Echo Wall send day

Dave leading Echo Wall, Ben Nevis. This is a video still from my filming.

Looking at the weather forecast on Saturday showed that Monday and Tuesday were to have a lovely high pressure over Fort William but more importantly, over the Ben as well. Dave dually phoned Kev Shields, a climber friend from Ayrshire, with the pretense of asking him up to see some of the amazing new routes that, as yet, are unclimbed on the Ben. Oh, and they happen to have been in amazingly close proximity to Dave’s project when he was ready for the lead. Everyone knew what he was up to. He can’t pull the wool over my eyes that easily. If he got good conditions, I knew he’d be going for the lead on Monday night.

Dave starting the scary bit of Echo Wall (video still from the other camera)

Good grief, the walk-in was hot. Unbelievably hot. No matter how many times I do it, the walk-in is always a killer. I think that if the route was beside the CIC hut, it would have been a doddle. It’s the long, slippery stumble up Observatory Gully that gets me every time. I guess it’s that remoteness which made it more fun for Dave but not so much for me. Hopefully, I won’t have to do the stumble up Observatory Gully much more as those conditions came good on Monday night and he got the route led.

A looooong way. Thank god for ipods

From my filming position, I watched Dave on the screen as he climbed up and past me. I seen him cast a few glances in my direction which make me squirm a bit when I watch the footage back, it’s like he’s having one last look at his wife. When I’m filming people doing hard/difficult things, I feel oddly detached from the event, like it isn’t really happening. It’s like you’re watching it on TV, not happening in real-time in front of you and this case was no different so I wasn’t scared for him - just concentrating on filming and trusting him to know that the time was right to lead it.

Getting too hot in the late morning sun

Dave didn’t top out ‘til about quarter to ten at night so it was a dark walk down to see the boys (who are working) at the CIC hut who were waiting up to see how the day went (you didn’t fool them either, Dave!) and then a hungry walk out to pizza and coke at home at 2am.

Dave relieved and happy after doing the route. Now lets go home for a cup of tea, it's getting dark.

Yes I am there…

The past couple of days have been spent relatively normally, it hasn’t really sunk in yet. Or maybe I’m being too casual about it? What is now dawning though, is that I really am making a film and I only have a couple of months to get it ready for release in time for autumn.

Oh my god.

Kev and Dave. Can you tell they work for the same clothing company?

Current state of filming

Someone left a comment on my previous post asking how I was getting on with the editing of our film. Well, the answer would be (quite) good. I’ve finished editing up our first short, ‘Training Day’ about Dave soloing a hard sport route in Spain. Typically, I no sooner thought it was finished, burned it a million times and sent it off to all the Mountain Festivals when I thought, “Actually, I’d like to change that bit. Oh, and that bit. And…” so on. But it’s done now and hopefully, fingers crossed and all that, you should see it at a fest near you soon.

Still from Training Day - Dave going for the mono.

It’s proved a really useful exercise in filming and producing something from beginning to end and should ultimately make our main project the better for it. ‘Training Day’ was actually the first thing I’ve ever filmed. With the camera arriving the day before I left for Spain, it was turned on for the first time in a Spanish apartment with shots of the floor accompanied by “Is this thing even on?” directly followed by footage of one of the hardest solos the world’s ever seen, which is weird.

For the boffins out there, I film using a Canon XH-A1 and edit using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Pro which has proved itself to be a technical minefield for me. There are so many different formats to shoot in, capture, out-put and down-convert in, as well as being the first time I’ve used a Mac, that there has been many a late-night and the odd fit of pique but we’re there now. Ha, bold words indeed!

Calling all filmmakers

So, you've got this idea for an amazing film and you think to yourself, "But what do I do with it? It's a film about crazy heli-skiers that chase people through the skies and down slopes zapping people with equally crazy special effects."  Well, answer is you send it into the 2009 International Adventure Film Festival, held as part of the Fort William Mountain Festival next March.  The deadline is 12th December 2008 so get your skates on and start story-boarding.

And incase you were thinking about it, you can't steal the above plot line as it's already been done.  I've seen it and it was crayzee.

Glen Nevis River Race

Pre-race nerves

Yesterday saw the return of the legendary Glen Nevis River Race, where hoardes of mad folk race down the river with only a helmet, a pair of sensible shoes and any form of floatation device you care to mention for company. After all the rain we've been having lately, the river was running really high which some felt was a bonus, others not so. The water was so high, that the race organisers No Fuss had to chop the start of the course off. Apparently, one of them jumped off the spot known ominously as 'The Leg Breaker' in the morning to test it and he popped up fine. His airbed, however, didn't pop up for 10 minutes. Hmm, not my cup of tea but everyone else looked like they were enjoying it; some in it for a laugh, others taking it VERY seriously.

The lower falls of Glen Nevis - not for the feint hearted. One or two got to the edge and thought, "Actually.......I think I'll walk round!" I don't blame them, it's higher than it looks!

Before...

After!

Looking remarkably cavalier whilst holding onto an inflatable lobster for dear life.

Hmm, there's something missing....

Last week, Dave and I took a rare day off together and headed for Lewis in the Western Isles for the day. Just jumping on the ferry as foot passengers meant a distinct lack of transport on the other side but it didn’t bother us as we had a good wander round Stornoway and the Lews Castle grounds in between showers and having a baked tattie in An Lanntair. I'm going to stick my neck out here and admit that Stornoway...well, it's just not that pretty is it? One of the best snaps of the day is of me standing outside an empty butchers shop. Just as well the rest of the island is absolutely stunning.

I bought metres and metres of Harris Tweed when I was out there, so now have enough Harris Tweed to sink a ship but it shall soon be transformed into gorgeous cushions coming soon to a luxury Scottish hamper near you! If anyone would like one sooner, drop me a line and you can get first dibs on your favourite tweed. Mine’s that slatey-grey one at the second-top of this picture. If you think slatey-grey sounds boring, wait till you see it in the daylight and you see the blues and browns running through it – gorgeous.

More freezing filming on Ben Nevis

Yes it was that cold!

Yesterday we managed to get back onto Ben Nevis to work on Echo Wall for the first time in a month. I wasn’t looking forward to the long slog into the north face again after losing some of my hard earned fitness from the spring. I thought it might have got a bit warmer up there but it was still too cold to expose anything except nose and eyes from underneath the layers of duvet jacket!

Climbing the ropes to get to Echo wall

Dave had a good day and managed to link all the sections of the climb together (with lots of grunting). So he might just be able to lead the route finally at some point. But for now Dave is away to the USA to lecture and I have to edit some footage for the shows before he leaves tomorrow – oops – better go and get on with it. I hope you like the pictures.

Dave on the last hard move on Echo Wall

Dave resting in the middle of Echo Wall, hanging upside down by a jammed knee!

The spooky mist rolls in again, certainly adding to the intimidation factor of filming up here on the north face.