Brown

Harvey

Bridges

Kent Harvey
Greetings from Team Film. Well, we haven't had a chance to send too much cyber chat as we've been running around and keeping up with the team and putting together our story. I thought in order to give our readers an idea of what a day involves for us I would recap yesterday. First let me explain how our team works. We all are sharing shooting responsibilities in order to ease the work load. Michael Brown and I are sharing the 16mm shooting and all three of us are sharing the digital video shooting, although Michael and David are taking up the brunt of that work, and Dave is slated as our high altitude video shooter. Having three of us here makes what would be impossible, for one or even two people, a bit easier at these altitudes.

So, yesterday we are up at 1:00am, in the early-morning, freezing drizzle and fog, to set out behind four members of the climbing team who are hoping to ski from 6,800m. Dave joined them shooting up high, and Michael and I traveled to about 19,000ft in order to shoot from a different vantage point. On this day, Michael and I didn't have Pubu and Dawa, our camera porters, so we ended up schlepping our two packs, weighing nearly 50 pounds each. Here our "studio" does not allow just a simple walk to our shooting location. Michael and I have not only the entire Super 16mm camera package, but ski gear, ropes, and other equipment to help us get around.

After two hours of walking uphill in fog and darkness, Michael and I reached the glacier we needed to traverse in order to reach our destination. After donning skis and roping up, to avoid a potential crevasse fall, we crossed the glacier and arrived at the base of the rotten boulder hill we needed to climb. Finally, at 9:30am we climbed to just below 19,000ft and set up the camera to shoot the ski descent. Then via radio contact, we learned that the skiers won't be up to their high point for at least a couple of hours, which leaves nothing for us to do but shoot some scenics and sack out for a while. Finally, the radio squawks and we wake from deep naps to hear that the skiers are nearly to their top. However, we see that the same fog, that has rolled in every day prior, has once again made its way up the valley between the skiers and us.

Dave had been shooting with the team, since early morning, so we figured the day was not a total loss, and he should be able to get a bit of the descent. As we were getting ready to pack it up and reverse our steps, we got a break in the clouds and encouraged someone to start skiing ASAP. Well, with a bit of luck, we were able to get some great shots "in the can." As the clouds closed in again, Dave and the on-camera team made their way through the maze of glacier to Advanced Base Camp, before walking the six miles back home. Michael and I packed our loads and headed back down to the glacier; where Michael decided he would first hike and make a few turns, and I would shoot some pics. But after getting out onto the late afternoon snowpack and digging a quick pit, Michael decided the snow pack was too unstable to ski. So instead, we would just hump our packs back the way we came and wrap up our 17-hour day in camp with a bit of dinner. Just as we sat down to eat barely awake, Dave rambled in haggard after walking nearly twice the distance we had.

Todays initial plan: To hike the six miles up to Advanced Base Camp. But instead, we woke up to snow falling, clouds, and nothing to do but hang out, eat a leisurely breakfast, and retire to a bit of scotch and a nap.

Michael Brown
The out-takes are where the real story is. It is difficult to resist the urge to film when someone does or says something "not suitable for TV," but we do get a kick out of reviewing tapes.

We are now trying to figure out how to capture the story of the summit attempt and ski. The event will be the most important part of the film, but it will happen mostly at night and the team will not be willing to stop and wait while we do "take two." As the story tellers, we listen closely as the more experienced climbers discuss possible scenarios — adjusting our plans accordingly. We have ideas about the ascent, but as documentary filmmakers we (usually) keep them to ourselves and just observe.

We are all climbers, but Dave has way more experience. He will be, as he calls it, "High Altitude Video Monkey." His job will be to go with the team to the summit. Kent will be shooting film from a rock outcrop that looks into the couloir from about 20,000ft. I will be somewhere in the middle to catch that part of the story, assuming anything exciting happens mid-mountain. I think it will. We all feel the draw of the summit, but we are here to work and everyone has to cover their position.

Dave Bridges
Working with the climbing team has been great. Everyone has been super cooperative and patient with the rigors of shooting this documentary. I have been getting some good material from being in the thick of it with them — not to mention the fact that I have been getting in some great skiing and climbing as well! Wish us luck.

— Kent Harvey, Michael Brown, Dave Bridges, MountainZone.com Correspondents

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