, Merlin Dider and myself, we made a serie with 7 episodes about our climb on Cerro Catedral. It was the first free ascent of the east face of the mountain.

The recovery drink is a documentary about rock climbing that takes place in Jossingfjord. It was directed by Jean-Louis Wertz in 2014. It features Nicolas Favresse and Stéphane Hanssens.

During one month a diverse crew went out to explore new bouldering areas in Namibia, which is still largely unexplored with regard to climbing. Despite wildlife, mines, sand dunes and other classic attractions that compose this country, it seemed to the team that there was still one very important attraction missing … sites of blocks in quantity and quality. They figured that the only thing they could do was go out there and have a look on site.

China Jam is a documentary about rock climbing that takes place in Kyzyl Asker. It was directed by Evrard Wendenbaum in 2014. It features Nicolas Favresse, Stéphane Hanssens, Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll and Evrard Wendenbaum.

The brothers Alex and Thomas Huber, together with the Tyrolean Mario Walder join forces in the summer of 2012 on the island of Baffin to complete the liberation of Bavarian direct (700 m of route and originally ranked as 6b/A3) in the South Tower of Mount Asgard. Its chaining, made in roped style alternating the pitches, places this route in the second step of the difficulty in Arctic rock (with a maximum degree of 8a+, very close to the 8b that the brothers Pou and Hansjörg Auer gave to their 'The door' in Perfection Valley). The Germans solved the pitch left by the Belgians and Silvia Vidal in 2009. In the film the Huber brothers meet the German team that opened the route in 1996 and the Belgian team who almost free-climbed it in 2009.