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Climbing Documentary Rock climbing

Documenting climbing feats

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Documenting climbing feats is an interesting challenge because you deal with issues of accessibility, projects that can last for months or even years and in some cases you're dealing with the prospect of the climber understanding the problem, and then achieving his goal. For two or three years I really explored ideas for a climbing documentary before losing steam. My interest in the topic was still there but I couldn't think of whom to put in front of the camera. 

In my free time I have watched a lot of documentary films about climbing. Some are short, filmed over just a few hours and others are about longer duration projects that can last for a week or two. When I heard that Alex Honnold was free soloing El Cap I didn't realise all of the preparation that he had been through. It's only after watching his TED talk that I understood and my respect for his process grew. 

I like his TED talk because he really goes into detail about his preparation. You see that it is a process that takes years. Moves are practiced over and over until they are perfect. This is repeated for every pitch. Nothing is left to chance. 

Aside from the mental preparation of the climber there is also the process that the cinéma verité crew must go through. In the documentary that I have included below you learn about the questions of ethics that are posed. Questions such as "how do we film this without distractions, how do we film this without endangering his life, how do we make this as safe as possible. The answer is using professional climbers and friends as camera crew. People that know the sport know when to be quiet and what move to expect next. 

It's interesting that in this feature they discuss the use of remote cameras for one or two sections, so that Alex feels alone and focused on the task at hand. Remote cameras on a cliff hundreds of metres off of the ground. 

If a documentary is well made, like The Dawn Wall was, then you watch a documentary on a niche topic without growing bored or distracted. If it well filmed then it is as complete as a book. A well made documentary is as complete as a book.

The beauty over documentary films, as opposed to news coverage is that documentaries can be relevant to a small niche of people rather than cater to the lowest common denominator. This is especially true in an age where documentaries can be seen at film festivals, specialist events, offered as videos on demand and more. Keep in mind that in 2020 climbing will be an Olympic sport and that in this context documentaries that are made about climbers are going to attract an ever-growing audience. What is niche today will appeal to a wider audience tomorrow. 

Two years ago I volunteered at the Festival Du Film Alpin and I was really happy to watch a genre, that until then I had seen mainly on youtube appear on a big screen with a large audience. Recently I was at the Magnetic Film premiere and this was an interesting experience and last night I was at Pathé Balexert, a mainstream cinema watching a documentary about climbing. The next step would be for one of these documentaries to be screened on an IMAX screen. 

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Climbing Rock climbing summer holidays Switzerland

The Drapel Climbing wall near Aigle

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The Drapel Climbing Wall near Aigle is a nice place to climb. When I was there yesterday we were in the shade of the trees unless we were climbing. The temperature for this week is at around 25-27°c daily which is nice. These are almost summer temperatures, at last. The parking for this climbing wall is

Getting there

The parking for this climbing wall is here. I'm giving a specific location because when I looked at maps I was not filled with confidence. To get to the parking you go to Yvorne and from there towards Vers Monthey. You drive through a narrow gap between two houses and then along a viticultural road towards the forest. You go up a dirt road for a few metres. The parking is a clearing in the woods. From there you walk for between 10-15 minutes. You know you're at the climbing wall because there is a bench overlooking the castle. Come back a few metres and you'll see the climbing wall where there are routes.

The Routes

The Dent du Midi and green leaved trees
The view when you finish the route

You know you're at the climbing wall because there is a bench overlooking the castle. Come back a few metres and you'll see the climbing wall where there are routes. At this wall you have 15 5a to 5c+ routes, 15 6a to 6a+ routes and 20 7a to 7c+ routes. These climbs are slab and overhangs. The places are well equipped. Routes are between 28-50m.

If and when you come to this climbing wall make sure you have a print-out of the routes and their difficulty. The routes are not named so you might accidentally do a 6a route and exhaust yourself immediately, as we did. I would definitely come back to this wall and this time I would make sure to climb routes that are gradually harder as the day progresses.

 

 

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Climbing collaboration Via Ferrata

Gallantry and Rock Climbing

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Gallantry and Rock Climbing are a good combination. In Rock climbing the person with more experience or comfort helps the person with less comfort. In some cases it might be helping people walk on trails and in other cases it may be walking at the pace that is comfortable for others.

According to the Merriam Webster website gallantry can be a number of things:

1 archaic : gallant appearance
2 a : an act of marked courtesy
b : courteous attention to a lady
c : amorous attention or pursuit
3 : spirited and conspicuous bravery

According to the Larousse Galanterie is

  • Politesse empressée auprès des femmes.

Rock climbing on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc a few years ago.
Rock climbing on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc a few years ago.

The image above was taken a few years ago on one of the two times we went rock climbing on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc. At the time I was still new to rock climbing, was about to try Via Ferrata, altitude diving, canyoning and a number of other sports. At the time I liked to climb but I did not have the compassion or motivation to belay. I was more selfish, more interested in climbing and having fun than in waiting below and belaying people.

Since then I have learned to be more compassionate, to be more helpful and to be more patient. Within a year or two of this picture being taken we went canyoning as a group in the Italian Alps and several of us jumped from 11 metres in to a pool of water. One woman jumped the same jump that we had just done and came back to the surface screaming in agony. We rushed out to help her. We went to her and kept her afloat. We placed life jackets underneath her to float her horizontally. We placed them under her legs and brought her on to a flat rock.

Rescue services were called in and everyone from the group evacuated the area except me. I stayed there so that she had at least one familiar person next to her. A helicopter came in but could not land so medical staff were lowered. The experience was both really exciting because I was able to observe medical staff at work from up close but also unpleasant because someone was injured and in pain. Glass vials of morphine were broken and given to her as she was prepared to be winched up to the helicopter. We used our bodies to shield her from the downwash from the rotor blades until she was ready to be lifted and transported to a nearby hospital.

The group went for a quick meal and then I drove to the hospital to see this person and wait for advice from the medical staff at the hospital. Eventually she was cleared to take an ambulance back to Switzerland but as it involved waiting for an ambulance to come from Switzerland we decided that we would drive her back ourselves. We were lucky because on that day I was driving a comfortable Mercedes. We flattened the front passenger seat so that she would be more comfortable. I drove more carefully and asked her which hospital she wanted to go to. We brought her to that hospital and waited until she was checked in before heading home. That adventure lasted until about midnight or one in the morning. As I was the person that had driven her from Geneva to the mountains I felt uncomfortable abandoning her up there. I felt that it was my duty to repatriate her.

That is one example where I was gallant but there were other cases. Most cases of gallantry in the mountains are more tame, less extreme. The gallantry that I was thinking about when I was inspired to write this blog post was more pleasant. As I climb frequently I am now growing more at ease with lead climbing, able to negotiate harder routes. I am also more comfortable with lead climbing. The person I climbed with yesterday had taken a break from climbing for a few months. As a result of this she was not comfortable with lead climbing so it was an opportunity for me to climb easier routes and set up the top rope for her to climb.

This worked out well for the two of us. For me it was an opportunity to climb easier routes and build experience and for her to practice climbing routes in safety. She thought that for me the experience was boring but I felt the opposite. It was an opportunity for me to climb more than I usually do at climbing walls. It was also more physically demanding. Usually when you go climbing you lead climb a route and then you come down, pull the rope down and then the next person climbs. In this scenario I would sometimes lead climb a route for myself and then set up another route for her. This means that I had no break between two climbs so it pushed my endurance.

Last summer I had another experience. I was climbing with a woman who wanted to do via ferrata despite her fear. I respect such people because they are not at ease and yet they still want to enjoy the experience. They do not want to look down too frequently and they want you to be close by. They need more coaching to get from the start of the finish to the end.

I did one climb with this person where she was really afraid. A route that I would have found boring and taken 45 minutes to do if I was doing the via ferrata normally took about two and a half hours. It was uncomfortable for both of us, for her it was because of fear and for me it was a mental exercise, to coach her along until the end. There was a moment when I did ask if I could be unkind and she said no so I stayed compassionate, courteous. By the end of the VF I felt mentally tired but the thing that hurt me was when the group that had been enjoying a drink or two while waiting for us dispersed. This was the most extreme case.

Now that I have five or six years of via ferrata I have no problem being at the back of the group to help those that are less confident. I also climb at the rear of the group because I know that when I was still new to the sport I did not like the feeling that I could be left behind or abandoned. It's also because I know where and how to rest so I do not get as tired. It means that I have reserves to help people when it is needed. In previous years we never needed to use ropes but last year was different. There were at least two or three moments when people were too tired to continue. Ropes were used to help them through the harder passages.

It is an interesting irony that in Bellevaux last year I had seen that one person felt unable to try the second via ferrata so I chose to stay and wait for those doing the second via ferrata to finish. I think some people finished the second VF so I went to catch up with them on the cliff. I climbed fast and hard and found that the group had become stuck on a hard bit. One person had decided that he had enough strength to do both via ferrata but ran out of energy at an overhang. At this point I passed a number of people, negotiated the bit that he was struggling with and helped with the ropes. We were lucky on that day because one individual, separate from our group had ropes and pullies. We improvised a rig to top rope the struggling person. Eventually we got him past the section that he was finding hard.

One of my goals when I lead via ferrata and when I climb with people is to keep them calm and comfortable. When they show signs of stress or fear I try to understand it and I try to coach them, to relax them. I pride myself in the ability to take relative via ferrata novices and help them complete the VF without ever having to call a helicopter or even use a rope. I believe that Via ferrata is a mental challenge where compassion and gallantry are used to get people from the start to the end of the climb. Those of us with experience are there to coach people with less experience to believe that they can complete the challenge.

 

 

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360 photos Rock climbing Uncategorized Via Ferrata

360 photos of Via Ferrata

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Yesterday I was up above Leysin climbing the Tour D'Aï via Ferrata. It was an opportunity for me to take 360 photos of Via Ferrata. The beauty of panoramic pictures is that they provide you 360° of vision both vertically and horizontally. It means that you can get a sense of size and scale. You can look at the person exploring the via ferrata and how precarious their situation is as easily as you can admire the beauty of the landscape.

[vrview img="https://www.main-vision.com/richard/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/R0011307_20160701130638.jpg" pimg="https://www.main-vision.com/richard/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/R0011307_20160701130638.jpg" width="500" height="400" ]

Another great aspect to 360° photos is that you can show specific bits of via ferrata and show where the challenging bits are. "Here is where the via ferrata is overhanging" so that you can assess whether you have the strength and courage to try that section or "Here is how high up you are" and so you get a sense of whether you would be paralysed with fear or enjoy yourself.

[vrview img="https://www.main-vision.com/richard/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/R0011321_20160701133926.jpg" pimg="https://www.main-vision.com/richard/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/R0011321_20160701133926.jpg" width="500" height="400" ]

Most via ferrata are like the one that you see in these images. You have what I call staples, pedals and occasionally direct contact with the rocks. In other places you have spikes or you have to pull yourself up along the cable. With these images you see how well equipped the via ferrata is and you are not going in to the unknown. This is good when taking less experienced people.

A side effect of 360 pictures is that you capture a self portrait of yourself in situ over and over again. It is by nature of the medium rather than desire.

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Rock climbing Switzerland youtube

Rock Climbing Snail

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For several weeks now it has rained almost every day and almost every weekend. As a result of this rain acitivities have been cancelled. On Sunday we were meant to go outdoor climbing and when we got to the wall we found a rock climbing snail where, in dry weather we could have enjoyed some good climbs. The climbing site in St Triphon has about 150 climbing routes of differing climbing difficulties.

Rock climbing snail

When the conditions are so wet outdoor climbing is not possible. It rained as we drove to the climbing site, it started to get brighter and then it started to rain hard again. As we drove away from the climbing wall where snails were climbing instead of humans we saw that the weather improved as we got to Lausanne.

A welcoming wall.

A welcoming Wall

Rocspot in Echandens was in the sun yesterday. It was quiet enough to make choosing which route to climb possible. The core of our group climbs every thursday night, as a result of which we are developing the right muscles to make climbing easier. Other group members climbed less frequently so we could prepare the top rope for them to attempt routes. The practice is good as we share skills and experiences with more people.

During this climbing day I was able to challenge myself to 5c, 5c+ and 6a routes. I found that there were moments when I struggled to make progress but overall I felt good. It was interesting to watch the less experienced climbers try routes and manage them. As they climb less frequently they allowed us to see where we would have struggled in the past.

A noticeable difference

Aside from rock climbing and bouldering there is a wall with various hand holds. A few weeks ago when I tried to pull myself up using finger strength I was barely able to hang on for more than a few seconds before letting go. Now I can climb up almost to the top. This is the clearest demonstration that I have made progress. It also shows why certain muscle groups ached so much after every session. The fatigue was worth it for this result.

Now that the weekend is over the sun is shining again and I do look forward to climbing and practicing more skills.