Dean Potter on Flying Like a Bird, the Art of Not Falling, and His Nat Geo Show (Airing 2/12 at 8 p.m.)

Photograph by Mikey Schafer, learn how he got the shot in our Extreme Photo of the Week gallery

Adventure: What were you thinking at this moment?

Dean Potter: On the highline my thoughts are simple and clear. Fundamental needs shine through the mental clutter. I focus completely on my breath, my connection with the line, and making it safely to the other side.

A: Where exactly are you and what are you doing? How high up are you?

D.P.: This highline was set up on the summit of Cathedral Peak, in Yosemite National Park, at an elevation of 10,911 feet.

A: Did the moon look like it does in the photo with the naked eye?

D.P.: Photographer Mikey Schaefer was taking the photographs from approximately 1.2 miles west of the highline. For him, the moon and myself looked exactly like you see it in this picture. From my vantage point on the summit of the Cathedral Peak, the moon was higher in the sky and it looked as the moon always looks to us mortals on the ground.

A: Looks like you don't have any protection. What would you have done if you had fallen?

D.P.: I’ve always been a "free soloist." Whatever I do, I long to be untethered and free. This desire for freedom goes far beyond the highline to every facet of life. Freedom is our most fundamental right. I am completely confident with my ability to catch the line if I were to fall. I’ve practiced this catch move successfully for the past 19 years.

Extreme Photo of the Week: Ice Climber Chad Peele on First Ascents in Norway's Fjord Country

Photograph by Celin Serbo, see more in our Extreme Photo of the Week

Adventure: Where were you climbing in Norway?
Chad Peele: This shot was in a valley outside of Eidfjord.

A: Norway is pretty sweet for ice climbing (or so we hear from Will Gadd who put this area on our Adventure Bucket List). Would you agree?
CP: Yeah, Norway is awesome for ice climbing! The glaciers of past carved such a labyrinth of fjords which hold plenty of water and just the right temperatures to form long flows of ice.

A: What were you thinking in this moment?
CP: I'm sooo cold!

A: Why does the ice look golden like that?
CP: I'm not exactly sure why this ice had that golden color, but typically frozen waterfalls will change colors depending on the minerals and sediment in the water.

A: Tell us about this route?
CP: We climbed this route in three pitches, probably totaling around 500 to 600 feet. By most standards, it was not an incredibly difficult route with a rating around WI4-4+, but it was so cold that day that everything felt so much harder! We thought that calling it "Goldmember" after the Austin Powers movie was a fitting and humorous name.

A: How do you scout first ascents? Both in terms of finding them and planning your route?
CP: Scouting and researching for first ascents relies on a lot of local word of mouth concerning where people have been climbing and where people have not travelled to. To be honest, it takes a lot of walking around with binoculars in the cold and can be quite tricky sometimes.

A: How long have you been ice climbing? How'd you get started?
CP: I first learned to ice climb in Alaska with St. Elias Alpine Guides in 1997 and have kept it as a winter sport/winter work ever since then.

A: What's next for you?
CP: Right now I'm ice guiding in the San Juans of Colorado while waiting for more snow and planning my upcoming Alaska and Washington state mountain guiding season.

Trail Running Video: Founders of the Upchuck 50K on Making a New Cult Classic

Upchuck 50K Trail Race from Rock/Creek on Vimeo.

By Andrew Kornylak, The Blind Monkey

The Upchuck 50K is one of the toughest trail races in the country, and in just a few years has become a cult classic, and a sought-after hardman notch in the belt. It tackles some of the most wild and technical terrain in the Cumberlands. Race entires are limited, with an admission process. And race day is bare bones—no sponsors, minimal aid stations, just “you, alone in the woods.”

As with most things, it's best to spend some time with a subject, which in this case was both the trail runners and the woods itself. Rather than shoot any race footage at all, I gathered some stories and shot some interviews with some of the racers and founders of the Upchuck, then spent a few days along the trail with friend and photography student Jake Wheeler shooting black and white photography and some video of the course. It’s a different kind of race that attracts a wild and quirky crowd. Let me know what you think.

See more photos of the Upchuck 50K here.

Tech: Shoot a Better iPhone Adventure Video With Tips From Camp 4

If you spend any time watching adventure videos and films, then you know Camp 4 Collective. The powerhouse production team includes some of the world's best climber-photographers—Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk, and Tim Kemple—shooting in the world's most extreme, least seen places. Last week they released The Denali Experiment, featuring an all-star crew of mountaineers, skiers, and snowboarders blending their skills to climb up and shred down North America's tallest peak (definitely a must-watch). The Camp 4 guys are total pros—both at staying safe on the most grueling, exotic adventures and shooting incredible footage. 

Gillian Chase - iPhone 4s Music Video from Camp 4 Collective on Vimeo.

Recently, Camp 4 conducted another experiment: They shot a music video on a camera phone. While normally this would sound like a waste of time for filmmakers of their expertise, that was not the case. Shooting on the iPhone 4S, with its 8-megapixel camera and 1080p hi-def video, the team produced great results.

"The first digital video cameras we took with us into the mountains four years ago—to Pakistan—were shooting lower resolution and weighed significantly more," says Tim Kemple, who directed the music video featuring singer Gillian Chase. "But even bigger than that to me is the idea that you can always have this camera with you—no set up, no setting down your backpack." Pretty ideal for documenting your adventures.

Here are Kemple's tips—including how to stabilize your shooting, optimizing for iOS5 features, apps for extreme environments, tethering to send dispatches, and dealing with low light—so we all can shoot more like the pros. Just don't forget to put your iPhone in airplane mode. —Mary Anne Potts

Q+A With Pete Whittaker on Free Climbing Century Crack, Canyonlands, Utah

Photograph by Alex Ekins.

See more great images in our Extreme Photo of the Week.

"You climb upside down with your legs inverted inside the crack above your head the whole way," says British rock climber Pete Whittaker about completing the first free climb of Century Crack, the longest and hardest known roof crack climb in the world, in October 2011. Here he is seen upside down 200 feet above the floor of the canyon near the White Rim in Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

Whittaker and his climber partner Tom Randall trained for two years for the offwidth crack, meaning the gap was too wide for fist-jamming techniques and too narrow for chimney techniques. Instead the climber must fill the space with a combination of body parts to make slow, grueling progress. "Tom built a small replica of the climb in the cellar of his house. We did continuous training laps on this to prepare ourselves," says Whittaker. "We also did thousands of hours of offwidth-specific abdominal, bicep, shoulder, and leg conditioning."

While across the pond from home, the Brit duo hit every difficult offwidth crack they could find.

Adventure: What was going through your mind at this moment?
Pete Whittaker: At this point of the route I am just approaching the crux. The climb becomes very technical as you go from being upside down in the horizontal plane to getting the correct way up in the vertical plane. A lot of different techniques have to be used at this point. So I was just trying to picture the sequence of moves that I had to execute, whilst I was still climbing and approaching them. I knew if I could get past the next 10ft of climbing then I would be able to complete the route.

Gear Reviews: The Best New Cameras

By Contributing Editor Steve Casimiro, editor of Adventure Journal. See more of Casimiro's gear recommendations in our Gear of the Year 2011 - Fall/Winter.

Retro Camera

Photograph courtesy Fujifilm

Fujifilm’s X100 

At last, a great-looking retro camera that shoots as good as it looks. Fujifilm’s X100 is the runaway camera of the year, thanks to its 1950s rangefinder styling. But this is one digital model that backs up its pretty facade with dynamite performance. Photos produced by the 12.2-megapixel CMOS sensor are stunningly true to life, with the strong color accuracy, great skin tones, and a minimum of noise even in low-light situations. The metal body feels rugged but not heavy, the flash results look natural and blend nicely with ambient light, and the viewfinder displays all the settings you need. Oh, and the operation is nearly silent. Its best application might be for travel shooting, where being unobtrusive counts. Keep in mind its fixed focal length lens (f/2, 35mm equivalent) can’t be swapped for a telephoto ($1,200; www.finepix-x100.com).

Rugged Camera

Photograph courtesy Nikon

Coolpix AW100 

It has to be said: What took you guys so long? Nikon was the second-to-last major camera manufacturer to make a rugged point and shoot, but the very tough Coolpix AW100 was it worth the wait. The Nikon is packed with high-quality specs, including full HD video at 1080p, and it cranks out top-shelf images in challenging conditions. It’s drop-proof from five feet, waterproof to 33 feet, and freeze-proof to 14ºF. ($380; www.nikonusa.com)


Compact Camera

Photograph courtesy Olympus Imaging America Inc.

Olympus E-P3 

The first versions of the compact Olympus E-P series performed as if they had a Celica engine in a Corvette body, but no more. The E-P3 is a hot rod under the hood. Critically, its autofocus is blazingly fast—it evaluates focus 120 times a second—and combined with 3.0 frames per second shooting rate you get a compact camera that’ll grab action like a much bigger DSLR. There’s a new built-in flash, too. And with the Micro Four-Thirds format, you can swap lenses for a bigger zoom or better light gathering, depending on whether you want to pull in the big game or shoot after sunset—the versatility is incredible ($900;www.olympus.com).

 

Getting the Shot: Photographer Dawn Kish on Shooting the Needles

Photographer Dawn Kish did not take this image of John "Verm" Sherman climbing Super Pin in the Needles of the Black Hills from the ground. That would be too dull for the vertically-bound adventure photographer, who is also an avid rock climber. Here's Kish reveals how she captured this image, which is featured in our Extreme Photo of the Week gallery.

Adventure: Where were you located for this shot?
Dawn Kish: I was located on the next pin over. It was one of the warm up pins called Tent Peg. They climbed up and left a rope up for me on the anchor. I jugged (ascended) up the line and put myself on rappel, so I could go up and/or down the rope for the best angle.

Climbing "the Strike" in the Black Hills Needles with Legendary John "Verm" Sherman

Photograph by Dawn Kish

John "Verm" Sherman is a legend among us. He pioneered bouldering and invented the V-scale for grading bouldering problems. He also championed the development of bouldering at Hueco Tanks, Texas. Quite a legacy. Here Sherman tells us about climbing "the Strike," ascending all Ten Pins in a single day in the Needles of South Dakota's Black Hills, with local guide Cheyenne Chaffee last summer. Photographer Dawn Kish climbed and rappelled several spires, as well, to document the feat (her tips are coming up next, stay tuned). Sherman is the author of several climbing books, including Stone Crusade, Sherman Exposed, and Better Bouldering 2nd edition (due out in October). See the image in our Extreme Photo fo the Week gallery.

Adventure: For starters, is this type of geological formation unusual?

John "Verm" Sherman: There are hundreds of such spires in the Black Hills Needles, hence the area's name. Molten granite and pegmatite intruded into metamorphic schist in such a way to form fins and spires. The softer schist has eroded away, leaving the spires. In my experience—I've climbed in over 600 areas in the U.S.—this is unique. I have been to other areas with lots of spires, but almost always they are made of sandstone, not granite.

Adventure: Why is this pin called Super Pin? Do they all have good names?

John "Verm" Sherman: Of the 10 Ten Pins, Super Pin and Hairy Pin are the most challenging and dangerous because Pete Cleveland did the first ascents of both and he was determined that these spires would be elite level climbs with very little fixed protection.

Legend has it that he led Super Pin with only one piece of gear and upon reaching the top rigged his rope to descend and pulled it before anyone else could climb it, leaving himself as the only person bold enough to stand atop the spire. Later, climbing legend "Hot Henry" Barber established the line I'm pictured on, which is still very scantily protected, but not the unabashed death route Cleveland's path is. Nevetheless, climbers still debate whether a fall on Barber's line would end your career or not.

On this day my partner was a local guide, Cheyenne Chaffee. We set our belay up high in a notch between Tent Peg and Super Pin with the plan being if I fell, Cheyenne would jump out of the notch down a 40-ft face vertical face below. Timed right, this would pull enough rope through the belay system that neither he nor I would hit the ground. We don't always climb that way.

The Art of Flight: Welcome to a New Era of Adventure Filmmaking

By Mary Anne Potts; Photograph courtesy Red Bull Photo Files

New York City is a lot of things—outdoors hot spot is not generally one of them. Last night, however, there was no cooler place to be than the premiere of The Art of Flight, the groundbreaking new snowboarding film by director Curt Morgan, the Brain Farm production team, and Red Bull Media House.

Maybe you have already heard about it...50 Cent and Justin Timberlake did tweet about the trailer when it came out last spring. It now has 3.7 millions views on YouTube.



The anticipation was palpable at the Beacon Theatre as 1,500 (highly attractive) fans—including surfers from the Quiksilver Pro—listened to the DJ, slurped on Red Bull and vodkas, and waited for Travis Rice, Jeremy Jones, and our new favorite, Nicholas Muller, and the other incredible snowboarders to hit the stage. And the film delivers.

The Art of Flight ushers in a new era of adventure film-making, one that is ratcheted up by the highest quality cameras shooting in the wildest places on Earth never seen before by camera or snowboard alike. Alaska. Chilean Andes. British Columbia. Backcountry Jackson Hole. Backcountry Snowmass.

In short, the film is exquisite. A masterpiece. The riders look invincible as they rip down impossible, near-vertical lines—often for the first time. The slow-motion filmming technique showcases the flawless precision and art that these athletes intuitively whip off.

Is it snowboarding porn? Who cares? The inspiring and well-considered statements from the riders have a profound effect. If you don't want to explore more, train harder, and think bigger about your own life after watching this film, well, then good luck to you. Just see it. And see it on a big screen if you can.

On tour, available on iTunes for $7.99

Video: Paragliding Mozambique Where No One Has Before

The Dune Discovery- paragliding where no one has before from Offshore Odysseys on Vimeo.

"Flying a site like this is like having an out-of-body experience," says Gavin McClurg of paragliding above the shape-shifting sand dunes on 20-mile-long Bazaruto Island. "You are looking out at the Indian Ocean's turquoise waters churning endlessly from one huge lagoon at high tide to massive sand islands and rivers at low." And they had the added rush of being the first to paraglide there. Seasoned adventurer McClurg and photographer Jody MacDonald found this spot while sailing the world to kiteboard, surf, and paraglide where no one has done so before on an expedition they call "The Best Odyssey." "There was no sign of people—just serene beauty in every direction," says McClurg. "And you're flying above soft sand, so no helmet or shoes were even necessary! Rarely is paragliding so stress-free and just pure fun."

See more in our Extreme Photo of the Week gallery >>