Reverse Unicorn/Narwhal POV on Teton Pass

[SkiJunky05]

I saw a vid on VitalMTB about a week ago and thought "I wanna do that"...

So here's a few minutes of Jimmy's Mom, Fuzzy Bunny, and Parallel Trail. And my beautiful mug.

[Sirshredalot]

That's some niiice riding.

Is the unicorn cam heavy or in some other way annoying? It sure didn't seem to be holding you back too much.

[otter]

Sweet vid Andrew!

[mtnjam]

Nice work sir. What kind of helmet mount is that? Whatever it is it sure looks stable on the vid

Pretty cool watching the, what is that a Marz 66, fork work.

That reminds me, I really need to get over and ride that stuff with Jake one of these days

[sshores]

That's awesome, love the dog in the background too! Those trails look seriously fun.

[TBS]

Nicely done!

...And my beautiful mug.

Your mug deserves a full-face on camera

[DeathVan]

Bring it to the powder this season

Very cool

-the fact that your head either stays so still or seems to stay still is sublime

[cpj.slc]

That video was awesome! Such a cool angle, thanks for sharing.

[backcountry1pr]

could you post up some pics, or details, of how you built/set up that arm? Very cool shot.

[HotCarl]

Sick. Unique perspective. I gotta ride TP one of these days.

So do you have to hold your head/neck incredibly still or do we normally ride that way??

[lph]

Dude, EVERYTHING about that video is amazing. Your Helmet Cam stuff is always really good, but this took HC video to a new level. Best video footage I have seen this year.

[PeachesN'Cream]

Seriously rad perspective.

It would be cool to run it off the back of the helmet camera facing forward for a sort of third person "videogame" sort of shot.

What did you make the "horn" out of? It was damn stable!

[sar13]

Great footage. As was said above, amazing how steady your head stays. Also pretty crazy how it makes some seriously big hits look small.

[lph]

Seriously rad perspective.

It would be cool to run it off the back of the helmet camera facing forward for a sort of third person "videogame" sort of shot.

What did you make the "horn" out of? It was damn stable!

I think they did it in a couple of those swedish ski movies, it was pretty cool.

also, doesn't his head just 'appear' stable because the camera's movements mimick his head movement???

[StingRay]

jealousy ensues me...nice vid, thanks

[Crinkle]

you are fucking insane, unicorn mount rulez.

[venom600]

DUDE! SWEET!

[beaterdit]

Awesome Vid!

Wondering if the boom has some sort of breakaway attatchment for neck protection?

Also, for those of you wondering about how it appears so stable; the boom is attatched to the helmet and is always looking at the helmet from teh same angle so the head is always centered in teh frame and appears not to move. Also, because the boom is long it adds some damping because the jarring is happening at the head end and has to go down the boom before it gets to the cam. If you hold a stick or a sword and you move it back and forth, it has to slow down in one direction and then change directions and move in teh new direction. The end of teh stick doesn't react instantaneously, especially if it's weighted, because of inertia. It gives the shot a 'steadycam' effect.

Also, I think I even cought the cam hitting the front tire a couple times on hard landings and you can see a bump there.

Awesome setup and footage, really top notch!

[SkiJunky05]

also, doesn't his head just 'appear' stable because the camera's movements mimick his head movement???

This is very much correct.

Regarding setup- I took an older 150cm xc ski pole, cut off the basket end and took off the grip. Bent the grip side end of the pole (using a vice) to match the curve of my helmet and screwed it into my helmet with some metal clamps mounts. I used duct tape to add to the diameter of the pole so mount points would be snug. I used GoPro's handlebar mount with the cam hanging upside down, facing back. Finally, added an L bracket off the back of my helmet to add a counterweight- in this case I used two Princeton Tec bike light batteries. The counterweight is key. I also used an older helmet, didn't want to put screws through my current one.

I wouldn't use this exact same setup for skiing- I would be even more worried about breaking my neck. An arm that could safely break before the body would be ideal.

- yea, Beaterdit hit the nail on the head. And no, no real "safety system" for this. I also edited out quite a few tire-camera contacts, but only one changed the angle significantly.

[PeachesN'Cream]

Thanks for sharing your setup!

Maybe I'll try a little project with my Flip cam this week. Not a narwhal setup of course

[joetron]

That was awesome. It made me want to ride bikes more than any other video I've seen in ages.

I saw a similar setup up in Whistler a few weeks ago, but the balast was a full Kokanee can duct taped to the back end of the ski pole.

[springsproject]

Nice one man, that was awesome. Made me wanna go ride for sure

[lph]

Flowtron, agreed. really makes one want to ride bikes, badly.

skijunky ran into a just graduated UVM mountain bike racer while riding at Black Rock in Oregon. Said he was having trouble getting used to the smooth, buff trails with perfectly sculpted jumps.

[406]

very nice

[single]

Nice video man! Really rad perspective.

I wonder if you could cut the ski pole and replace a section close to the visor with a piece of (weak) wood, that would shear on impact. Cuz yeah, that could really suck otherwise.