Hauling Loads Up the Shimmering Buttress
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Tim and Colter's final objective of the trip was a tight, steep couloir on the Shimmering Buttress, a massive chunk of granite near Bishop, California. It wasn't an easy approach. In fact, according to TGR cinematographer Ben Dann, it was the trip's most difficult objective to film. "We were hauling all of our camera gear plus ski gear thousands of feet up steep, rocky terrain," Dann recalled. "Our drones have a 1,500-foot vertical range, so we needed to get pretty close to the top in order to get the shots we wanted." On top of this, it was much of the team's first time in the High Sierra, and the mountains took some getting used to. "It's hard to judge scale in the Sierra," said Dann. "On our first attempt we underestimated the length of the approach, and actually ended up below the wrong couloir." Luckily, there was enough time for another attempt.
Luckily, the production team didn't need to follow Tim and Colter up the couloir. Eric Parker photo.
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For their next attempt, the production team got an alpine start. "We woke up at 2:00AM and were hiking by 3:00," said Dann. "We were moving quite a bit slower than Tim and Colter, so by the time we got to our shooting location they were already booting up the access couloir." Conditions in the morning weren't ideal, with patchy clouds shading the line. However, the clouds lifted right before the athletes called their drop. "We were prepared to shoot the line in sub-par light," said Dann, "But the light shifted at the last second, and we had perfect conditions to capture the whole descent." Despite the early wake-up, massive approach, and variable conditions, the team was happy with the outcome. "Vibes were high when we got back to the Ranger," said Dann with a laugh. "Everyone was stoked on how the day turned out, and we slept well that night."
