Hot Aches Productions

‘The Long Hope’ London Screening at the Royal Geographical Society

2012-01-10T16:24:00.000Z

'The Long Hope' film poster

There is a special screening of our new film 'The Long Hope' at the Royal Geographical Society in London on the 8th of February. Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner will both be giving a talk about the project and I'll be there to introduce the film.

Royal Geographical Society

It should be a very special night, not least because of the amazing venue. So if you live in London it would be great to see you there.

Tickets cost £12 and can be bought directly from Dave MacLeod's website.

Paul

‘The Long Hope’ DVD Trailer Now Online

2011-11-27T15:03:00.004Z

Our new film, ‘The Long Hope’ is now available on DVD and HD download.

The Long Hope DVD, Cover photo by Lukasz Warzecha, design by Ifan Bates

We had a great time at the premiere last week, with a sold out theatre at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival. Folk seem to really enjoy it. It was great to be over hearing so many positive comments in the bar all weekend at Kendal… Not that we spent all weekend in the bar… just most of it!

The Long Hope premiere, pic Lukasz Warzecha

Highlights of Kendal for me include, Cory Richard’s and Anson Fogel’s short film 'Cold' and John Beatty’s A/V presentation, ‘Wild Vision’.

On the Sunday night we were all thrilled to win the People's Choice award, thank you to everyone who voted for the film.

The winning team! Andy Turner, Guy Heaton, Lukasz Warzecha, Ed Drummond, Matt Pycroft, Claire MacLeod, Dave MacLeod, Paul Diffley, presented by Nico Favresse

If you want to know what all the fuss is about, watch our new trailer and don’t fear the ‘Full Screen’ button, its 1080p!

'The Long Hope' - Trailer

Do you want to see it all? DVDs and HD downloads now available from hotaches.com.

Diff.

P.S. Please hit one of the magic buttons below to share this blog and share the love x

10 Reasons Why Climbing Photography is Easier Than Making Climbing Films

2011-09-11T18:43:00.076+01:00

When I was shooting 'The Long Hope' on Hoy this year I had a running joke with climbing photographer Lukasz Warzecha that he had it easy and that shooting video was much harder than shooting stills. So, with that in mind here are my 10 reasons why:-

(Warning: please don't take this too seriously!)

1 Sound Acquisition

Stills don't need sound! Recording good quality sound in an extreme position is incredibly difficult. You have to compete with the environment (wind, water etc). It requires specialist equipment, radio mics, broadcast quality mics, wind shields. It also requires set up and monitoring with headphones (which are a real pain when hanging from a rope!).

2 Sound Post Production

Sound is such a biggy it deserves to get two in the list of ten. About 20% of the post production of a film is concerned with sound.

3 Tripods

To get good GVs (General views - eg landscapes, pans and tilts etc) you have to use a tripod for video; with stills you can just snap away handheld. Yeah sure, there are a few times when you might shoot a still on a tripod, but it's rare. Good video tripods are heavy and a real pain to carry. (My top tip for any budding climbing filmmakers out there is always try to make the talent (i.e. the climber) carry the tripod!)

4 Lighting

When photographers talk about lights often they just mean flash guns; they only need to light their subject for a fraction of a second. Video needs continuous lighting. I recently shot some video of a climb in a cave. As well as 3 x 800 watts spotlights with stands I also had to carry in a large petrol generator to power them. Compare that to a couple of flash guns and a handful of AAs!

5 Media Size

After the two week shoot on Hoy I now have 1500GB of video to trawl through. I bet Lukasz came away with only about 50GB.

6 Editing

When I hear a photographer talk about 'editing' that really sets me off! They have it so easy! All they have to do is skim though their images from the shoot and pick out the keepers from the choss. Then they spend a pleasant evening tweaking setting and 'playing' with filters until they have their final images. Editing a film can be a 500-hour life altering journey, resulting in lack of sleep and social contact, malnourishment and an existential crisis.

7 Photoshop Trickery

Whether its HDR (high dynamic range) or de-cluttering, photoshopping is easy with stills. Try fixing shots like this at 25fps. For a short 5 second clip that's 125 frames which need to be fixed and even then it might not work and look a little odd.

8 Video Formats

HD, SD, MPG, Quicktime, AVIs, PAL, NTSC, progressive, interlaced, anamorphic, frame rate, data rate, pixel aspect ratio, field dominance, etc. Video formats is a whole world of hurt!

Compare with stills: RAW or JPG! It's not just the number of formats that is the problem, it's trying to convert from one format to another. With stills you just select 'Save As'....video doesn't work like that.

9 Portrait Composition

Climbing is mostly a vertical pursuit; one goes from the bottom to the top mostly (usually!) in a upright position. Therefore it is so much easier to compose a good climbing shot in portrait orientation. Video is a landscape / wide screen format, we just don't have that option. When I shoot stills its a joy to be able to turn the camera around 90 degrees. Warning, if you ever ask a photographer to shoot some video for you on his DSLR ("my camera shoots HD video you know!") remind them to shoot landscape!

10 One Frame for Glory!

For a photographer to win praise and even prizes they only need to produce one stunning image, or as a filmmaker would say, one frame. My new film 'The Long Hope' is 60mins long, so that's 60mins x 60 sec x 25fps = 90,000 frames! That's 90,000 frames that all have to perfectly exposed, composed and colour corrected. Not to mention in some sort of order so that the film makes sense.

So that's why stills are easier than video. This is an open and public invitation to Lukasz to defend his profession, or bow down before all filmmakers and admit that stills are easy ;-)

Finally, I have to come clean and say that I will be attending Lukasz's photography workshop in North Wales at the end of this month (if he is still speaking to me after this post!). Just because stills are 'easy' it doesn't mean that I can't learn something from a pro!

Details of Lukasz's Workshops

Still a few places left.

Diff

'Wide Boyz' - A Crazy New Climbing Film (Due 2012)

2011-09-11T17:14:00.000+01:00

We've been working on a new film which will be out next year featuring Peter Whittaker and Thomas Randall.

The last time Pete featured in a Hot Aches film (Committed Vol II) he produced some of the craziest climbing I've ever seen.

Pete Whittaker on the first ascent of 'Dynamics of Change' E9.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest climbing videos.

Over the last couple of years Pete and Tom have been on a mission to climb the worlds hardest offwidth cracks. This mission is culminating in a two month climbing trip to the USA starting this week. Hot Aches have teamed up with American filmmaker Chris Alstrin of Alstrin Films and Chris will be recording all the action across the pond.

Offwidth crack climbing is a bit of a specialty. In fact, I'm not sure I understood exactly what the definition of an offwidth was until working with 'The Wide Boys', or 'Wide Boyz' according to their blog. Tom described it to me as a crack which is too wide to hand or fist jam, yet not wide enough to fit your whole body into, as then it gets classed as a squeeze chimney.

Personally, I'm not sure about the 'z', What do you think? Should I call the film 'Wild Boyz' or 'Wild Boys'? Please let me know in the comments below.

I spent two weeks filming with the 'Boys/Boyz' in the Peak District and North Wales, climbing many of the UKs hardest crack climbs.

Tom Hanging out of Cobalt Dream E5

Ray's Roof, first climbed by the inventor of Friends, Ray Jardine, was considered the UK's classic hard offwdith. I've not only filmed Pete and Tom solo this but I've also got some funny footage of them attempting it wearing a 20kg training vest… Not the easiest thing to carry in to the crag.

20KG training vest

The Wide Boys haven't just been ticking off all the hardest climbs and problems, they have been training too… training like I've never seen before!

crack training

Underneath a suburban semi on the outskirts of Sheffield is an offwidth crack training dungeon! A training cellar in Sheffield is nothing new, in fact there was a time when you could hardly visit a climber in Sheffield without him wanting to show you his woody! However, this one doesn't contain tiny crimps and a replica of Hubble. No, instead it is made up of horizontal offwidth cracks of various sizes.

Pete wedged between two pieces of wood underneath a house in Sheffield

Here Pete and Tom spend their evenings hanging upside down and completing monster crack climbing circuits. The width of the cracks varies in places and to aid identification they have named the sections of crack… most seem to have girls names for some reason!

Tom in his cellar

The Wide Boys have now clocked up over 18,000 feet of offwidth climbing in Tom's cellar. The question now is how will that translate to hard offwidth climbing in the States? You can find out by following Pete and Tom on their blog here Wide Boyz Blog

And join the Hot Aches Facebook page for all the latest updates.

Diff.

Pete and Tom's trip is supported by Wild Country, Rab and Patagonia

Thanks to Adrian Samarra for his help filming in the Peak and North Wales.

Bongo Bar, Norway.... or as I like to call it 'Um Bongo'!

2011-08-29T14:39:00.003+01:00

I've just spent two weeks shooting stills and video for the Gore Tex Experiace Tour - Norway. The 'tour' gave two winner of a competition, Julia Snihur and Helena Robinson, the chance to climb and explore Arctic Norway with Dave MacLeod.

Dave MacLeod, Helena Robinson, Julia Snihur below Blåmann

We were based at Ersfjorden (or as I like to call it Erik's Fjord) just 15min drive from Norway's northern city of Tromso. Tromso reminds me of a little of Inverness, its population is comparable, it's in the far north and it has a big bridge!

Ersfjorden (Sport crags and boulders)

Fishing boat on Ersfjorden

It is an awesome area, beautifully wild with tons of rock and amazing light.

Amazing Light

Dave was obviously very keen to get on to the 400m wall at Blåmann. In fact with in about an hour of picking up the hire car we had gone food shopping, dropped all our kit at our hut and we were walking in to crag. The walk in to the base is fairly short but stiff. I guess it's like the walk in to Orion's Face from the North face car park, or at least to the CIC hut.

The North Face of Blåmann

The wall felt quite alpine, you had to cross some short snow fields and a bergschrund before scrabbling up to its base. Dave then spent the next 3 days looking at freeing an existing aid route, Bongo Bar. I like to call it "Um Bongo" after the 1980's fruit drink:-

"Um Bongo, they drink it in the Congo"

After 3 days effort and working out all the moves on the hard lower pitches (upto F8a) Dave concluded that it wasn't a safe objective for the trip.

The team then focused on sports climbing for a few days.

Helena Robinson, climbing at "Erik's Fjord"

Dave MacLeod hanging out at "Erik's Fjord"

Dave MacLeod hanging off 'Fidel' at Gullknausen

Julia Snihur on Ramadan at "Erik's Fjord"

Helena Robinson on Granitveien at "Erik's Fjord"

Then Dave started to talk about Bongo Bar again, maybe there was a way it could be done. I remember asking Dave, "Is it niggling you"? He just laughed and said "Its more than a niggle!".

'Ghost Clouds over Blåmann'

So with only 4 days of the trip left we all hiked back into Blåmann again for Dave to attempt to lead the route free in a day with Julia seconding and sharing the lead on some of the easier top pitches.

Dave eyes up the route

With limited static rope, there was no way I could follow the ascent on the wall, so I got a position on a flank of rock overlooking the wall and shot video and stills from there. All the stills from this position have the theme of "Lost in a sea of granite"!

Dave and Julia swimming in the sea of granite

As Dave and Julia approached the top pitches I lowered down the last 50m of the cliff to film the final climbing. After 11 hours on the wall they topped out at sunset.

Dave and Julia top out at sunset. This picture was taken in the dark! ISO 800, 50mm f1.4, 1/30. It was lit by a head torch... I think it would have looked OK, but Julia was more interested in eating than posing for a picture after 11 hours on the wall.

Two days later, Dave and I were back on the wall for some reshoots of the hard lower pitches and to grab some close up stills.

Dave MacLeod on Pitch 2 of Bongo Bar

So take the live footage from long shots and the top pitches, mix in the reshoot of the lower pitches, add some handicam footage taken on the wall by the climbers, cut with interviews from Dave and Julia and I think we have a film!

For now, here's a wee taster:-

Diff.

Thanks to GoreTex for supporting this trip and to Donald King providing safety and rigging support.

More pictures and video from the trip are on:
GORE-TEX Facebook site

Hot Aches Facebook page

Dave MacLeod's Blog

E8 Onsight for MacHaffie

2011-08-10T16:42:00.015+01:00

Yesterday Matt headed over to Raven Crag in Langdale to film James MacHaffie's attempt at onsighting Dawes Rides a Shovelhead. The route, originally climbed by Dave Birkett, comes in at E8 6c and has not seen an onsight attempt before. Caff made the most of the glorious sunshine and warmed up on a couple of the easier routes before deciding to give Dawes a go.

The route follows the thin crack line up the centre of the main face and is protected by a couple of relatively unreliable nuts and some old bolts. Caff mentioned that if the route had wires in the place of those bolts it would probably be E6. He is fresh off of his impressive 9a ascent of The Big Bang (which he climbed twice), and is feeling 'sport fit' at the minute. He said that the moves felt pretty easy, although there is a distinct lack of good foot holds in the crux section.

Caff is back in the Lakes for a few days, and is planning on heading down to Malham to spend a few days climbing some hard sport.

Thanks to Dan McCann for some of the images.

Gore-Tex Experience Tour - Arctic Norway

2011-07-18T18:42:00.015+01:00

I'm very pleased to have been given the opportunity to join Dave MacLeod and two competition winners on a 14-day trip to the islands and fjords around Tromso in Norway.

The competition, run by Gore-Tex, asked climbers from all over Europe to apply to join Dave on the trip. After an initial selection process Dave narrowed down the field to just four finalists and last weekend Gore-Tex hosted a weekend climbing event so that Dave could choose the two ultimate winners who would be joining us in Norway.

The Finalists: James Oswald, Julia Snihur, Helena Robinson, Jacob Lloyd

I think all the finalist had a great weekend climbing with Dave. I took some stills of them climbing; it's been a while since I have taken only stills. Normally my priority has to be video and I try to gets some stills if time allows. Alternatively, I often work alongside a photographer who looks after the stills for me. I really enjoyed been able to concentrate on just one task for the day. And what a thrill to be allow to shoot in portrait! The thing is, climbing is all about the vertical... and wide screen video is all about the horizontal!

Ratho, The EICC and the Quarry

Up until last weekend I had always dismissed the quarry at Ratho (that is, the bit without the massive climbing wall in!) as a slightly scrappy climbing venue. However, after taking photos and watching the finalists enjoy leading the routes I have changed my opinion of the place.

Helena Robinson on Shear Fear, E2 5c, Ratho Quarry

James on Sedge Warbler E2 5b

I think Dave found it very hard to choose between the four finalist, they were all really nice folk and super keen climbers, but only two of them could join us in Norway:-

Helena and Julia will be joining Dave in Norway

We head to Norway mid August. I'm very excited about this trip, I've never been to Norway before. I am tasked with producing still as well as moving images from this trip, so I'm also excited about been able to dedicate time to working with a more static medium.

There are some more images from the day on the Hot Aches Facebook Page.

Diff

New Film Poster - The Long Hope

2011-07-13T22:20:00.012+01:00

Since 2008 I've been working with a great graphic designer, Ifan Bates. Ifan's first design for Hot Aches was for the Committed II DVD:

Then in 2009 he produced the 'Monkey See, Monkey Do' DVD:

When he sent me the design for The Pinnacle I was blown away. For the first time it looked like a 'real' movie not just some climbing DVD.

Now he's just send me a draft for our new film, 'The Long Hope'. I think his design skills combined with Lukasz Warzecha's stunning portrait of Dave and Andy has made for an exceptional image.

'The Long Hope' movie poster - click for full screen

It's always funny to see the film poster design before I've edited the film... still it gives me something to aim for!

Diff

Longhope route success

2011-06-22T14:30:00.007+01:00

Yesterday at 20:40 Dave Macleod was sat on top of St John's Head having just completed the first ascent of Longhope Direct. The full route, at 500m, took Dave and Andy just under 10 hours to complete.

: The Guillotine pitch - Lukasz Warzecha

When asked about the grade, an elated Dave said that he isn't entirely sure just yet, but knows that it's definitely harder than Rhapsody (E11 7a), the route he climbed at Dumbarton Rock in 2006.

: Dave on Rhapsody - Hot Aches Productions

Upon hearing the news, Jon Arran stated that: "I find it incredible that this route has seen only three ascents in over 40 years and has never been repeated (or even attempted?) in the style of the previous ascent."

He continued to explain that the route was first climbed by Drummond and Hill using any means available to complete the route. After that the face went unclimbed for 27 years until Arran and Turnbull climbed it free, taking a different route between the two arêtes to make for a line that could be more easily free climbed. It is only now, after 14 further years, that Dave has climbed the entire face whilst incorporating the original aid crux in to his line.

: Moving through the start of the crux pitch - Lukasz Warzecha

The route itself is fairly inaccessible, with access to the bottom of the line involving a 400 metre descent through a fulmar infested gully on steep overgrown terrain.

: The Lost World: St John's Head from the beach - Matt Pycroft

It becomes even more daunting when you consider that working the 8b+ crux pitch involves shunting on an overhang suspended 400 metres above the rocks below. When you also factor in the inaccessibility of St John's Head (a pathless, heather infested moorland covered in dive bombing bonxies) it becomes clear that any line on the face is inevitably going to be a real adventure. Dave has been taking trips to Hoy for a while with the aim of working Longhope Direct, and yesterday was the first time he had linked the pitches together. Dave has just posted a detailed account of his ascent on his blog, and has stated that what he wanted from the route was a "super hard long route that was bold, loose, birdy, hard to climb in a day - as pure as possible." He says that "that’s absolutely what Scottish sea cliff climbing is about."

: Guy, Lukasz and Diff filming Dave on the crux pitch. - Matt Pycroft

The Hot Aches crew all had a brilliant day, and needless to say we dragged our aching bodies through the doors of 'ME Cottage' that evening with grins from ear to ear. Guy, Lukasz and Diff all jugged a fair distance yesterday, and Guy was forced to make a speed ascent of about 50 metres to catch Dave traversing through The Vice. I spent the morning slipping and sliding my way down

A video of Diff filming on ropes on the crux pitch can be seen on the Hot Aches Facebook page.

The ascent is currently being discussed on the UKC forums.

Posted by Matt

Interviews with Dave and Andy

2011-06-22T13:54:00.003+01:00

Interviews with Andy and Dave (pre-send) are both now on the Hot Aches Facebook page. We had intended to walk in on Monday regardless of the weather, but it became apparent very quickly that the conditions were just too damp and dismal…

Interview with Dave:

Interview with Andy

Matt's guest blog - First few days on Hoy

2011-06-19T13:27:00.005+01:00

Hi, I'm Matt Pycroft and I'm working on the Hoy shoot as a cameraman. I've put a quick post together to show you what's been going on since we arrived on the island.

Well the first few days on Hoy have been pretty exciting. The ‘ME cottage’ we are staying in is really swish, and is by no means the rundown bothy I was expecting.

: 'ME Cottage'

After arriving on Thursday night we packed our bags and grabbed a few hours sleep before heading out towards the crag on Friday morning. Between us we have a huge amount of kit, and as a result the walk in on Friday morning was a painful one when coupled with the initial section involving 400m of height gain on 45 degree terrain.

: It's hard to keep up with Dave Macleod

Once we had made it to the coast, Diff and I shot some footage of Dave and Andy arriving at the crag, as well as capturing the moment where Andy saw the route for the first time. The crag is the biggest continuous sea cliff in Britain, and is an incredibly imposing piece of rock. From the promontory where I will be shooting some of my wide shots the line looks extremely impressive.

: The view from the peninsula

Diff, Guy, Lukasz and I spent much of the day scouting out shooting locations and angles, whilst Dave and Andy checked out the route and had one last look at the moves (which, incidentally, was Andy’s first chance to catch a glimpse of the line close up).

: Guy, Diff, Lukasz and Dave on the route

Whilst hammering in the stakes for the ropes at the top of the crag, there was a minor setback. I’ve put together a quick edit of the mishap below:

Hoy shoot - Behind the scenes from Hot Aches Productions on Vimeo.

As everyone became confident that they were ready for the shoot, people started to filter off back to the ME cottage to sort out gear and pack bags. It got to around 10pm and eventually it was just Dave and I left at the crag. After sorting out our gear we headed off towards the car. The sunset was stunning, and considering the crag is West facing it made for some great footage as we walked out.

: Sunset over Hoy. Hard to beat.

We spent Saturday just chilling out and resting to be fully prepared for the shoot today (Sunday), but unfortunately we woke up this morning to an island coated in drizzly mist. Dave and Andy reluctantly called it off at around 10am, and we made the decision to head up tomorrow, weather dependant.

: Dave and Andy, having just called it off.

An interview with Dave Macleod will follow this post on the Hot Aches Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hotaches

Check out the team's blogs here:

Climbers:
http://www.davemacleod.blogspot.com/
http://andyturnerclimbing.blogspot.com/

Crew:
http://hotaches.blogspot.com/
http://blog.lwimages.co.uk/
http://mattpycroft.wordpress.com/

Major New Climbing Film

2011-06-13T21:21:00.025+01:00

This year's major film project is about to commence. We are shortly heading to the island of Hoy with Dave Macleod and Andy Turner to film an ambitious ascent of the Long Hope Route on St John's Head.

The Long Hope Route, Pic Dave MacLeod, Click to enlarge

But first, a bit of history. The Long Hope Route was first climbed in 1970 by Ed Drummond and Oliver Hill. They spent 7 days on the wall, sleeping on ledges and in hammocks, and several of the 23 pitches involved some aiding. A first free ascent was made by John Arran and Dave Turnbull in 1997, but this avoided the final pitch up the steep headwall, taking instead a slightly less direct line. Both ascents were landmark achievements for their time, both being onsight and showing real audacity in an unusually inhospitable environment. St John's Head is a 1000 feet of sandstone, making it the highest vertical sea cliff in the British Isles.

Topo drawn from memory by Oliver Hill, 40 years after the first ascent.

Click to enlarge.

This summer's challenge is for Dave and Andy to climb the Long Hope Route in a single day, freeing the final pitch up the headwall which Dave considers will come in around a hefty F8b+. Quite a challenge after 850 feet of sandy sea cliff and several pitches of E5 and above. This will certainly make it among the biggest undertakings in British climbing.

We have already interviewed John Arran, Dave Turnbull and Oliver Hill about their respective experiences on the wall and are privileged to have Ed Drummond joining us on Hoy this summer. The film will tell the story of the previous ascents as well as Dave and Andy's one-day mission.

Ed and Oliver gearing up for their 7-day epic (Pic. Oliver Hill)

For those of you who know sea cliffs and particularly sea cliffs on the Northern Isles, the varied challenges will be easily acknowledged. For starters, Orkney seems to have it's own weather system. While here in Edinburgh we might be basking in sunshine, St John's Head might be caught in a raging storm with gale force winds and lashing rain. In June, one needs thermals and Goretex. Having dressed for the weather, one is then left to contend with the wildlife, more specifically, the vomiting fulmars. As luck (or nature) would have it, the time when the weather is most clement for climbing coincides nicely with the seabird population reaching maximum density. Not least of the challenges is the approach. First, drive to the very northern tip of mainland Scotland. Then catch two ferries, followed by a stiff 2 hour walk-in and a horrific 1-hour scramble down a treacherously steep, grassy slope.....roadside it is not.

Dave at the top of pitch 1.

We had an unsuccessful attempt to film this route last summer. With a limited time available we had only one day to attempt the climb. The day started ok with footage of the first 2 pitches captured. But things started to unravel when a camera and tripod met with a gust of wind and a rock pool. Enough said. By the time I had scrambled back to the top of the cliff, soggy camera in tow, the mist was rolling in. As Dave reached pitch 5, the rain had started. Climbing and filming now both impossible, we abandoned ship. We've added some pics from last year to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hotaches

Soggy kit

Optimistic....

Shooting plan for the crux pitch, Click to enlarge

Cameraman's view....birdseye

So this year, we're going back with the big guns. We have much more time, more crew and more film kit than we can possibly carry!! Mountain Equipment are key sponsors of the project and Stoats Porridge Bars will be keeping us well fueled.

Keep up to date with the trip via our social media pages:

Facebook
Hot Aches: https://www.facebook.com/hotaches
Lukasz Warzecha: https://www.facebook.com/LWimages
Dave Macleod: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=761184046

Twitter
Hot Aches: http://twitter.com/#!/HotAches
Dave Macleod: http://twitter.com/#!/davemacleod09
Lukasz Warzecha: http://twitter.com/#!/LukaszWarzecha

Blogs
Lukasz Warzecha's blog: http://blog.lwimages.co.uk/
Dave Macleod's blog: http://www.davemacleod.blogspot.com/
Andy Turner's blog: http://andyturnerclimbing.blogspot.com/

5th Film Festival Award for The Pinnacle

2011-04-18T09:30:00.008+01:00

We are thrilled that 'The Pinnacle' was awarded the Best Climbing Film Award at 5th International Mountain Film Festival Domžale. 'The Pinnacle' was up against some great climbing films from Slovenia, the UK and around the world.

The film jury said this about the film:

"The winner of the Climbing Award shows that the spirit of climbing can best be expressed through a compliment, repeating routes done 50 years ago and appreciating that despite advances in equipment and technique, the challenge remains the same. The British film THE PINNACLE shows the bonds of past and that they still remain at the heart of adventure."

The Pinnacle is available on DVD and HD Download direct from our website.

Best Climbing Film - Domzale Film Festival, Slovenia
Best Film - Mendi Film Festival, Vitoria, Spain
People's Choice - Dundee Mountain Film Festival
People's Choice - Kendal Mountain Film Festival
People's Choice - Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival (The Architect)

Diff.

Why Rock Climbing Films Are Like Desert Island Discs

2011-04-09T10:50:00.001+01:00

'By the sleepy lagoon' (Eric Coates), the theme music to Desert Island Discs, why not enjoy this as you read.

A student I taught at the Adventure Film Academy last year recently sent me a link to a climbing film he had completed and asked for my opinion. The piece was well shot and edited yet it failed to move me as a film. I was considering why that was when I came up with the idea for this blog.

To me, the most important thing about film is emotion. As a filmmaker my job is to create films that generate emotion in the audience. In my opinion, for a film to be truly great it has to make you laugh and make you cry. In last seven years of attending mountain film festivals there have been only a few which have achieved this benchmark (e.g. Alone Across Australia, 20 Seconds of Joy, Solo: Lost at Sea, The Endless Knot, Touching the Void).

I have to admit that I have yet to make such a film. However, I feel sure I have created films that have generated emotion in audiences. As I continue to learn my craft I hope that I too can create a work that will generate a standing ovation from a tearful audience.

The student’s film in question showed a climber making the first ascent of a route. When the climber topped out I felt no emotion. Why? Because I knew nothing about the climber or what this climb meant to him. I had watched him climb from the bottom to the top, but I had no connection with him.

Andy Kirkpatrick, “Climbing is like masturbation…”

I think rock climbing films differ from say skiing films or skateboarding films because for the most part climbing is fairly dull to watch! Andy Kirkpatrick hits the nail on the head when he says, “Climbing is like masturbation… it’s fun when you’re doing it, but no one else wants to hear about it!”

Don’t get me wrong, I love climbing films and I think film is great medium for telling stories about rock climbing and mountaineering. But what makes climbing films great and interesting is not the climbing action, but the climbers themselves.

The reason Desert Island Discs is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio is not because of the music it plays, but because the audience learns something about the guest. The show is about the person not the music, and in climbing films the film is about the climber, not the climbing.

Diff

Stream our films

2011-02-03T11:26:00.002Z

All Hot Aches films can now be streamed straight from hotaches.com. All you need to do is pay a small fee (from $4.99 USD) and you can watch the film as many times as you like from any computer for up to 48 hours.

The films can be played back in full screen and at HD (720p).

All the films are still available as downloads to keep from £9.99 or DVDs from £18.99.

Diff

PS I would love to hear what you make of the new streaming service, so please leave a comment below to let me know.

What would you like to see?

2011-01-28T11:44:00.003Z

I greatly enjoyed making The Pinnacle last year and the film has had such a great reception from the climbing community. Therefore I would love to make another historical mountaineering documentary, the questions is what character or story from mountaineering history would you like to see next?

Jimmy Marshall - The 'star' of The Pinnacle (Image Copyright Jimmy Marshall)

Please add your suggestions in the comments below… free HD Download to the best suggestion.

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The Pinnacle - HD Download now Available

2011-01-25T12:59:00.003Z

Dave MacLeod topping out on Point Five Gully on Ben Nevis

The HD download of our latest film is now available from hotaches.com.

The download comes bundled with three extra films:

Don't Die
This gripping short film tells the story of Dave MacLeod's first ascent of one of the hardest winter routes in the world, 'Don't Die of Ignorance' XI,11. Produced & directed by Joe French and John Sutherland of Heatherhat Productions.

The Architect - People's Choice Award - Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival
One of the great pioneers of Scottish mountaineering, Jimmy Marshall, reflects on a lifetime of climbing in Scotland. His soulful words accompany stunning footage of the routes which Marshall first climbed on Ben Nevis 50 years ago.

Q&A
Q&A with Jimmy Marshall, Dave MacLeod & Andy Turner, recorded at the Fort William Mountain Film Festival.

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'The Pinnacle' Trailer

2010-11-30T09:02:00.005Z

Here's the new trailer for 'The Pinnacle' with music by Sam Hurt & Andrew Hunter.

Thanks to David Jinks for his work distilling 62 mins of film down to 90 seconds.

Also thank you to everyone who voted at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival to give the film the People's Choice Award and to everyone at the Dundee Mountain Film Festival who also awarded the film People's Choice... I'm so pleased that folk are enjoying the film.

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'The Pinnacle' - World Premiere & Advance Orders

2010-11-05T05:11:00.007Z

The Pinnacle Film Poster

The World premiere of 'The Pinnacle' will take place 2 weeks today (Friday 19th Nov) at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival. Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner will be there to take questions after the film. Details and tickets can be found on the Kendal Mountain Film Festival website.

DVD - Click to read cover

The first batch of DVDs are currently being manufactured and are available to order in advance from the Hot Aches website. DVDs will be shipped first class on Monday 22nd November.

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‘The Architect’ wins People’s Choice at Edinburgh

2010-10-25T07:30:00.009+01:00

I had a great weekend at the EMFF; this festival gets better every time. Now in its 8th year the EMFF provided some great films and speakers. I managed to catch most of the sessions and I came away really inspired, both by the adventure and by some of the filmmaking. My new short film, ‘The Architect’, had its first outing to a full house of 450 on the Saturday night. I was very pleased with the reception the film received and delighted that it won the People's Choice Award. Thank you to everyone who came along on Saturday.

The film will be released as an extra on my new DVD ‘The Pinnacle’ which will be on sale here from 22^nd November.

My favourite film of the weekend was definitely ‘Solo - Alone at Sea’. If you get a chance to see this I would highly recommend it. Personally, I think that for a film to be great it has to make you laugh and make you cry. Many films can do one or the other, but when a film hits both ends of the emotional spectrum you know it has something special. Over the last 6 years of attending mountain film festivals there have been a handful of films which have passed this test and this was one of them.

The jury seemed to agreed with me about 'Solo' and awarded it the 'Best Film Award'. The 'Best Climbing Film' award went to Alastair Lee's big walling epic, 'The Asgard Project'.

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'The Architect' Preview Clip [HD]

2010-10-05T06:08:00.004+01:00

Andy Turner enjoying the spin drift on Point Five Gully

I've add a short preview clip of 'The Architect' to the Hot Aches Facebook page, you can watch it here.

Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival 2010

2010-10-04T06:40:00.007+01:00

Since I made my first film in 2004 the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival has heralded the start of the film festival season. Over the years the EMFF has hosted the world premieres of several of my films: Fools With Tools (2004), Cavewoman (2005), E11 (2006), Committed (2007), Grit Kids (2008) and Single-Handed (2009). This year is no exception, with the world premier of one of my new films 'The Architect':

The Architect (2010) HD 16 mins
One of the great pioneers of Scottish mountaineering, Jimmy Marshall, reflects on a lifetime of climbing in Scotland. His soulful words accompany stunning footage of Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner enjoying the routes which Marshall first climbed with his friend Robin Smith on Ben Nevis 50 years ago.

The film is playing on the Saturday night (23rd October), full details can be found on the EMFF website.

"Climbers I've Shot and Some I'd Like to Shoot!"

Pic Adrian Trendall

This year at the EMFF, I've also been asked to give a presentation at the Saturday afternoon 'Climbers Session'. I'm preparing a lighthearted look through the Hot Aches archives and I will be showing some classic clips of climbers I've worked with over the years. Many of these clips have never been released, so I hope it will show a little of what goes on in the background during the making of climbing films.

The EMFF is always a great event but this year I think the film program is stronger then ever before. The EMFF party is FREE this year so don't miss out on what is always a great social event on the Edinburgh climbing scene.

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Monkey See Monkey Win

2010-07-26T20:00:00.010+01:00

'Hey Presto' from the DVD 'Monkey See, Monkey Do' has just been awarded Best Short Film at The 2010 Squamish Mountain Festival.

You can watch a clip from the film on the Hot Aches You Tube Channel, or on the Hot Aches Facebook page.

Michael Klekamp and I shot this film in only a few days, almost a year ago now. It was a fun shoot, with a 12 hour roadtrip either side.

Michael Klekamp

I had planned to shoot a film with another climber who, in the end, couldn’t make it, which left me in Canada with a few days free and no film. So I emailed Sonnie and made plans to drive from Banff to Squamish to shoot him on one of his projects.

About a week or two later and the day before we were to embark on the 12 hour drive to Squamish, I called Sonnie to confirm everything. No answer. OK.... I thought. No problem. We drive over, I’m sure he’ll be expecting us.

Roadtrip Food

So Michael and I drove from Banff to Squamish through a heat wave and forest fires. After a full day on the road we stopped for some food at Whistler, only a short drive from Squamish. I decided to call Sonnie and let him know we were almost there. No answer on the land-line. No answer on the cell phone. But hey, I had a google map of where he lives, so we carried on.

We arrive, walk in through the open patio doors and Sonnie is sat on the sofa in his boxer shorts watching Family Guy. “Hey Boys, what's happening?”

Downtown Squamish

The next few days were spent getting up at 5am to climb and film before the sun hit the crag and the heat stopped play. Then we’d have breakfast at Café and spend the rest of the day hanging around at the lake or Sonnie’s apartment.

This clip sums it up:-

On one of these afternoons, we were all sat around the apartment when Sonnie’s land-line started to ring. He didn’t even flinch! He just carried on looking at his laptop. A few moments later, his cell phone started to ring and vibrate on the table next to him. He picked it up, looked at the screen and put it right back down. Now I understood.

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PS ( Can you PS on a blog?)

Also, congratulations to Alastair Lee who won the Best Film Award for his epic 'The Asgard Project'. Best Climbing film went to the awesome 'Alone on the Wall' by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen.

Indian Face and The Cailleach

2010-07-06T14:25:00.031+01:00

Clogwyn Du'r Arddu

As we walk up to Cloggy the Welsh clouds gather threateningly over the summit of Snowdon. Dave and Claire ride the train to the summit with all the climbing and rigging gear.

Ghost Train!

Dave abseils down the route and a few drops of rain spit a warning at him.

Spitting

I arrive at the foot of the wall; I feel rejected, resigned to another trip wasted because of British weather. I decide to gear up anyway, figuring that I might as well jug up the wall just in case Dave decides to at least work the moves before the rain sets in properly.

Llyn Du'r Arddu (here be dragons!)

I jug up and get comfortable on my skateboard seat. Dave climbs on a shunt and abs back to the base of the route.

Skateboard and Shunt

Dave shouts up that he's going to "give it 10 mins and see". I look at the sky and put on my belay jacket. The clouds still look angry, but as yet unproductive.

Dave and Claire chat at the bottom, I eavesdrop on the radio mic. Dave is worried about the rain, the route will take him at least 20 mins to climb and it seems risky to attempt when it could pour down at any minute.

Dave goes for a walk.

Dave returns and chats more about the weather. Claire seems more confident than Dave, pointing out that the weather hasn't got any worse in the last half an hour. Dave starts to gear up, once he's putting his boots on I radio Tom to check he is all set on the long shot.

Claire MacLeod, dressed for summer on Snowdon (pic Tom Kirby)

Dave starts climbing, all my focus is on the filming, all my attention is on the camera. There is an odd feeling of detachment from reality through a viewfinder. I've filmed a lot of scary and dangerous ascents over the last 5 years and it is very rare that this bubble of detachment has ever burst.

Video Grab - Dave Climbs Indian Face

Dave reaches the jugs at the end of the crux. He's done it. We chat briefly and I check he is happy to wait there while I jug the last 10m to the belay ledge for the top-out shot. I transfer my weight from the skateboard to the rope, but before I can set off jugging the Welsh clouds boil to life and start to spit angrily at us. Dave shouts that he can't afford to wait. The top section is relatively easy… in the dry, but not something to risk in the wet.

Race in the gloom

So now Dave and I are racing each other to the top, me on jumars, Dave on damp rock. I only just beat Dave to the ledge (although maybe he let me win!). I get the camera out and film the last few metres of the climb. As I'm filming the top out interview, a seemingly huge gob of rain hits the lens.

Lens cloth needed

By the time we're walking back down in the valley, the rain is torrential. I'm wearing full Gortex waterproofs but I'm still soaked through. It seems unlikely that anyone could have climbed anything today, let alone Indian Face.

The mist descends

Dave jokes that he is glad the ascent has been caught on film otherwise no one would believe he had done it today.

Filmmaker Tom Kirby enjoys some excellent soup courtesy of the very nice cafe at the foot of Snowden's Llanberis path.

That night Cailleach, the Celtic goddess of weather and water, exercised her power.

...

In the morning I'm first up and I head to Pete's to check my email. On the way out I bump into Johnny Dawes chatting with friends. I tell him the news, he is excited by it and keen to chat with Dave, the newest member of a very exclusive club of climbers. As we're chatting the door opens, a gust of wind enters the café... followed by John Redhead. Dawes tells him the news and then they chat with excitement about last nights storm.

Two of the members of the Indian Face Club

Shortly after I shot a quick interview with Dave and Johnny; you can see an extract of it on the Hot Aches Facebook page.

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Indian Face 2007

2010-06-30T09:53:00.005+01:00

Just back from filming Dave MacLeod climb Indian Face E9 in North Wales... More about that soon. But for now I've just added a clip from Committed Vol 1 featuring Dave MacLeod trying the route back in 2007.

Hot Aches You Tube Channel

Great Writing From Kevin Shields

2010-05-14T16:51:00.002+01:00

Kevin Shields (Pic Steven Gordon)

A very open and honest piece of writing by Kevin Shields has just been published on UKC. You can read the article here.

I've placed some great clips of Kev climbing, taken from Monkey See, Monkey Do , on YouTube.
You can see them by going to the Hot Aches Channel.

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Free Films and Special Offers on Climbing DVDs

2010-04-15T18:21:00.005+01:00

We are running a special offer on climbing DVD sales from Hot Aches.com:

Get all five Hot Aches DVDs for only £50,

Or buy any three for £40, or any two for £30.

See: Special Offers

All our films are also now available as downloads, prices start from only £7.99.

See: Our Films Page

If you want to watch some high quality films for free, check out our new Hot Aches YouTube Channel

Cheers,

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Movie Poster Draft

2010-03-23T09:28:00.002Z

The first draft of the Movie Poster / DVD cover for the latest Hot Aches film, 'The Pinnacle'.

A Great Week on The Ben

2010-02-17T09:21:00.019Z

The North East Buttress of Ben Nevis

Last week we had a fantastic time climbing and filming on Ben Nevis. By day we were running and climbing all over the mountain trying to keep up with Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner as they repeated all the Smith- Marshall routes from that famous week in 1960. By night we were capturing footage and editing clips on a wind powered laptop whilst drinking whisky!

The CIC Hut, our home for the week.

I’ve been back in Edinburgh now for a couple of days and I’m still amazed that we managed to pull it off and get all the routes climbed and more importantly to me, filmed well.

I'm still capturing footage from the week, but here's a video grab from each of the routes we filmed:

The Great Chimney (IV,5) 6th February 1960

Minus Three Gully (IV,5) 7th February 1960

Smith's Route (V,5) 8th February 1960

Observatory Buttress (V,4) 9th February 1960

Point Five Gully (V,5) 10th February 1960

Piggot's Route (V,6) 12th February 1960

Orion Direct (V,5) 13th February 1960

I have a lot of people to thank for the success of this project, it was a fantastic team:

Dave MacLeod - Climber

Dave MacLeod on Tower Ridge after climbing Great Chimney

As well as climbing all the routes, Dave was instrumental in the planning and logistics that went into this project.

Andy Turner - Climber

Andy enjoys getting the Hot Aches!

This was the first time I had worked with Andy and he was brilliant to work with. Climbing routes for camera requires a lot of waiting around and faffing; Andy's patience was wonderful. He also had to put up with me kicking snow on his head from above for the whole week.

Donald King – Mountain Guide

Donald King

Donald King did a superb job of looking after me and ensuring my safety on the mountain, rigging routes and getting me into some fantastic positions to shoot the climbing.

Guy Heaton – Cameraman

Guy Heaton getting the shot in comfort

Guy was my second cameraman on this shoot and he captured some beautiful long shots of the climbers from all angles. His work really illustrates what an amazing mountain Ben Nevis is.

Mike Pescod – Director of the Fort William Mountain Film Festival

Mike Pescod (Centre) on top of Point Five Gully

Mike is the director of the Fort William Mountain Festival, a driving force behind this project.

Lochaber Athletics Club

Three members of the Lochaber Athletics Club help Donald King (right) with some kit.

Thanks to all the members of the club who helped us over the week by running up to the hut to collect media and deliver supplies.

Paul Prentice - Mountain Boot Company

Paul Prentice from The Mountain Boot Company kitted out myself and Guy with nice new axes and crampons for the week.

Claire MacLeod - Website Support

Claire MacLeod filming one of her own productions

Thanks to Claire for her support and website work over the week.

Mountain Equipment - Major Sponsor

Finally, without the support of Mountain Equipment this project could not have happened at all. Richard Woodall, marketing Manager at ME, backed the project right from the start. Despite the risk that nothing might come of it because of adverse weather and climbing conditions he committed support from ME. I can remember him saying to me back in early January, “ok, it might be worth a punt!”.

The Week's Work

I’m going to craft all this footage into a film or films for release in the Autumn, just in time to get everyone psyched for the next winter season.

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How many layers? Free DVD to the first correct answer!

Day 3 - Minus Three Gully

2010-02-10T13:46:00.003Z

Day three of the Smith-Marshall Project and Dave and Andy climb Minus Three Gully.

Pigott's Route

2010-02-08T23:39:00.004Z

Here is a clip of Dave Macleod and Andy Turner climbing Pigott's Route as part of the Smith-Marshall Week film project.

The Great Chimney - 50 years on

2010-02-08T22:56:00.006Z

Those who knows anything about Scottish winter climbing will know the names Jimmy Marshall and Robin Smith. Although their reputations as climbers spread well beyond what they did in this week 50 years ago , 6-13 February 1960 will forever be acknowledged as a significant time in the history of Scottish climbing.

As part of a commemorative event to mark the achievement, Hot Aches is working with the Fort William Mountain Festival to film Dave Macleod and Andy Turner repeating the adventures of Smith and Marshall. We will be filming and editing as we go. Below is a short clip of their ascent of the Great Chimney.

You will be able to see more footage from the week on the Ben at the Fort William Mountain Festival on Sunday 14th February, dubbed "Marshall / Smith night". Jimmy himself will be there. You can book tickets for the event online at: http://mountainfestival.eventry.co.uk/

Paul will also be giving a lecture at the Fort William Mountain Festival on Saturday 13th February. This is aptly titled "Climbers I've shot and some I'd like to shoot". Tickets for this can also be booked online at: http://mountainfestival.eventry.co.uk

'Monkey See, Monkey Do' - DVD Released

2009-10-20T15:36:00.008+01:00

‘Monkey See, Monkey Do’ is now available to order from our webshop and you can now watch the trailer here. Thanks go to Ben Knapp for his work on the trailer.

Thank You Benjamin Knapp

'Single-Handed' Premiere

This last weekend saw the premiere of ‘Single- Handed’ when it played to a packed house at the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival.

The reception was fantastic, Kevin received a huge round of applause when he took to the stage after the filmed was screened. To get an idea of what an EMFF crowd sounds like, see:

‘Single-Handed’ went on to be awarded ‘Best Climbing Film’ and the ‘People’s Choice’ award. Thank you to everyone who voted, I’m glad so many of you enjoyed the film.

‘Single-Handed’ is also a finalist at the prestigious Banff Mountain Film Festival, together with ‘Slate Monkeys’. Both of these films will also play at the Kendal Mountain Festival and maybe a few other festivals over the next year.

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‘Single Handed’ MSMD – Part 2 of 4

2009-10-09T08:45:00.019+01:00

The second film on the DVD is a profile of someone who must be one of the world’s most psyched climbers, Kevin Shields.

Kevin Shields (pic Steven Gordon)

All top climbers talk about calculated risk, but Kev pushes the margins of his ‘calculations’ closer to real limits than any other climber I’ve ever seen. It can be terrifying to watch. Even the detachment from the action that comes from being behind the camera does not offer any protection from that terror.

Kevin Shields (pic Steven Gordon)

I’ve been filming Kev since early 2006. Some of the footage I shot then was used in Committed Vol I, but the rest of it has gone unseen until now. This year I’ve filmed Kev both in the Peak District and the Highlands and, without wishing to give away too much of the story, have captured some really special moments, from ecstasy to extreme tension. Even during the editing process, watching short clips back has left my palms damp…and I already know what happens!

For me good films are all about emotion. For a film to be great it has to make you laugh and make you cry. Films that do both stick with you. One emotion that you should experience when watching Single-Handed is frustration. This was highlighted when I was adding subtitles as an option to the DVD. In this scene Kev is struggling with the crux move on an E7.

00:14:31:23,00:14:33:17, That's just never possible.

00:14:33:17,00:14:34:17, F**king F**K

[Big fall /slide down the slab]

00:14:37:05,00:14:38:11, Oooh ya f**ker ye

00:14:38:21,00:14:39:21, F**K F**K F**K

"F**K F**K F**K"

00:14:57:14,00:14:58:14, Argh F**K IT

00:15:02:02,00:15:03:15, Nah, it's just never gonnae work, Gaz.

00:15:04:15,00:15:05:15, Lower us down now.

00:15:07:20,00:15:08:20, F*ck

So just for Kev we've added a special warning to the DVD cover:

"Warning contains some effing and blinding"

The Score

‘Single-Handed’ has a light score in terms of music. We recorded some good location sound from the radio mic Kev was wearing, so I wanted to make maximum use of that in the mix. You may have noticed in other films that the breathing of a scared climber can add much more tension than any music, so most of this film uses an atmospheric soundscape rather than a musical score.

The one track I have used is by the singer/songwriter Francis Hayes and is called “Friday, Saturday, Sunday”. I had this track on an old CD that was recorded live in a pub in Stirling. I really liked the track, but the recording quality was quite poor.

singer/songwriter Francis Hayes

Since this was the only version of the song ever recorded I managed to persuade Francis to re-record this track especially for the film. This allowed us to adjust the length of the intro to match the opening sequence. Francis and I spent some time in Chris Hall’s home recording studio to get the piece just right for the film. Chris added some bass guitar to Francis’ original acoustic and worked his sound engineer’s magic to complete the track.

Chris Hall happy with the track

This short clip from the film shows Kev enjoying the wonderful line of ‘Traveller in Time” at Ramshaw Rocks in Staffordshire.

World Premier at EMFF

The World Premier of Single-Handed will take place on Sunday 18th October at 7pm at the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival in the George Square Theatre. Kev will be there to answer a few questions after the film.

Tickets and details can be found here:

I’m really excited about seeing the audience’s reaction to this film. I may not manage to make everyone laugh and cry, but I'm sure its a film that will generate some emotion and leave your palms damp.

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Kev is sponsored by

Mountain Equipment and Wild Country

'Slate Monkeys' MSMD Part 1 of 4

2009-10-07T08:40:00.016+01:00

In this series of four posts I want to give you some background and a sneak preview of each of the four films on Hot Aches Productions’ new DVD ‘Monkey See, Monkey Do’ or ‘MSMD’ as the kids call it.

Hazel Findlay on the MSMD disc artwork. Photo by Adrian Trendall, design by Ifan Bates.

MSMD Part 1 – ‘Slate Monkeys’

I was very fortunate to get this footage, it wasn’t exactly a planned shoot. Matt Segal was on a four-week climbing trip to the UK and although I had planned to catch up with him, we had no plans to shoot anything on the slate. I met him a week into his trip in the Vaynol Arms in Nant Peris.

Also in the bar that night was the young British climber, Hazel Findlay. After a lengthy debate on conditions and weather, we made plans to spend a couple of days climbing in the slate quarries of Llanberis.

Matt and Hazel in the Vaynol (pics Tom Kirby)

The next day while Matt and Hazel were attempting the esoteric slate classic Gin Palace, who should turn up but Johnny Dawes, nicely completing the line up for the film. What followed was six hours of them taking it in turn to besiege this crazy route. You’ll have to watch the film to find out which of them makes it to the top.

Matt Segal (pic Adrian Trendall)

I think one of the things which makes this film interesting is the contrast between the climbers: A professional sponsored athlete from the US, a young student from England, fairly new to the scene, and the British rock master.

Rock Master, Johnny Dawes (pic Adrian Trendall)

The Score

Very early on in the edit stage I commissioned my friend and regular collaborator Chris Hall to compose the music for the film. I asked him to write a theme for each climber, based on their personality. Later, these themes were arranged to make the score for the film. I wanted to be able to tell who was climbing just by listening to the music.

Chris Hall

Chris then scored the music to match the climbing action. Since Chris is a climber himself he’s able to appreciate the situations that the climbers face, dilemmas over whether to move a left hand or a right foot first, that tentative feeling which comes with a sketchy foot or a razor sharp crimp. He also included several subtle musical cues which follow the action on screen, for example as Hazel’s foot slips there’s a ‘twang’ of a guitar string.

Here’s a two minute clip from the film:

I think the star of this film isn’t the sponsored athlete, Matt Segal, or even the rock master, Johnny Dawes. In my opinion, it’s the new girl, Hazel Findlay, who steals the show:

Hazel Findlay attempting to onsight 'Rainbow of Recalitrance' E6

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Monkey See, Monkey Do - New DVD Announced

2009-09-24T14:21:00.010+01:00

New DVD!

Our latest DVD will be available from the 19th October. Leading up to the release I'll be adding some teasers and telling a few of the stories behind this new DVD.

For now here's a quick overview of what films are on the DVD:

Slate Monkeys

Set in the post industrial landscape of disused Welsh slate quarries, three very different climbers battle their way up some unusual climbing. Matt Segal, Hazel Findlay and Johnny Dawes take it in turn to crimp, palm, squirm and wriggle their way up the esoteric route, Gin Palace. But whose technique will prove successful?

Single-Handed

Kevin Shields, pic Steven Gordon

Kevin Shields is known as the ‘one handed climber’. Despite being born with most of his left hand missing Kevin has shocked the climbing world with some daring and inspirational ascents. The film exposes Kevin’s motivations and follows his progression through the climbing grades, culminating in a gripping and palm-sweating attempt to solo E6 in Glen Nevis.

Little Big-Walling in Madagascar

James McHaffie on 'Tough Enough'

The West Face of Karimbony in the Tsaranoro Massif is home to one of the world’s hardest big-wall free climbs, “Tough Enough?”. James McHaffie and a team of top UK climbers head to Madagascar to find out if this route is indeed tough enough…

Hey Presto

Sonnie Trotter

World class climber Sonnie Trotter teams up with world class belayer Cory Richards to take on the Squamish classic, ‘Presto’. The film examines what it takes to belay on some the world’s hardest climbs.

Kev Shields on the Grit

2009-04-23T18:22:00.009+01:00

Earlier this year I headed down to The Peak to film Kev Shields climbing on the grit. This was Kev’s first grit trip, so it was great fun showing him around the crags and pointing out lines for him to look at.

Kev enjoying a nice grit top out. 'Traveller in Time’ E4

If you’ve not seen Kev in action before, check out the clip of the month on our homepage from Committed Vol1.

While at Ramshaw Rocks Kev spied the nice looking line ‘Traveller in Time’ E4 6a. Kev was almost stopped by a long reach out left at half height. As most of Kev’s left hand is missing it makes moves like this almost impossible, but after inventive use of a high toe hook with his right foot Kev made it to the top moves.

The next day at Froggat Kev made a fine solo accent of the classic Brown’s Eliminate E2.

Kev on 'Brown's Eliminate' E2

I always find climbing with Kev inspirational; it forces me to examine my own self imposed limitations and makes me think what I could achieve if tried has hard as Kev does.

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First Ascent ‘Silent Scream’ E7

2009-03-09T20:26:00.011Z

Pete Whittaker

A team from Hot Aches were there to film ‘Grit Kid’ Pete Whittaker’s first ascent of ‘Silent Scream’ E7 6c. The route traverses the length of the Cioch Block in the Southern Quarry of Burbage South before finishing up the existing line ‘Masters of the Universe’ E7 6c.

Pete Whittaker topping out on Silent Scream

Andy Pollitt made the first ascent of ‘Masters…’ back in 1988. I remember it made the front cover of one of the mags, ‘High’, I think, maybe OTE. It’s an interesting route in that, like its neighbour ‘Offspring’ (as seen in ‘Stone Monkey’), both leader and second have to abseil to a starting belay on the corner of the block.

Pete had previously climbed ‘Masters..’ ground up… well, ground up apart from the abseil in! Maybe ‘Abseil Up’ is the correct style description. He then looked for a way to dispense with the ab rope.

The new route starts on the left edge of the block and traverses a line lower than the existing girdle, ‘Silent Spring’ E4 5c.

Cross-through on the traverse

Pete’s mum, Jill, was belaying on the ledge.

Jill Whittaker

The route is protected by a few ancient rusty bolts, which date back to a time when aid climbing was practised on this crag (1960’s?).

Ancient bolt

The route is also protected by a sling behind a ‘shipwreck’ of a block; I’m not sure what I’d trust more, the block or the rusty bolts.

Pete hanging off the 'shipwreck' block

Once Pete reached the right side of the block he clipped a second rope into four more rusty bolts, belayed from the quarry floor by his dad, Paul. Then with a parent on each rope, Pete climbed the arete ‘Masters of the Universe’ to finish.

Pete gurns through the last move

‘Silent Scream’ E7 6c

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Video - James Pearson Working Gerty Berwick

2009-02-17T15:25:00.005Z

James Working Gerty Berwick Feb 2008

Congratulation to James Pearson who claimed the second ascent of Gerty Berwick (E9), or as I like to call it “Gerty Berty”. I had been calling it Twlons for the last year since I first filmed James working the line. (TWLONS – The Wall Left Of New Statesman).

James on Twlons Feb 2009

It was a very cold windy day in February last year, the day after James had lead The Groove. We called by Ilkley and James worked the moves on a shunt. I hung on a rope and got blown around by a freezing wind whilst I tested out some camera angles. It was a rather grey overcast day, but luckily James brightens the shot up by wearing a black top and grey pants!

The result of that cold day is this 3 min video clip below:

Maybe some of the hardest moves on a grit route?

Paul

Clip of the Month - Ben Cossey

2009-02-16T15:42:00.004Z

I've just added a movie of Ben Cossey climbing Simba's Pride to the Hot Aches website as our clip of the month. This clip is taken from our DVD Committed Vol I.

You can watch it here.

Paul.

Fly Another Day - DVD

2008-12-03T10:35:00.009Z

Just in case you thought that we were putting our feet up after finishing Committed 2, we now have another DVD coming out.

View the trailer here

Fly Another Day
The Story of the Tip To Tip Paramotor Expedition

Six men set out on their quest to fly the length of Britain on paramotors. Like the earliest methods of aviation this is flying in it’s most simple form. Suspended beneath a fabric wing and with a small propeller on their backs they set off on the journey of a lifetime.

The range of flying conditions that Britain throws at them takes a heavy toll and one by one the pilots encounter their own personal disasters. There are mid air wing collapses and free falling through the sky, crashes on take off, wings sucked into the engines and emergency landings abound. This is no easy ride.

The tension rises and when the team are forced out of the sky over the Scottish Highlands it looks like the expedition is doomed. But with true British determination they gradually they inch their way ever northwards into the eye of the storm.
--

The Tip to Tip expedition was created to raise funds for the Air Ambulances of England and The Forces Children’s Trust. £5.00 from the sale of the DVDs go to these charities.

When we went to film the Cornish Air Ambulance I was really surprised to find out that it wasn't publicly funded. It seems ridiculous that such an important emergency service should rely on charity. Each air ambulance and it's crew costs over £1 million a year to run. But I changed my mind on this one. The reality is that if the air ambulances were publicly funded, then they would be the first part of the ambulance service to be cut when funds are tight, so staying independently funded works.

--

The DVD is released on 12th December.
You can pre-order your copy in our webshop now.

Indian Face - Johnny Dawes and Nick Dixon Interview

2008-12-02T15:10:00.008Z

With all this talk about grades recently... we decided to publish a fascinating interview about what was the very first E9. This footage had been languishing in our archives for a while so it seemed like a good time for an airing.
Johnny Dawes and Nick Dixon were two of the most influential climbers of their generation - no less than climbing legends. In this interview they talk about their experiences on Indian Face. It is fascinating stuff.

Gordon Stainforth on UKC wrote 'PHENOMENAL! Possibly the most interesting climbing interview I've ever seen.'

This isn't an interview that will appeal to everyone, but to those climbers who have been kicking around for a while and remember the time when major climbing ascents made the centre pages of The Guardian, or film releases such as 'Hard Grit' prompted TV appearances from the stars doing one-armers on Breakfast TV - well, for this generation at least, this inteview might well raise the hairs on the back of our necks - two climbers talking frankly about their ascents of one of the most significant rock climb in recent history.

What is even more significant for me was the fact that this was the first time that these two guys had got back together for over a decade. They had shared so much common ground, experience and history. It is such a shame that so many of us drift apart and go our seperate ways.

That day back at the crag (The Roaches) and also later on in the pub - it was as if all the years hadn't passed by. The conversation was the same, but the benefit of all those years of hindsight had definately played a part too...

Check out the video in a UKClimbing.com video exclusive http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1481

One important hint - watch the last 60 seconds!

Dave B.

VAT Price Reduction

2008-12-01T02:20:00.006Z

Probably the dullest blog post I will ever write... but nonetheless we ought to mention it:

VAT is down to 15% today, so of course we are passing on that price reduction to our customers.That means that in our webshop Committed Volume II (and our previous DVDs) are all reduced to the nice round figure of £19.56 (£18.58 for E11).

On another more interesting subject, we are finalising another DVD right now. Should have a trailer up for it over the next two days. More on that soon.

dave b.

Committed 2 has arrived

2008-11-20T08:54:00.003Z

It is one of those great days. After a year's worth of filming and editing, the DVDs finally arrived back from the manufacturer.

After a nervous check to make sure that everything is right, and it all plays properly (film makers get paranoid!), and now we can get down to the business of getting stock out to our customers and to retailers.

We are heading down to Kendal for the weekend's mountain festivities. We have no less than 5 films screening there, three of which have never been seen by the public before. So that is quite exciting.

On Friday evening we have a special screening / lecture session with James Pearson talking about his climbing and a screening of our two new films about his routes. 6.00pm in the Town Hall. It is a bit early in the weekend for everyone to make it to, but it should be a good session.
Elsewhere at Kendal, 4 of the films are getting multiple screenings, so if you are at Kendal then there's no excuse to miss seeing them on the big screen.

Committed 2 Wins In Banff

2008-11-11T20:47:00.006Z

We are making the long journey home to the UK from Banff, Canada. Whoever booked the flights clearly didn't take time to look at a globe, for I am currently sitting in an airport at Houston, Texas, feeling rather tired.

At Banff this year the Brits scooped just about all of the climbing related awards:
Rockfax won Best Guidebook
Al Lee won a judges special prize for Patagonian Winter
And Hot Aches won 3 Awards, yes 3 ?!?

Banff Mountian Film Festival is probably the most presigious of all festivals to win awards at, so we were pretty happy chaps, as you might well imagine.

The awards we received were. Best Climbing Film. Best Short Film. Audio Post Production Award

It is only 10 days now until Committed 2 will be out. A reminder of course that you can pre-order your copy at the link on the right.

--
Dave B

ps. Quote of the week was from Andy Kirkpatrick (via Al Lee) 'Andy can't be here to receive the award as he is currently in the States teaching Barak Obama to slackline...'

Committed 2 Trailer

2008-10-31T15:44:00.016Z

Committed Volume II presented by THE NORTH FACE

“This film had my jaw dropping, my palms sweating and at times my heart threatening to pack up, but above all this film had me inspired. Superb. Highly recommended” - Ian Parnell

Committed Volume 2 is finished at last, and will be released on November 22nd 2008.

We are now taking pre-orders for the DVD on our webshop. It is going to be a rush getting all shops supplied, so guarantee your copy by pre-ordering now. We aim to be posting out on 21st November.

Thanks to the huge number of people who have helped out on this year's film. There is a listing and film credits here. A particular thanks to our title sponsor, THE NORTH FACE, and supporting sponsor CLIMB MAGAZINE whose input has helped make this a DVD that we are really proud of.

Watch the FILM TRAILER

For more about the film see our films page.

Tomorrow we are heading to Canada, to Banff Mountain Film Festival, where three of our films are finalists this year. As you might imagine, we are looking forward to a well-earned break!

More news soon...

Award for Committed 2

2008-10-20T01:06:00.010+01:00

We were really pleased tonight to pick up an award for our new DVD - which isn't even out yet, another 4 weeks to wait I'm afraid, but for very good reason, I assure you.

The new DVD contains 5 separate films, and most of these will be premiering at Banff and Kendal film festivals soon. however we decided to show one of the films at Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival. It was one of our favorites from the DVD, in fact.

Grit Kids features the audacious climbing talents of two teenagers from the Peak District. You might remember our blog posts from earlier this year.

The Whittakers (featured in the film) are not going to be at Kendal (they are going climbing...) so we thought it would be cool for them to see the film for the first time in the theater in Edinburgh. And we are really happy to have seen how well it was received. As a film maker you know you have done your job well when it is the climbers, rather than the film makers, that people go up to afterwards and say "that was amazing"...

...and enough people did think "that was amazing" for Grit Kids to pick up the Go Fast People's Choice Award at the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival.

It was cool to watch the reaction to a film that we found quite hard to make. All the other films on the DVD have been quite straightforward. But the Whittakers just kept climbing and climbing. The decision on what story to tell was a tough one.

Committed 2 is out in early November. The trailer will be out in a couple of weeks, so we will keep you posted.

dave b.

The Walk of Life. E12

2008-09-30T15:35:00.002+01:00

The Walk of Life

[photo: Hot Aches productions]

The release of Committed Vol 2 has been put back to early November 2008. The reason? Simply that we were waiting, gambling, hoping that James Pearson would succeed on what has been his hardest climbing project ever. A line that for James, both inspired and challenged him at a whole new level.

James Pearson on The Walk of Life, E12 [Hot Aches productions]

Yesterday we made our 7th filming trip down to the north Devon sea cliffs at Hartland Point. James' project climbs directly up an immaculate expanse of rock, a 48 metre cliff.

James Pearson working the moves on The Walk of Life, E12 [Hot Aches productions]

This section of rock does have some history. Many climbers had attempted the top half over the years, each adding to the ladder of pegs that protected it.

James Pearson working the moves on The Walk of Life, E12 [Hot Aches productions]

The super talented climber Ian Vickers then succeeded in climbing a line in what sounds like 'sports style', with pre-placed quickdraws in the pegs, but that line, Dyer Straits comes in from the easier arete at half height before traversing out onto the face. This was graded E8.

James chose to remove the rotting pegs and climb the route on trad gear. He also chose to climb the face direct from the bottom, somehow finding a path through the expanse of nothingness on the bottom 12 metres.

James Pearson setting off on The Walk of Life, E12 [Hot Aches productions]

The other climbers that have passed by during our time at the crag all shared a feeling of awe about this piece of rock. It is huge, intimidating and very very blank. But only James can have an appreciation of the true level of difficulty involved.

James Pearson mid way on The Walk of Life, E12 [Hot Aches productions]

Comparisons have been made with Indian Face on Cloggy. For both these, the psychological challenge is perhaps the biggest factor for the climber. This is not like a gritstone route where a climber can get into the 'zone' and it is all over before they realise.

Here the climber is on the route for 45 minutes (Indian Face was about 23 minutes for the 3 ascentionists). That period of time allows the doubts to kick in. "What am I doing here? This is crazy". That period of time also has a big impact on the cumulative difficulty of the moves, compared to just doing them in isolation. So it is not just a head game. It is scary, yes, but hard and also incredibly sustained.

James Pearson mid way on The Walk of Life, E12 [Hot Aches productions]

James will describe the level of difficulty and his experience on his blog.

The grade of E12 is a mighty grade indeed. But James is certainly one of very few to have a track record that enables them to make such an assesment. He also has a responsibility to say honestly what he thinks.

As a film maker I cannot comment on the grade, but what I can point out, and what people will see in the film, is that James' experience on this route was far harder and more challenging that anything he has done before, considerably harder - a different level. This includes routes like Equilibrium (the 'benchmark' E10) and his own routes that he felt were harder, then harder again.

James Pearson mid way on The Walk of Life, E12 [Hot Aches productions]

Some other thoughts about the route.

A very quick summary about the route is that is is about 48 metres long. The first 12 metres has some of the hardest climbing and is also unprotected. James thinks this would be E10 in it's own right if it were, for example, a gritstone route.

The face is concave. The bottom is a steep slab, then it gradually tilts back to vertical. Beyond the first section there is one good piece of gear. Thereafter the gear is very poor, very difficult to place, and very difficult to tell if it is placed well. Most of the pieces are no 1 or 2 sliders and the seams into which these are placed are either chossy or parallel sided and frictionless.

Rich Mayfield keeping the ropes dry, belaying James

James fell during his first redpoint attempt, a monster fall. I was filming on ab and through the view finder I did not expect him to stop. I was certain he would just keep plummeting. But the gear at that point did hold. I stripped the route for him that day, and the micro cam that held the fall was in a shocking placement, and it was mangled and bent.

That day was a quite terrifying experience. We have filmed many routes with James, and he has never fallen before. This time he got away with it. But the consequence of failure meant that he had to eventually return and face that first 12 metres again, and then to hold it together for all that time higher up.

---

So that's it, James, you can relax for a month or two. Do some bouldering. No more scary routes for a while, please.

The pictures on this blog are screen grabs, hastily taken from the footage.
David Simmonite was taking photos and has some superb pictures.

Thanks to all the people who have passed through there while we were filming, and particularly Sam and Rich who were there yesterday.

So that's it. C2 is now 'in the can', as they say...

A personal thought:
I think this route will become one of those seminal hard routes in the history of our strange sport, the Indian Face of the new generation. An incredible line on a stunning rock face, and a style of climbing and level of difficulty that demands nothing short of the complete armoury of skills from a top climber; huge technical ability, finger strength, unrelenting footwork, stamina and vast, vast reserves of mental toughness.

Tip to Tip Success

2008-08-15T19:37:00.000+01:00

Paramotor Expedition

Sony provided us with their new range of cameras for what was to be an extreme road-test on this shoot.

On the 16th day of this '8 day expedition', a solitary pilot gradually inched his way, hugging the ground through buffeting northerly winds, to finally land at John O'Groats - the most northerly tip of Britain. The ordeal had taken a heavy toll. A thousand miles further south at Land's End, six confident pilots set out on this ambitious project, a journey into the unknown. Each one brought to the team a range of different skills and flying experience. But none had experienced the full range of terrain and conditions that the British landscape and climate can throw at you.

A solitary paramotor approaches John O'Groats

Whitters 'recovering'

The next 16 days was a wake-up call.

One by one the pilots encountered their own personal disasters. Crashes. Engines exploding in the sky. Wings being sucked into the propeller. Collapsed wings. 1,000 foot free-fall out of a thermal...

50 miles from the finish and there were two pilots left in the game, plus our arial cameraman, Dan Burton. 30 miles from the finish disaster struck and Simon crashed out using up the third of his 9 lives in as many days. Richard (Whitters), the air ambulance paramedic was the sole survivor, and he continued northwards with Dan.

8 miles from the finish and we were filming Richard from the roof of our camera vehicle. On the telephone to Norman, the logistics guru, and we were as close to slapping each other on the back as it is possible to be over the telephone. Then suddenly Richard was thrown through the air like a rag doll. Next moment witnessed an emergency landing in a field. 7 miles to go. Last day of the expedition and the northerly wind had blasted through.

The whole team were booked to return south in 4 hours. How can you fly over a thousand miles, and then give up and go home just 7 miles short of your objective? After a two hour wait their was a slight lull in the ferocity of the wind. Still it was the worst take off conditions of the whole expedition. But Richard (Whitters) tentatively embraced a new safety threshold. A fresh intake of pain killers to dumb the pain from an earlier crash. Standing in the field for an age waiting for a slight lull in the elements to give him a chance to take off.

And finally Richard was in the air. Going nowhere. These paramotors fly at about 28 miles per hour. Into a wind of 28 miles per hour you make no ground. Early in the trip with a tail wind they had exceeded 70. But now Whitters was buffeted left toward power cables, then rightwards out to the North Sea. He didn't move forward, but gradually he gained height. Eventually upwards motion changed to forwards motion, and the film crew charged to the top of the last hill to film the arrival.

It was an emotional event. An achievement every bit as impressive as the world class climbing that Hot Aches are more accustomed to filming.

Celebrations at journey's end

So we have a third DVD that will be coming out this Autumn. I hope this will have whetted your appetite.

Dave / Lynwen

Tip to Tip Reaches Scotland

2008-08-11T14:36:00.000+01:00

Tip to Tip Expedition Reaches Scotland

photo copyright Dan Burton Photography

It is 14 days since a team of 6 pilots left Land's End en route to John O'Groats. Flying paramotors is normally very weather dependant, similar to paragliding. Good wind conditions are essential for safe flying. But on this epic journey the weather conditions have necessitated countless marginal take-offs, and flying in apalling conditions.

As I write, the team are at Dalwhinney in the highlands of Scotland after the two surviving pilots plus our ariel cameraman hit freak conditions had to make emergency landings. The last 24 hours have been tough. Dan the cameraman went into freefall for 1,000ft when he exited a thermal. Again that forced emergency landings, with the pilots scattered across the Scottish hill sides.

Surprisied golfers on the edge of Dartmoor. Simon Payne during take off. Hot Aches Images

150 miles lie ahead. Time is running out. The 8 day plan has so far taken 14. One more day of reasonable weather remains.

We hope they make it to the end. As well as being the material for an amazing film, the expedition is raising money for the Air Ambulance services and the Forces Children's Trust. I must admit to surprise when I first learned that air ambulances were funded by voluntary donations. Why is such an essential service reliant on charity? But after filming some of the paramedics and pilots, I think that it is probably better not to be NHS funded, else it would be an easy target for cost savings.

dave b.

MacLeod Climbs Echo Wall, E11++

2008-07-31T15:38:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Dave MacLeod who climbed the first ascent of his Echo Wall project this week. A most remarkable and audacious lead by a climber at the top of his game.

Dave MacLeod hanging about on Echo Wall, Ben Nevis. Pic Claire MacLeod

We filmed Dave working Echo Wall a couple of years ago; some of the footage from that went into the 'Future of Hard Trad' chapter in our recent film 'Committed Vol.1'. I have to admit, I personally thought that the ascent of this wall would have been further into the future!

It is certainly a futuristic route, a quick examination of Dave's rope strategy is evidence of that. In case you missed this detail, Dave set off with two ropes, half way up he untied and dropped one of the ropes and towards the top he dropped the second rope and soloed to the top. It reminded me of the way the Space Shuttle ditches booster rockets as it travels higher through the atmosphere.

I spoke to MacLeod about this and he commented that it felt quite odd topping out on this route with no ropes left on his harness, nothing to untie, no need to shout “take me off” to your belayer.

A cold looking Claire MacLeod during one of the many filming days on Ben Nevis. Pic Dave MacLeod

Dave's ascent was filmed by his wife, Claire, for a film Dave and Claire are making which is due out in the autumn. Hats off to Claire for the effort she put in to film this route. That's a big walk in with heavy camera gear... not to mention watching your husband climbing 9a above a 20M ground-fall. I think you've earned a rest Claire... I suggest 600 hours sat in an edit suite ;-)

I look forward to watching the film in the autumn.

Diff.

How to trash a £900 microphone

2008-07-26T19:39:00.000+01:00

At a secret location deep in the south west of England, our endeavour to bring you dramatic and artistic camera angles didn't go quite according to plan.

Here's a sample out-take from one of our forthcoming DVDs.

An expensive mistake.

Fortunately my ample girth managed to shield the main body of the camera. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to smile about it for quite some time to come...

---
Dave

Tip to Tip

2008-07-21T21:47:00.000+01:00

TIP TO TIP

Since Sonnie, Cory and Steve McClure left Scotland the Hot Aches team have been hard at work on various film projects.

First up was a filming visit to the very nerve-centre of ukclimbing.com. Deep in the slate mines of Llanberis we caught up with UKC's very own Jack Geldard for some editorial comment relating to some of the climbers in our new films.

Jack Geldard, UKC Editor, 6'4", being filmed by the 17'6" Lynwen Griffiths, deep in the nerve centre of UKClimbing.com head-quarters.

Second up is a new DVD that we are filming in conjunction with two other production companies.

'Tip To Tip' will follow the adventure of 6 paramotorers attempting to fly the length of Britain assisted only by a large knotted handkerechief above their head and a desk fan strapped to their back. Ok, ok. It is a little bit more high-tech than that, but only a little bit.

The expedition starts next Tuesday from Land's End, and is due to finish at John O'Groats 8 days later.

Lynwen's first lesson in paramotoring. Colin issues instructions via the world's longest finger.

The Hot Aches team will be filming alongside Hot Aches regular camerawoman, Lynwen Griffiths (Bamboo Chicken Productions)...

Enthusiasm or stupidity?

er, hem..

and ariel cameraman Dan Burton.

Dan taking off in high winds, 7.00am today

going..

gone..

In the last two weeks we have been testing out the filming equipment and refining the logistics, with Dan and event organiser, Simon Westmore.

Simon commences take off in the same high winds

It does look like hard work. I'm sure I'll get to try this out a bit over the next two weeks.

Mia, auditioning for lead role in the movie.

watch this space for updates on Tip to Tip.

Dave

Scottish Rock Volume 1

2008-07-10T21:50:00.001+01:00

Scottish Rock

Scottish Rock Volume 1 is hot off the presses. A 12 year labour of love (by author, Gary Latter) is a concept hard to relate to. We spend 12 months making a film, and that seems like a huge amount of time. The idea of spending 12 years is quite staggering.

First impressions? I confess to loving guidebooks, and this guidebook is veery much about my own stomping ground. But nevertheless, this is a book that truly whets the appetite; so many places I still haven't been too. So many great looking routes that I haven't tried. And I suppose that is the main job of a good guidebook: to open your eyes to new places and new adventures.

Climbing guidebooks in Scotland have a strange history. The rather exclusive and stuffy 'Scottish Mountaineering Club' is truly just a club, predominantly male, predominantly old, predominantly Scottish, but for the last three decades it have produced the definitive climbing guidebooks to Scotland. These are quite good, and certainly comprehensive in terms of coverage of routes. The complete set of guides to the country will set you back at least £150.00. The style of writing is quite quirky too. The tradition up here is for guidebooks to give you only a little information, so that your adventure remains 'intact'. None of the Rockfax style diagrams that illustrate every feature on the route.

Over the years I have often reached a crag scratching my head and wishing I had packed a dictionary. 'Start at a ubiquitious looking rowan tree' was a description for my route in Glen Coe. Even when I fathomed out what ubiquitous meant, I realised that what might at one time have been 'alone', might now have developed many neighbours since the guide was written.

That is enough of a digression. Back to Gary's book. It looks fantastic. If you are just an occasional visiting climber to Scotland then this is the one book to buy. Even if you own all the SMC guides, this is still worth getting hold of. Lots of new additions, and of course a second opinion on how to find the start of your chosen route...

Dave B

Rhapsody Extension

2008-06-24T20:51:00.000+01:00

The first E12?

For some reason this one managed to slip by the investigative reporting of the world's climbing media.

After climbing Rhapsody for a second time Mr Trotter was on the look out for something harder. The addition of a rather tricky sit-start coupled with the ultimate extension: - continuation from the finishing sloper of Rhapsody into a very airy 1-5-9 on the Hot Aches filming ladder.

Effectively this adds both a V8 start, and then a tough V11 finish to the route that already features french 8b leading into a V11 crux. The fall from the top of the ladder is at least 80ft and would certainly result in hitting the ledge below. 5.15a and E12? Surely.

But pictures don't lie. Sonnie can clearly be seen chickening out and grabbing rung number two on his way up. So maybe a route for future generations?

Rhapsody - E11? McClure speaks about the grade

2008-06-17T08:58:00.000+01:00

E11?

The nut that held over 40 falls, 50 footers mainly.

Now that Rhapsody has been repeated by two climbers, what is the consensus on the grade? The route that took Dave MacLeod over 70 days to climb, on which he hurt himself badly on several falls including a 70 footer and also falling upside down with his leg wrapped round the rope; a fall that prompted him to wear a helmet on subsequent attempts...

Check out the next edition of Climb Magazine for an in-depth article with the views of Sonnie, Steve and Dave MacLeod. But now, for a quick overview, some thoughts from the climbers:

Sonnie climbed the route on his 24th redpoint on a reasonably cool and windy day. Most of his redpoints were in unfavourable conditions. He took 22 falls from the technical crux, roughly 6-8 moves from the top. All the falls were taken fine.

Steve climbed the route on his 3rd redpoint. Redpoint 2 was aborted early with a fumbled clip that he 'touched' and then declared 'that can't count now'. Conditions were similar to both of Sonnies ascents.

Sonnie has written about his view on the difficulty 'Rhapsody is basically a 5.13c/d into a V10/V11, and a cheeky one at that'. This translates into an overall 5.14b/c R or french 8c/8c+.

He doesn't have enough experience of our 'E' grades to have a view.

Dan, Keith, Steve. Reviewing the photos taken during the ascent.

I interviewed Steve after his ascent and he has now briefly published his views on Climb's website.

On the grade. A lot of people want the route downgraded for whatever reason, typical Brits! Firstly I'm hardly qualified having only climbed E9. The climbing is at least hard F8c, it felt like F8c+ compared to other sport routes I've done quickly, but perhaps fear added a notch. That makes E9 for effort straight away. Originally I assumed it may be E10, going straight for the lead after just a few hours looking at the route, taking a massive whipper and barely feeling a thing. The fall was safe. But I underestimated the route. There is a lot more climbing above where I fell, and on my lead I had to dig deeper than I have for a long time. The last move was as close as it gets. Perhaps if I'd fallen I'd have known for sure.... What I will say is that Dave did not overgrade the route. Not from what he experienced. The climbing is super hard, and the falls are big. Dave was hurting himself repeatedly during the falls. He didn't know if one of them could turn out really nasty. The first ascencionist can only propose a grade. This is how it works."

Steve McClure climbs Rhapsody & Sonnie Trotter climbs it again

2008-06-15T21:04:00.001+01:00

Steve McClure makes the third ascent of Rhapsody

I'm exhausted. 5 weeks of jumaring up the headwall at Dumbarton. But it is finally over.

Some more news:

On Friday Sonnie re-climbed Rhapsody. Yes, re-climbed it. This time he succeeded in his original objective of climbing the route in a single push whilst placing all the gear on the lead.

Today Steve McClure became the third person to climb the route. A climber in fantastic form succeeded on a super-fast ascent. 4 days spread over 2 visits. Success on the third redpoint. But only just. Most climbers will recognise the thoughts behind that facial expression on the last photo in this sequence.

More info to follow, and I'm sure a great deal of interest from the climbing community.

Filming Rhapsody

2008-06-10T20:44:00.000+01:00

We've sobered up, so some more thoughts to share:

To film climbing is all about getting your camera into the right position. Well, no, there is a lot more to it than that. But getting the right camera angle is hugely important.

On the gritstone of England there is often a convenient vantage point that you can stroll to. On steep overhanging limestone it is usually easy to get out in space anchored off bolts. But our challenge at Dumbarton is as tough as it gets. Ideally we would get a helicopter hovering 20 metres above and out from the crag, with a gyro stabilised HD camera. But then we realised that the airflow from the rotors might be a bit distracting for Mr Trotter. We also realised that £3,500 per day would have presented a quite significant bill at the end of the 4 weeks we have spent on this shoot.

In previous years we have used a camera on a 5 metre boom, with remote pan and tilt. We get some good shots, but as soon as the wind picks up it is like trying to control a rabid bitch on heat.
So we got our heads together. An A-Frame works well, but at Dumbarton we need to get up, as well as out.

Cory came up with the idea of a ladder. Yeah right. So I did a bit of engineering. And then the Hot Aches crash test dummy (aka Mr Diffley) had the balls to walk out on it.

On day one of 'ladder cam' it all went quite well. The technique is to shuffle out there delicately, then stick you head through the top rungs of the ladder, camera underneath, and look through the view finder.

On Friday afternoon Diff had to leave early for a TV shoot in Fort William. So it was down to me to walk the ladder and have faith in my own engineering. I have honestly never been so frightened in my life.

Sonnie went first. I was out there at 40 degrees, shaking like an idiot. The ladder would creak. I'm meant to concentrate on filming, but all I can think about is which point of attachment will fail first, and how I will plummet off the top of Dumbarton, wiping out Sonnie on what would have certainly this time been his successfull attempt.

Sonnie fell, and I didn't. So I sat on the top, promising myself that I wouldn't go out on the ladder again. But then it was Cory's turn. How could I not go out on the ladder? It would have been a message that I didn't think his project was as important as Sonnie's. And it is.

So I dug deep and went out there again. Cory fell, and so it was Sonnie's turn once more. No bloody choice. So out again. Controling my breathing, too deep and the ladder would creak. Then 3 creaks in a quick succession!

Monday.
Back at the crag and fortunately Diff is back with us. The wind is wild, roughly 25mph, gusting to 40. Diff is 15 metres above me, and I scream through the wind that there is no way he can go out on the ladder. He looks at me but my voice is lost in the wind. He climbs out there, right to the end. I reckon it is at least E8 to get to that point. But Diff shuffles along slowly with the swagger of either a true professional or a complete idiot.

Funilly enough we do a lot of film work for TV where someone is employed to look after health and safety. So we have learned to work with safety ropes and all sort of back ups. But if this was for TV we would have been shut down immediately. Shoot cancelled. End of story.

Another fall, then Cory falls too, and at 4pm Diff heads back out there. I keep quiet, shoot my section of the climb, and hope that Diff doesn't die, and if he does die, hope that he doesn't take out all of the climbing talent on his way down.

----------

So what else can I say. Everyone lived. The footage is superb. We hope you enjoy it when the DVD comes out this autumn.

--
Dave B

Rhapsody Repeated

2008-06-10T10:26:00.000+01:00

Sonnie Trotter makes the second ascent of Rhapsody

Sonnie Trotter on the final moves of Rhapsody, Dumbarton Rock. Scotland. Photo copyright Hot Aches Productions

I woke this morning hung over and had to think hard. Did I dream all that about yesterday? But no. As you will see on Sonnie Trotters blog, Rhapsody put up a considerable fight, but it has, at last, been repeated.

A month of effort. A month of hoping for good conditions each day as we drove to the crag. 23 huge falls. Yesterday was warm, but after a long wait we finally had some wind. In fact it was a gale blowing against the headwall and up there it felt freezing.

Filming positions of the headwall at Dumbarton

On abseil my stabilising ropes were lashed so tight I thought they might snap. On 'ladder cam' at the top Diff had probably the scariest filming position in the world. Even on the ground Lynwen was battling with the wind.

There is a good story to be told about the ascent. Almost a fall from the finishing sloper. But Sonnie can tell the story better, and I'm sure he will.

In position waiting to film the ascent of Rhapsody.

Thanks to all the people who have helped us on this shoot. Garth, for the daily on the spot morning weather reports, Tony, Guy, Emma and Caroline for shooting additional camera for us, and to all the locals who have had to put up with us hogging the headwall for a month.

We are not quite finished yet at Dumbarton. Cory reached a new high point on Requiem yesterday. Every session he gets higher and one or two more sessions might be enough for success. So we'll be back this week.

Stay or Go?

2008-05-29T17:52:00.001+01:00

Edinburgh, Scotland.
Hot Aches Offices.
2am.
7 hours before Sonnie and Cory are due to leave Scotland.

Frantic phonecalls to USA and Canada.

Flights and schedules. Obligations.

A perfect forecast for Dumbarton.

Decisions ?

Ned Rescue at Dumbarton

2008-05-28T16:31:00.000+01:00

Question: How many emergency service personnel does it take to rescue a youth from the top of one of Dumbarton's boulders?

Before I tell you the answer, more about the term 'ned'. In the UK, each region seems to have it's own terminology for it's 'colourfull local youth'. In some areas they are 'Scallies', 'asbo's' seems to have caught on too. But in Scotland they are known as NEDs, short for 'Non-Educated Delinquents'.

Dumbarton Rock has it's fair share of youngsters who use the venue to refine their graffiti-ing and bottle smashing skills as well as getting in some early practice at Scotland's national sport - binge drinking. Occasionally they will venture onto the rock. A tide mark of graffitti marks the high point at which the generations have reached.

On Friday three of them ventured to the top of one of the boulders. Two got down. The third was not so brave, and after an hour of being marooned he telephoned for rescue.

5 Police

6 Fire Fighters

The Coast Guard and an RAF helicopter

There was a lot of discussion between the assembled professionals, until finally Sonnie Trotter, Cory Richards and Peter Roy scrambled up, put a harness on the lad and coaxed him down.

And finally, working hard:

Film making is hard work. Straight off the plane from Canada where she was filming a travel doc for BBC, Lynwen Griffiths gets a couple of hours sleep before our filming starts at Dumbarton.

Kev on TV

2008-05-25T13:55:00.000+01:00

Kev Sheilds on The Benny Hill Show at The Quadrocks

A Hot Aches film about climber, Kev Shields will be broadcast on Current TV this Monday night at 9pm. You may recognise Kev as one of the featured climbers in Committed Vol 1.

The film follows Kev climbing in Scotland and Northern Ireland and examines his motivations for hard trad climbing.

Current TV can be found here: SKY 193, Virgin 155

Air Time at Dumbarton

2008-05-24T08:51:00.000+01:00

Air Time at Dumbarton