‘Iconoclasts’: Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn in Alaska

Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 11.02.07 | 1:35 PM ET

It’s not often that an outdoor/adventure writer like Jon Krakauer gets more than a sound bite of TV time to talk about writing and the outdoors. So I was eager to see the latest installment in the Sundance Channel series “Iconoclasts.” The show features Krakauer and actor/filmmaker/provocateur Sean Penn traveling to Alaska, talking writing and filmmaking. The pair reflect on the life of Chris McCandless, the subject of Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild,” which Penn just turned into a film. They make a pilgrimage to the bus where McCandless spent his final days. Afterward, Krakauer shows Penn the ropes of ice climbing and they talk life philosophy. It turned out to be a pretty good, thoughtful hour of television.

Among the highlights, Krakauer, shown dangling from a rock, reflects on his feelings about writing:

I think in some interesting way, writing definitely replaced climbing. I used to be ambitious. I wanted to make my mark as a climber. I wanted to push myself to the limit, to test myself. Now writing does that for me. I’ve signed this new book deal a year ago or whatever and it scares the sh*t out of me. It’s like, what have I done? It’s that same sense of fear, challenge, and how am I going to pull this off?

SundanceChannel.com has video clips of the show.

Related on TravelChannel.com
* Into Alaska With Jeff Corwin