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“This is a moment to pause, reevaluate and think about what’s important,” he added.

Early years

As a film director and National Geographic photographer, Chin has assembled a world-class portfolio of work. This year he returned from a trip to Antarctica, where he and a team of adventurers skied two new routes down the tallest and second-tallest peaks on the continent.

But such a life wasn’t always the plan.

As a child growing up in rural Minnesota, Chin was encouraged to pursue more traditional aspirations: excelling academically, as well as in martial arts and as a competitive swimmer.

But it was skiing on a small hill behind his house that he found freedom. “If I did well in everything else, I got to ski,” he said.

Already with a taste for the world of outdoor sports, Chin was introduced to climbing at college. At that point, he said, it was game over as the sport became a vehicle to see the world and explore places that made his “heart sing.”

He moved to Yosemite National Park where he worked odd jobs to fund his nomadic lifestyle, eventually picking up a camera and starting to shoot.

“I have so many incredible photographer friends who had a really noble vision for being an artist with their photography,” he laughed.

“But my whole entry into it was just ‘if I take these photos and I sell them I can make a little money so I can keep climbing.'”

Capturing the impossible

Since he himself is a professional climber, Chin’s photography services have been that much more in demand over the years, with the relationship between him and his subjects an important element of his success.

“If they’re going to be doing this thing, and you’re the only one documenting, they’ve got to trust that you’re going to get it,” he said. “Then I have to trust that the athlete isn’t just doing it for the camera.”

Such a collaboration was put to the ultimate test in perhaps his finest, and most daring, work to date.

Chin assembled a team of world-class climbers to help film Honnold ascend the 3,200-foot vertical rock face without a single safety rope.

Working together, they plotted where the cameras would be positioned on the wall so as to not distract Honnold on the day.

The historic feat won the team an Academy Award for Best Documentary at a ceremony that will live long in Chin’s memory.

“My confidence in Alex [Honnold] and his capacity to execute was very, very high,” said Chin, who had known Honnold for around 10 years before his death-defying ascent.

“I had seen him in very difficult situations before, completely unfazed, and I also knew that he’s the most calculated person I know. He’s not going to go do it if he’s not ready.”

Dealing with fear

Despite his years of experience, Chin said watching his friend train for and complete the climb was an ordeal.

“The fear was less acute than I think people might have perceived; it was more of a long-term dread,” he said, now able to laugh at the thought.

“I felt like it was on my shoulders for almost three years, from when we conceived of the project to filming it with him.

“Every day, whether he was free-soloing or not, there’s a potential for somebody to get hurt or die because you’re in these environments.”

Dealing with uncertainty is an occupational hazard for Chin and although meticulous planning can help iron out some of the danger, managing fear itself is essential to coping with the unexpected. Remaining calm, avoiding emotional decisions, can often be the difference between life and death.

“You have [to] step outside of yourself and be objective about a situation and make very objective decisions,” he said.

Lockdown lessons

Though still working at home on a number of projects, it has taken a once-in-a-century event like the global pandemic to finally slow Chin down. He is now at least able to enjoy time with his young family.

“I’m just out in the yard playing with the kids, usually a rarity for me,” he said, acknowledging these were the most consecutive days he’d spent with his four-and six-year-old children.

“I don’t get that much time to hang out with them so I’ve been running around the yard and having fun.”

Living in a rural area means Chin is able to leave his house while still abiding by social distancing guidelines, a must for someone whose mental and physical well-being is “tied” to going into the wilderness.

He is a man who, in more ordinary times, usually searches for solitude, reveling in having time to think and ask existential questions. “It’s good to think about them,” he said.

It is not the sort of life many would choose, Chin admitted, but he hoped people in lockdown could learn from his experiences.

“Those are the kinds of experiences that I go and seek and now there’s an opportunity for people to do that. Take this moment.”

Two of the bodies were recovered on Monday and another two the following morning, according to the KNRM post. A fifth body has yet to be recovered. The victims’ identities have not yet been released.

Investigators are now looking into what caused the sea foam and its possible role in the tragedy.

Johan Remkes, mayor of The Hague, described the events as a “terrible tragedy” involving “young, physically fit, sporty people, who know the sea like the back of their hand.”

The mayor, who witnessed the incident as it happened, said: “How is it possible that such experienced surfers were completely taken by surprise at a spot they knew so well? But also: how is it possible that a drama unfolded at one harbour inlet while at the other harbour inlet, not even 100 metres away, people were still surfing until late in the evening?”

Pledging to investigate the incident, he said: “Today we remember the victims. Tomorrow we will start trying to understand what happened.”

Katja Philippart is a marine ecologist at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. She told CNN that she is investigating whether algae density may have affected the level of foam in the water.

Philippart said that the levels of the algae are often blooming — or high — in April and May.

“At the end of a bloom, these colonies start to deteriorate, releasing the mucus into the water. Wind-driven waves that stir up the mucus-rich water result in the formation of foam. Depending on the wind direction, this foam can be blown to the coast where it then accumulates.”

“They were robbed due to the exceptional circumstances and fate has struck: 5 of them tragically died,” the post said.

“We express our sympathy to the relatives and everyone involved. In the surf community in Scheveningen and far beyond there is great defeat, we are in deep mourning for this loss.”

With much of live sport in hiatus because of the coronavirus, the opportunity to establish chess as a mainstream sport is a key reason behind the tour’s launch, says Carlsen.

“The Invitational was a lot of fun and we heard great feedback from the players, our broadcast partners and the viewers,” the 29-year-old Carlsen said in a statement.

“While physical chess tournaments and sports are still either canceled or postponed, bringing an entire chess tour online is what I feel is right for chess now.”

The tour will look to build on the success of the Invitational, which broke online viewer records for chess.

It was the first online chess tournament to be broadcast on TV, going out on Spanish, German, Russian, Norwegian and Czech television.

The top four players from the previous competition will automatically qualify for the next “major.”

The grand final will be contested between the winners of the individual tournaments.

Eight new players will also participate: Wesley So, Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Levon Aronian, Wei Yi, Daniil Dubov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and Yu Yangyi.