The North Face is straddling a crevasse in branding, with a belay from Jimmy Chin

Filmmaker and adventurer Jimmy Chin is helping the North Face explore important new terrain: a more diverse outdoors. Jimmy Chin is standing alone on a narrow wedge of snow-covered rock atop Antarctica’s Ulvetanna, a sharp mountain peak with an elevation of more than 9,600 feet. He squints through the damp fog, gloved hands clenching metal pulleys attached to ropes that are tethered to an unseen companion ahead of him, who somehow manages to be holding a camera. Chin is shin-deep in snow, emer...