We pulled off The Great Climb!
All 55 of us were just a little ecstatic last night and we partied
in Glen Scaladale until we dropped. Every one of the usual suspects on
the team of producers, outside broadcast production team, climbers,
riggers, runners, presenters, medics, environmental consultants and
many more were chosen for this project because they absolutely were
THE person to rely on to come up with the goods when everything had to happen.
If you watched the program, you saw some of the problems we dealt
with as climbers to get to the top - a painful ankle and wet rock. But
you won’t have seen all the equally hard work, good judgement
calls and quick thinking that made it all happen behind the camera.
I’ve got to admit I felt a bit emotional when we got to the top.
It was just so great that everyones hard graft, gambles and input paid
off in style.
We’re over the moon that so many of you on here, Twitter (
#thegreatclimb)
and my
Facebook
said you enjoyed it. First up, some questions answered:
I think there was a blip for a while, but it’s available for
download on iplayer until Sept 4th,
right
here. It’ll also be on DVD fairly shortly. And when it does,
you’ll find it on
my shop as soon as
it’s out. The triple 5 trip (myself and Tim, 5 new routes, 5
islands, in 5 days) which would would have seen in case of disaster on
the live day, will be coming to the BBC TV screens shortly and also
DVD. I’ll keep you posted on this.
Tim climbed amazingly yesterday. He’s an amazing athlete in
every way. Not only did he cruise pitch 1 and kept it together when
things got ‘a bit spicy’ on pitch 3, but his lead of the
soaking wet, slimy overhanging wall at the end was an exemplary
display of climbing skill and mental composure.
For me it was a tough day. By the sounds of it, it showed on camera
too. I took as much analgesic as I could, but my right foot hurt on
nearly every move. Adrenaline provided 100% pain relief that lasted
through the crucial pitch 2. But after that I was using most or all of
my ‘reserve’ to get me through it. It seemed pretty
unlikely we’d get to the top without falling off, succumbing to
ankle pain, swearing on live TV or generally failing for some other
reason. But with 30 seconds to go after 5.5 hours live, I finished
seconding the final pitch and the whoops rang back and forth across
Glen Uladail.
I’ll post up some more stills and thoughts from our
experience shortly, but for now here are some from the fun and games
last night.
Ace climbing cameramen
Paul
(Diff) Diffley and Joe French. Although so much action happened
on the live day itself, for both myself and Joe this was a whole
summer of work. Joe was a great source of counsel as we spent weeks on
the island, me trying to choose the right line for the broadcast and
Joe filming and editing most of the Harris features. Diff was
‘polecam’ on the live day and must have abs of steel after
holding a 3 metre pole steady while dangling in the wind for an entire day.
Ace cameraman #3 Ben Pritchard of Slackjaw looking a bit wired.
Check out the youtube of his brilliant short film
Splinter.
Myself and BBC executive producer
David
Harron. Thanks for taking a big gamble of on us making it happen
after a huge amount of effort, time and budget failed on our last
attempt on the Great Climb three years ago.
Dougie and Heather. Everyone told me Dougie did a fine job of
timing and managing comment on the action from both himself and the
commentary team. Not an easy job when you aren’t a climber
yourself! Everyone, not least myself benefitted from Heather’s
positive encouragement through the ups and downs of the week.
Stephen Venables,
the man
himself, Garth and director Ian Russell. 4 very cool-headed
individuals in their respective fields of expertise.
Getting the chance to be involved in a production like this, no
matter what role you play in it, is an unmissable experience. You
learn so much, from so many different people about how to up your
game. So when it comes around to doing your own bit, you somehow
magically end up making a 110% effort yourself.
