You’ve Seen the Roanoke Star. Now Watch Someone Climb It

Roanoke filmmaker Chad Heddleston turns a challenge involving legendary free-solo climber Alex Honnold into a playful tribute to one of Virginia's most recognizable landmarks

ROANOKE, Va. — If you've made the roughly hour-long drive west from Greater Lynchburg to Roanoke, chances are you've seen the giant star perched above the city on Mill Mountain. You may have even made the trip up the mountain for a closer look.

What you probably haven't seen is someone standing on top of it.

Roanoke filmmaker Chad Heddleston climbed the iconic 88.5-foot Roanoke Star as part of a new two-minute short film, Star Climb 101, released Friday.

The climb was conducted with the cooperation of and under permit from the City of Roanoke. The Roanoke Star is not normally open to climbing.

The idea grew out of Heddleston's appearance on Climbing Gold, a podcast hosted by renowned free-solo climber Alex Honnold. Earlier this year, Honnold free-soloed the 1,667-foot Taipei 101 skyscraper in a live Netflix event.

During Heddleston's conversation with Honnold, the Roanoke filmmaker floated a considerably shorter — but much closer to home — climbing objective: the giant illuminated star overlooking his hometown.

Honnold's assessment?

"I feel like you could definitely climb that," he said in a recorded segment that appears in the film.

Heddleston decided to take him up on it.

The resulting Star Climb 101 is part playful spoof of Honnold's skyscraper climb and part tribute to Roanoke. It opens like a dramatic climbing film, promising "the brightest urban free solo climb ever," before following Heddleston on an early-morning journey that includes a bike ride along the greenway, a coffee stop and eventually his ascent of the Star.

Heddleston jokes in the film that he needed to make his attempt before Honnold had the same idea.

"Honnold lives in Yosemite, and I live here, so I'm going to get there first," he says.

A Star Above Roanoke Since 1949

The landmark Heddleston climbed has been looking over the Roanoke Valley for more than three-quarters of a century.

The Roanoke Star was constructed in 1949 after the Roanoke Merchants Association came up with the idea as a way to attract attention and shoppers to the city during the Christmas season.

Roy C. Kinsey of Kinsey Sign Co., along with his sons Roy Jr., Bob and Warren, designed and built the Star. The structure is actually made up of three stars and approximately 2,000 feet of neon tubing.

It was illuminated for the first time on Nov. 23, 1949.

What was intended as a seasonal attraction proved so popular that the Star remained. Today, it is illuminated nightly and has become synonymous with Roanoke and its "Star City of the South" nickname.

Perched atop Mill Mountain, the Star overlooks downtown Roanoke and the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains. At 88.5 feet tall, it is recognized as the world's largest freestanding, man-made illuminated star.

For Greater Lynchburg residents traveling west, it has also long been one of the unmistakable signs that you've reached Roanoke.

From Mountain Documentary to the Star

Heddleston's connection with Honnold began through another film.

Heddleston directed Catching Pinecones, an award-winning documentary about pioneering climbers and cave explorers Jan and Herb Conn. The documentary has screened at the Kendal Mountain Festival, Wild & Scenic Film Festival and numerous other festivals on the international mountain-film circuit.

That work led to his appearance on Honnold's Climbing Gold podcast and, eventually, to the conversation about whether Roanoke's most famous landmark could be climbed.

Now it has been — at least under controlled and permitted circumstances.

Star Climb 101 is available through the Catching Pinecones YouTube channel and Catching Pinecones website.

The Roanoke Star is not open to climbing. And for anyone inspired by Heddleston's unusual view from the top, there's an important distinction: the climb was specially permitted by the City of Roanoke, and the Roanoke Star is not open to climbing. Learn more about the film and the climb here: https://roanokeoutside.com/roanoke-star climb/