One of the biggest topics I got comments and emails about concerning Yosemite Behind the Scenes was the rigging involved on a shoot like this. I wish I could say it was more elaborate than it was, but really its no different than shooting on a 30’ cliff you could find anywhere… everything is just bigger, longer, and well scarier. Here is a quick breakdown of what we had, and how I set up for shots. The final Behind the Scenes will hopefully put the Rigging, Camera Gear and other pieces together to show composition and ‘actual’ shooting.

NOTE: This is not instructional by any means, just a quick look at the gear we recently used to shoot photos and video on El Capitan (a 3000’ ft cliff in Yosemite).

Ropes: We had miles of static line on the wall. Well OK not literally but between what I brought and what the climbers had on the wall there was close to 2000ft of static line — so call it a half mile of rope. That’s a lot but it let us get everywhere we needed. Why static ropes, because they’re safer. They don’t stretch (rub over edges) and they put up with the abuse that we put on them with our ascending and descending gear. We always had an extra 60 meter static line so that we could film and shoot photos simultaneously (two shooters) or position off camera lighting. I personally prefer a 10mm or 3/8” static line for a shoot like this. While on the shorter shoots and cliffs I’m usually using a 9mm to save weight.

Hardware: You don’t need that much beyond some expert instruction and some cojones to shoot up on a wall. Some ascending gear (Jumars), descending gear (GriGri & ATC), basic climbing harness, and odds and ends (carabiners, slings etc) are the only hardware I brought to the summit. It’s the experience that is so valuable up on the wall, it helps you move quickly, be safe, and plan for getting the great shots. I use lightweight climbing equipment and save the heavy bulky gear for the cavers.

Anchors: All of the anchors on the wall were at least 3-bolt fixed anchors. With static ropes of up to 200 meters we would at times move in lengths up and down the cliff greater than the typical ‘wall’ standard of 50 meters.

Odds and Ends:

• Most of the time while shooting I used a Bosun’s Chair, its just a simple lightweight vinyl seat that takes the weight off the harness and makes shooting all day long on the side of a cliff less of a chore.

• I used the Fstop Mala camera bag on the wall. I helped design it for uses like this; the top flap opens away from you so you can change lenses, cards, filters, etc quickly and easily. Pete was using one for the EX1 (video) as well and seemed psyched.

• A simple pair of light leather or snowboarding ‘park’ gloves makes my hands happier.

• I don’t use any stilts/frames/etc to get out away from the wall. If this had been a ‘single’ shot shoot I might have considered bringing something along those lines, but the steepness of the route and the need to move efficiently negated any remote benefit these might have had.

So in a typical day, we would wake up on our ledge about 1000’ from the summit, 1500’ off the ground, and Tommy and Kevin (our climbers) would rappel down the static ropes to attempt the most difficult sections of the climb. In our longest days we were rappelling to a point 800’ below camp. Pete (shooting video) and I would come down the lines and position ourselves in the best locations for our photo and video needs (more on angles and composition soon). As Tommy and Kevin climbed up towards us (using their free climbing dynamic ropes) we would use either two Jumars or a Jumar and GriGri to ascend the ropes, stay out of the way, and get our shots. The pure difficulty of the climbing involved is really indescribable; in climbing terms there are several pitches (rope lengths) of 5.14 (8c) in the middle of one of the steepest, hardest to get to sections, of El Capitan.

It’s pretty cool stuff when everything and everyone is working in sync. Everything you need, nothing you don’t is the perfect mentality up on a wall of this size.

Here is a raw clip of our ledge in the sky with fixed ropes above and below camp:

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