In the past couple of years the bouldering scene in the UK has exploded. For several years previous to this there only seemed to be sporadic ascents of difficult boulder problems. Take ‘Cypher’ for instance – it has had a couple of repeats since Ben Moon did it and now two in the past fortnight! Living on the edge of the Peak District and surrounded by some of the UK’s top climbers, Rich and I decided we were in a unique position to start documenting some of this climbing. In the past month we’ve hustled all over Derbyshire and Yorkshire filming first ascents, rare repeats and incredible lines.
We want to aim high with this film. Anybody can easily turn on a video camera at the crag these days and post it on Vimeo or even release it as a DVD in some cases. These videos never strive to find that extra camera angle, try and film in nice light or sort out the sound in the video. Major new releases can often be just as frustrating. Take the latest film from across the pond made by new boy Nathan Bancroft. Nathan beautifully films some of the world’s top climbers (Dave Graham, Daniel Woods, Jon Cardwell etc) using impressive techniques with booms and dolly systems. The footage he managed to get seems wasted after the final edit – what we see is a film of scenery shots and driving to crag. When we do see any climbing, the ambient sound has been stripped away and replaced with extremely abrasive music. Rich and I like to think we can learn from these mistakes when making our film – but you’ll be the judge of that.
Anyway, righteous rant over. The weather has been testing the past couple of weeks. Despite this, trips have been made to Stanton, Slipstones, Stanage and a very enjoyable jaunt to Froggatt on Thursday. The sitting and waiting about for the weather to improve can be wearisome – especially when we don’t want to waste the time we have with visiting wads Jon Partridge and Michele Caminati. The skies parted briefly to allow us into the National Parks and we’ve captured a lot from Mr Varian, David Mason and Ned Feehally. Over the next few months we’ll be filming some of Britain’s best bouldering action and trying to execute some best laid plans. Don’t hesitate to get in contact with us – we want your thoughts, ideas and may want to film you.
Stay tuned.
Nick
