The Making of
While the tapes show enjoyable, wondrous journeys that nearly
anyone can embark upon and enjoy, shooting the series what another
thing alltogether. Take, for instance, Glacier Climbing. When
your host, Elizabeth Barnes, climbs the wall of ice, we see her
climbing it from below, from above and from next to her. In reality,
we didn't have a TV studio with us we actually shot it with
just one camera. So Elizabeth had to climb the wall nearly three
times (she didn't go all the way up the first time). In addition,
while Elizabeth had the benefit of a belayer and ice axes to climb
her way up the wall of ice, the videographer did not. This proved
especially difficult for the section of video shot from the side.
The videographer had to climb the wall of
ice with one rope, tied at the top of the wall, available
to secure himself. The camera was then fed up to him and he shot
the video with only his feet planted in the ice (with crampons).
Both his hands were on the camera. The best example of this part
of the video was the opening sequence, which Elizabeth gives from
the middle of the wall of ice- with summer's greenery flourishing
behind her. That's her, speaking her lines, in the still photo.
Then, the third climb was taped from the top of the ice, this
was shot by the videographer both lying on his stomach and by
standing and leaning over the edge to get the shot.
These methods were both secured by one of
the staff climbers of St. Ellias Alpine Guides anchoring the guide
and providing a safety cable for the camera so that, if it slipped,
it wouldn't fall all the way down.
So, if you count Elizabeth, the host, Anthony,
the videographer, Elizabeth's belayer, Anthony's belayer, and
the still photographer (the Executive Producer) you can come to
realize that there are a lot more people around that you see,
but a lot less than might be expected on a big-budget shoot.
There were a lot of examples
where many of the crew did double duty to make this series come
together for you, the viewer. In Backcountry Camping, for example,
the remote location selected for filming was 120 miles above the
Arctic Circle and only reachable by float plane. Actually while
we were filming, we saw a research group parachute into the area,
but they are not in the tape. Besides, parachuting wasn't on our
list of things to do.
Because of the remoteness, and the small
size of the plane (and the weight of our gear) the Executive Producer
was not able to come to supervise the production. Only the two
hosts of this episode, the videographer, and the guide were on-site
during the entire shoot. The the pilot's actual landing and takeoff
were used in the show and everyone had to pitch in to get the
equipment from one place to another.
And even something as simple as walking is
not as easy as it sounds. Much of the area we were shooting in
was tussics. Walking on tussics is like walking on football helmets.
They are not evenly spaced and none are the same height.
If you walk on it the wrong way, it moves
from under you and you fall. Twisting your ankle is an ever-present
danger when walking with a loaded pack or equipment- which all
of us were. Walking between the tussics is even worse. The muddy
quagmire these tussics grow in suck down your shoes. Lifting your
feet and body over these tussics, now up to your knee, takes a
lot of energy. Because the crew's safety was paramount, it took
our crew two hours to go about half a mile.
Even so, the area we walked through was beautiful.
Part of that beauty was the animals bounding through the area,
the untouched landscape and the fragile things we passed. From
tiny plants eeking out their three months of existence on small
rocks, to inch-long caterpillars easing their way through the
underbrush (both of which are in the show)
It's easy to see why Alaska has become such
a hot spot for travelers.
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One! |
Climbing |
Hiking |
Rafting |
Denali |
 |
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Highway |
Villages |
Sledding |
Trailing |
Barnes |