Adventure shooting - Ongoing Diary — Merbis Filmmaking & Photography

Adventure time

Back in April, when I was on holiday in Japan, I had an email from Alan Colville, a friend, telling me about a project he was planning with charities Mind and Calm in order to raise awareness of mental health. Critical to raising awareness is the content you’re able to put out and he wanted to have a chat to see if this was something I wanted to get involved in.

The main event? A world record attempt by him and a friend – endurance athlete and coach Jon Fearne – to cycle at the highest elevation, a record currently set at 7,211 meters, achieved on the slopes of the Muztagata in the Xinjiang province of China, on 10 July 2009.

To fund the world record attempt, there would be a crowdfunding campaign and preparations would include two other, smaller challenges, the first on Mont Blanc and the second on Mount Kilimanjaro. Mind Over Mountain website

Very exciting, but daunting as well. It definitely seemed like a great way to get my proper adventure photography and filming going. I had loads of questions, so we decided to meet for coffee as soon as I was back in the UK.

This is what followed, including me having to drop out of the main expedition and carrying on working on other adventure shoots. Most recent post at the top, so start at the bottom if you want to follow the timeline.

19 KM - A new running milestone

06/10/2018

On the first of September I wrote about the long weekend runs I‘ve been doing to have a benchmark and test nutrition and pace. So far I’ve been doing 90-minute runs with my wife picking me up afterwards so I can run mostly in nice areas. Today though, I decided to include the return journey in my run, bringing the total time to 1 hour 50 minutes and the distance to 19 km. I decided I’d make up my mind about one particular section that includes a steep climb (90 meter elevation on the Bridge Valley Road from the Avon Gorge valley back up into Clifton) at the 15K mark during the run, but I felt good enough to keep it in. It was raining hard, but that just motivates me, I’ve found.

I felt quite stiff and tired the rest of the day, but was really happy with the achievement. A half-marathon now seems quite doable.

The route is in the map below with the elevation underneath it.

No world record attempt covering for me

12/09/2018

Reality check. Getting up a mountain over 7,300 meters is super hard, I knew that, and the more I learned about what it entailed, the more it became apparent that it requires a LOT of preparation. There’s the endurance training here in Bristol, but it’s almost irrelevant if I don’t get to go up mountains close to the target height and train there to get real, practical experience and get to know how I fare under extreme conditions. The only way to get that experience is to spend money and take time out of work. Both of which is not possible.

Alan and Jon have been advised by experienced mountaineers, including Kenton Cool, that Kilimanjaro would not give us the experience we need. Aconcagua in Argentina would come a lot closer to the conditions of the final expedition. So, Alan and Jon booked themselves a trip to Argentina, individually, as they couldn’t get their schedules lined up. I’m obviously not going and this rules out that I’ll be going to the Himalayas as well. It’s not the only reason, there’s the fundraising mission and also the fact that, sadly, for me, it can’t be a pure passion project.

Alan and I grab a coffee and discuss how I can still stay involved when I’m not joining them on their preparation trips and the world record attempt. We won’t shoot a film for Banff Mountain Film Festival now. It’s disappointing, but to be honest, it’s a relief as well. I was a bit worried about the epicness of the project versus the preparation I was able to do. I really enjoy the results of the training though, so we find a way I’ll stay on board, shooting stuff here in the UK and Jon offers to continue my coaching. I’ve got my eye on some other mountaineering projects, so it’s good that that will continue.

So, I’m no longer going to go up a mountain covering a world record attempt. Just need to get my head around this now after all these months of training, testing and the trip to Mont Blanc.

Doubts

05/08/2018

Things have become a bit uncertain at this stage. It’s all coming down to money. The fundraising for the main expedition is on its way, but it’s unclear how we’re going to pay for the challenges leading up to it so we can get the necessary experience.

The more I learn about what it could be like at really high altitudes, the more I’m unsure of whether I’d be able to do it, not without more prep than it looks like I’ll be able to do.

Training nutrition

01/09/2018

I set myself a training challenge the past weeks, slightly diverting from Jon’s schedule, with a 90-minute run along the same route every Sunday. The first time this exercise came up in Training Peaks was about a month ago and the first time I did it I was really struggling towards the end. I wanted to know how I could do better, not just from a fitness point of view, but looking at technique and nutrition too. The second time I did this run, I managed my tempo better, but I felt a bit sick and empty towards the end. Drinking water during the run didn’t make me feel better, it made it worse, and I was suffering from acid reflux. So I looked into what I could drink and eat, how much, and when.

I found a Swedish drink mix by Maurten that got really good reviews and ordered ten to try. One Drink Mix 160 sachet, mixed with 500 ml of water, produces a liquid sports drink containing a high concentration of maltodextrin and fructose. It contains 40 grams of carbohydrates. It’s designed to be easily digestible and to allow for a smooth transportation through the stomach to the intestine where the water, salt and carbohydrates are absorbed. I also got some Medjool dates, which were recommended on several blogs as a natural and affordable alternative to manufactured energy bars. They’re high in sugar (65%) and also really easy to digest, which would hopefully help me reduce the acidity in my stomach.

On my next run, I ate a banana, a date and some oatcakes with a lemon and ginger tea before I went out. I brought two dates with me on the run, plus 500 ml of Maurten Drink Mix in my hydration vest. That really made a difference. The Drink Mix was easy to drink, taking a couple of mouthfuls every few kilometres. I had the dates halfway through. Both helped me avoid feeling sick and empty and I felt I got a second wind once the dates were absorbed by my system.

It’s still a long run - I manage just over 16 km at the moment - so it’s far from easy, but I’ll keep working on it. It’s a real benchmark for me. Again tomorrow.

Film and photo equipment - test conclusions

30/07/2018

The equipment test run in Chamonix was very useful. And I know I’m definitely not there yet. The 5D IV with the 24-70 lens in a cage with the mic and the attachment for the loupe is bulky and heavy. It did reasonably OK on the Vertical K and the glacier, but it was at its limit in terms of size and weight, so I can’t see this work in more extreme situations.

I even put the 70-200 lens on it sometimes.

As I wrote before, the loupe really gets in the way of the touchscreen and I didn’t have a place to put it when it was off when I was shooting stills.

Shooting cinematic video requires a neutral density filter and to deal with the sparkling snow you also need to add a circular polarizer. I found out that when you use them stacked it adds a brown wash, or flare, to the footage, which is really hard to remove in post. Controlling two screw-in circular filters with gloved fingers is a real challenge too!

Audio. The Rode Video Micro microphone did surprisingly well, even with the camera set to record with auto-levels. The build is too flimsy though. The dead cat (kitten?) is too heavy for its shock absorber. Wind reduction works, but only in low to medium strength wind, which was to be expected.

The C-Log footage on the Mark IV is way better than what I was able to get with the Mark II, except that low light performance still leaves a lot to desire. I only got clear, sharp footage in good light conditions.

I’m not sure what the solution is yet. I’m now thinking I need to bring two cameras; a small and amazing video camera and a small and amazing stills camera, both using the same battery standard. And ideally a video camera with built-in ND filters. I know this is going to be hard to find. And will depend on sponsorship. The soon to be released Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera looks good. We’ll see.

Vertical K - again

05/07/18

Jon had to leave unexpectedly to work with a client, so it’s just me and Alan on the final day of my trip.

After we set up Alan’s tent we grab a coffee at La Jonction, leave non-essentials there and go back to the Vertical K, this time aiming to produce a little film of the challenge.

It’s very different from Monday. It’s still warm, but humid, and halfway up we get heavy rain, turning the rocks slippery and the paths into mud. When we’re almost at the top, at the most exposed part, we get treated to a hail storm too. I loved it though. It just made getting to the top even more worthwhile. And the fog rising up through the trees was very atmospheric.

There’s heavy rain during most of the return journey too and we get absolutely soaked. The rain covers for the camera and the backpack give up eventually.

Stats: 35,375 steps taken. 354 floors climbed. 21.97 km walked.

I absolutely crave pizza and the hot shower at the campsite is amazing. Time to pack up and fly back to Bristol. This flight was delayed as well and I get home just after midnight. Shattered, but happy, having had an amazing time in the mountains.

I read somewhere that you have to be careful using the mountains as a test of self-validation. Ultimately, compared to an ancient mountain, a person is insignificant. You could never claim a mountain. A mountain lets you climb it, or not. And that your people - your friends, your team - are more important. I guess that’s why a lot of the expeditions are described as ‘attempts’. Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you don’t. And that should be OK.

Snow

04/07/2018

The lifts work. We get to where Iain wants to take us for some practical training in the snow. Whilst we add layers to our clothing and put on our harnesses, helmets, etc I shoot some pictures of Mont Blanc, which is right next to us. I feel a pang of disappointment we didn’t get to try and summit. It would have been a great test and, if successful, a boost to my confidence about what’s still to come. But without funding, getting a guide in peak season was just not possible. I’ll just have to focus what we’re about to do on Les Grands Montets.

It’s not as cold as expected, about +5 Celsius. There are a lot of firsts today and finding the balance between taking pictures, filming, paying attention to Iain’s instructions and being ready in time to follow the three of them is hard work.

The first time I turn to get a shot I fall flat on my face. Lesson: crampons don’t turn when you turn and that’s kind of the whole point of them.

We rope up and go up the glacier, two teams of two, me attached to Iain. What follows is some pretty physical work. We cover crevasse rescue techniques and self-arresting. The crevasse rescue is tricky. Your teammate breaks through the snow over a crevasse and falls in and you need to act quickly (but calmly). You need to create an anchor by burying your ice axe in the snow and transfer the weight of the victim to a rope attached to this, freeing you up to build the rescue system using a pulley to reduce the hauling effort. You then need to go on all fours and use an explosion of energy to haul the other person out of the crevasse - in our case the edge of the hill we were on. It turned out to be easier for Jon and me than for Alan, who was disadvantaged because of his build and weight. I just imagined what this would be like if it happened in a real situation, trying not to panic whilst exhausted from climbing and altitude and not falling in another crevasse myself. The self-arresting was more fun. We climbed further up the hill, let ourselves fall down, slide and tumble over the snow until we turned onto our stomachs and buried the ice axe in the snow and use it as a break. The trick was to keep our boots away from the floor, because if the crampons bite into the snow it would have sent us flying. I manage to film Alan using the Gorillapod upside down whilst running down with him.

Jon and Iain leave early and Alan and I get some more shots. The clouds are moving in and the light goes. So is time, as Jon will be waiting for us, so we have to do it quickly. I think I got some good stuff, but it’s a challenge working in these conditions and I’m not loving the workflow with the switching between stills and video, the double stacked filter set-up and uncomfortable grip. The focusing is tricky too. The AI Servo the camera goes into when the lens is set to auto focus after shooting stills is not very reliable and manual focus, my usual way of doing this, is made harder because I can’t get to the touchscreen to use the magnifier when the loupe is on. Gloves are getting in the way all the time too. Some stuff to change or set up better.

Being in the snow was a great experience. It really helped me get an initial idea of what it would be like on the main expedition. It will be a 100 times harder then, but there is time to get more ready for that. I do know I have a very long way to go still, the idea of walking uphill in crampons with a heavy backpack at altitude for days on end fills me with dread!

I loved being level with the mountains today. Most of my pictures were looking up at them. Now I had a much better point of view.

From a negative to a positive

03/07/18

Three grown men sleeping in a three-person tent is… cozy. My sleeping bag was bought for sleeping at altitude, in the cold, not for summer nights. It was hot and thundery too. All in all, sleeping is a bit of a challenge, but this too is part of the challenge and tests.

It’s dark and wet this morning, remnants of last night’s storm. We drop off the dogs, kit up at Les Grands Montets and meet our instructor Iain Menmuir. We get two updates from the cable car operators about non-functioning lifts before it’s clear we’re not going to make it up the mountain today. Iain offers to do some dry-land exercises with us and is up for trying the glacier again tomorrow. We’re disappointed we won’t be touching any snow today, but it’s not all lost.

Before we go into learning the mountaineering skills we sit down at The Kitchen for a coffee and a conversation that turns into one of the highlights of the trip. Alan and Jon were still trying to find their feet when it came to Mind Over Mountain’s positioning statements and, more generally, how we talk about the project and Iain’s insights and stories bring a lot of clarity.

There’s another round of coffee and more conversation before we get the kit and head over to a field beneath a rock face for our instructions. We learn tying knots and the basics of crevasse rescue.

Although not going up into the snow was disappointing, the day turned out to be incredible. We end this Tuesday with a meal in Chamonix. The sunset seduces me to leave the guys for a while to take pictures of the mountains around the town.

I’m here

02/07/18

I’m here! After a horrendous Sunday stressing about photo edits and delivering 546 photos to a client without missing my flight to Geneva (which turned out to be delayed in the end), I wake up and the first thing I see when I get out of the tent is Mont Blanc. Stunning. It’s almost completely covered in snow and the dramatic blue ice of the Bossons Glacier seeming to crash down the mountainside, sparkles in the sun.

Alan, Jon and his two husky companions and I, walk into Chamonix for coffees and a chat before we embark on our first challenge: the Vertical K.

The Vertical K is a 2.8 mile track with 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) of elevation. The first three-quarters is walking uphill (some people run it), followed by clambering over rocks and climbing some steeper sections that are pretty exposed - all the while cable cars going overhead. It’s a hot day and the track is dusty. It’s a bit of a shock to the system for me and I’m glad I trained well for this week. Jon and Alan are keeping a close eye on me, making sure I drink enough and top up my food intake regularly too. I felt slightly sick and dizzy at times, so it was good to have them help deal with that. No time for acclimatisation: straight up the mountain! I guess that was a test in a way too.

And I make it to the top, where Jon treats us to an ice cold Coke, which is just perfect after what we’d put ourselves through. We decide to do it again later in the week and bring a backpack and the camera kit that time, so we can get some footage and test logistics.

We take the long way back through the woods and I break a few records on my Fitbit: I climbed the equivalent of 325 floors in one day and walked 33,226 steps (22.47 km).

Tomorrow we’re going to get up to 3,300 meters and get trained in basic mountaineering skills in the snow. We rent crampons, harnesses, boots and helmets and get everything ready, so we can leave super early in the morning.

Final training push

29/06/18

This week seems to have been about giving my body a final push before the training expedition with extra exercises on top of the runs. Saturday and Sunday are rest days as far as training concerns. I’ll have a 12-hour photoshoot on Saturday with all the edits happening on Sunday, so I’ll be busy enough.

Kit list complete

27/06/18

Getting the final things from the shopping list. I’ve tested what I can take in my backpack and know I’ll have to leave some of my camera kit behind, lenses mostly.

One week to go until Mont Blanc!

24/06/2018

Another Sunday, another milestone. Base run has gone up to 1 hour and 20 minutes. I found a really nice route that mainly covered parks, picturesque neighbourhoods, an estate and forest and ended up meeting my wife and girls for breakfast outside at Bristol’s waterfront. Longest and nicest run so far.

Stats:

01:20 hrs
13.16 KM
6'05" pace
152 average bpm (yes! Slow pace made it work)
1,107 cals

Push-ups hell

18/06/2018

I absolutely suck at push-ups.

Hill reps

17/06/2018

It’s Sunday and today I had another nice challenge waiting for me: a 12 minute run to the base of a 4-minute steep hill, running this up and down 6 times, followed by a 12 run back home on flat. A mixed plank session was next, then 20 minutes of stretching. I burnt some calories that morning…

The instructions said I needed to increase effort with each rep, but I think it’s fair to say that happened automatically without me attempting to go faster. I was just happy that I made it.

Final camera kit list for Mont Blanc

12/06/2018

I’ve decided on my photography/video kit list and placed an order at Amazon for everything I need. It took a LOT of time to figure out what to get within my tiny budget.

I’ll now have something that has a relatively small footprint which I can attach to a clip on one of the straps of my backpack.

I decided not to work with an external screen. It just added too much to the bulk and shape of the set.

When I’m hiking/climbing I will take:

Canon 5D IV
Canon EOS 24-70 f/2.8 II lens (with a Genustech Eclipse ND Fader Filter and a Hoya Pro-1 Digital Circular Polarizing Filter
Rode VideoMicro Compact On Camera Microphone
Tarion TR-V1 LCD Display Viewfinder (it attaches through a magnet, which makes it really flexible)

All attached to a SmallRig cage to which I added a SmallRig NATO rail handle. The cage attaches to a Peak Design CapturePRO Camera Clip, which in turn is attached to my backpack. All in all it’s quite heavy, but it works. The big test is Mont Blanc though. I’ll report back on how I got on.

My existing backpack (Lowepro ProTactic 450) also contains a medium Movo CRC23 Storm Raincover Protector, the Joby GorillaPod 5K kit, a load of batteries, memory cards, lens wipes and a couple of toe warmers (yes!) in case we go in sub zero terrain and I can use them to keep the backpack warm inside and make the batteries last longer and deal with any camera issues when it gets too cold.

I think the backpack is not going to be great on long walks and challenging climbs, but it’s all I have and can afford at this stage. Once the funding comes through for the big expedition I will go for an F-Stop one.

I haven’t decided what other lenses I will bring and I can leave at camp when we go on more challenging hikes, but I’d like to be flexible when we do have time and space to get some good shots for the website and social media. I’ll probably bring my 70-200 mm f/2.8 and maybe my 50 mm f/1.2 and my 16-35 f/2.8 as well.

The first 1-hour run!

10/06/2018

There seems to be a new base run milestone every Sunday and I’ve been looking forward to doing today’s all week. It’s the first time I’ll be running for an hour straight, something I couldn’t imagine myself doing when I started a month ago. And it’s amazing how far you can go in an hour. Got lost on the way back, so had a 20-minute hike back home. It went well and I felt great.

Brought my iPhone this time, so I could track the route and stream music from Apple Music. I got a bit bored with the tracks I downloaded onto the Fitbit.

Stats:

Average bpm: 163
892 calories burnt
10,17 KM
5’55” pace

Figuring out the camera kit at the rental house

07/06/2018

Had an appointment with the rental house today to see how they could recommend me getting the 5D into something compact with all the right accessories. After a bit of discussion we got a SmallHD 5 inch screen and a Rode VideoMic Pro on a t-bar onto the hot shoe of the camera, with a long enough HDMI cable and a clamp to attach it flexibly to the Gorillapod I’m planning to buy.

It was all on the camera and it worked, but I was hoping to get something more compact and easier to carry, so I went home to have another think.

Heart rates, no control

03/06/2018

My legs are still sore from last Wednesday’s leg strength exercises. The run was a 40-minute hill rep one. Keeping the heart rate at the right level is still very hard. I check my watch as I run, slowing down or speeding up when necessary, but I seem to get stuck on just over 170 bpm. On base runs it needs to get to 50 bpm under my maximum, meaning around 150 bpm. But I’m only a month in now and should be proud if where I got so far, I suppose.

Family, risks and investments

02/06/2018

Alan and I had a long phone conversation about family, risks and investments. Risk control and family go hand in hand and we agreed that this was not some sort of mid-life crisis project. I mentioned Meru (see yesterday’s post). Preparation is everything. And we’d only attempt to summit Mont Blanc if the conditions surrounding such an effort would be perfect. It’s more likely than not that it’s not going to happen, but that’s fine. It’s about getting experience towards the final expedition, that’s the goal.

I need to put more money in this shoot than I expected. There’s money going towards getting my camera ready, the running kit, the stuff I need to buy and rent for the mountaineering, it’s all adding up. We talked it through and I need to see a lot of things as an investment for doing more of this type of work, which is what I really want to do.

Jimmy Chin

01/06/2018

Jon and Alan pointed me in the direction of the work of Jimmy Chin, a photographer, filmmaker, and mountain sports athlete. Incredible stuff. A source of inspiration and frustration in equal amounts. I bought his film Meru, which is great. It did scare me as well. Although they do things we’re not even getting close to, there were some random accidents in there that could easily happen to one of us.

It’s my birthday

30/05/2018

I turned 47 today. Jon had a nice birthday surprise lined up: squats, lunges, calf raises, and chair step-ups. The lunges and squats were the hardest, but thought I’d done alright until I decided to go downstairs to get some more water and almost fell down the stairs. My legs had turned to jelly. Ouch!

I finished the edit of the crowdfunding video and sent it off to the guys. They liked it so we’re good to go on that one.

I finish the day with a real – delicious!! – birthday treat at The Ethicurean restaurant.

Mont Blanc kit list

29/05/2018

Jon sent through a kit list for Mont Blanc. I’ve never been a keen camper, so a number of things on the list that other people may already have I’ll need to purchase, such as a 3-4 season sleeping bag, a sleeping mat, etc. Some other things such as crampons, a harness and a helmet can be hired in Chamonix. That helps as these are things you don’t use a lot when you live my kind of lifestyle. Still a lot to buy. Have to have a think.

This is one example of a kit list and this is another one.

The maximal test

28/05/2018

The base run went up to 50 minutes yesterday and today I had to do a “maximal test” to see what my heart rate would get up to. It involved at least three long hill sprints. Phew! I hit 190 bpm, which means that my maximum heart rate would be around 195-200bpm. My base runs are currently around 170 bpm average and Jon is looking to see this go down to 160 bpm for the same pace.

Jon reports that the Guinness World Records application has been put in. It takes 12 weeks to get approval.

Headphones for running

26/05/2018

I decided that now the runs are getting longer and longer I would like to listen to music. I’m on a limited budget with everything I’ll need for Mind Over Mountain, but I’ve found the Anker Soundbuds Slim bluetooth earphones and they’re pretty decent for £20. The Fitbit Versa has the ability to store and play music through bluetooth, so off I go.

First glimpse at the branding and design

25/05/2018

Alan got his friends Damon Charles and Jon Waring to work on the design, build and strategy around the website and the first designs look amazing. I’ve known Damon and Jon for years and he couldn’t have had a better team to work on this.

Slight change of plan

23/05/2018

Jon proposed to see our time in Chamonix as fitness training and a testing exercise for us. We can get mountaineering experience, exercise, test equipment and see how we work as a team. To summit Mont Blanc we will need a guide and the guys need to find a cost-effective way to make this happen. And if not, we won’t attempt to summit. It makes perfect sense to me. Treating it more as a training session and test will give us a better chance of succeeding on the following expeditions. I would still very much welcome a chance to make it to the summit though, as it’s a real milestone, both for me personally as for our goal as it gives us something to write/shout about. But we’ll see how things pan out.

Our first shoot

21/05/2018

Had to do a base run with summit sprints yesterday, which was super hard. My legs were too tired for today”s run. I struggled through it and did not feel good. This was followed by a timed core challenge with push-ups, sit-ups, etc and did really bad on this too. Not great! Tomorrow is a rest day. I guess part of what I’m training is persistence…

We shot the crowdfunding video today and I met Jon. Really good for the three of us to discuss everything so far and do our first project.

Gorillapod

18/05/2018

I’ve been looking at ways of getting stabilised footage in a compact and light-weight package. Zhiyun Crane gimbals look good and get decent reviews, but are a bit expensive. DJI will release the Ronin-S soon as well, but again, quite expensive. I think it’s going to be quite heavy as well. Then I stumble upon an article on No Film School that contains a video describing some really clever ways to use a Gorillapod and that convinces me to put it on my list. If I add a long enough HDMI cable between my camera and the screen I can flip the whole thing upside down, move the screen to the top using a clamp and I’ve got a basic stabiliser. Could work!

It’s all about the heart rate zones

16/05/2018

My Fitbit Versa arrives, so I can start monitoring my progress.

Because mountaineering mainly involves long duration, low- to moderate intensity work, using heart rate zones as the basis of my training makes perfect sense. Heart rate zones use percentages of the maximum heart rate, with 1 being the lowest intensity aerobic training through 5 for maximal effort. Jon’s mainly training me in zone 2 (keeping around 50 beats under maximum bpm) in which I should be able to have a conversation whilst running, with days where I’m pushed into zones 3 and 4 and occasionally short bursts into zone 5. Zone 2 does the most to establish the basic endurance qualities. It’s still surprisingly hard, but it does suit me. I’m not a sprinter. It feels safe too. I’m worried about getting an injury and not being able to do the shoot.

Training is five days a week and I get up at 6am to do the exercises before work and the streets get busy. The running is OK, but I suck at push-ups, sit-ups, planks, etc. Hate them.

“Training is not the work that you do, it is the value and the cost of your body’s response to the work.”

— Renato Canova

Background resource for my training

14/05/2018

Jon is training me remotely through Training Peaks and I can ask questions, but I’m hungry for information. I find a great book called “Training for the New Alpinism: A Manual for the Climber as Athlete” by Steve House and Scott Johnston. As far as I can tell it gives a good background to how Jon is training me.

The book describes two types of training. The first one being the general conditioning that readies you for event-specific training and secondly the training that prepares you in a specific way for the event itself. The first one is being covered by the mixture of strength and endurance training that Jon has put in my programme. It’s an attempt to get me as fit as possible for the specific training and testing we’ll be doing on the expeditions leading up to the main one.

Jon is giving me a constructive, consistent and progressive training schedule based on my current fitness level and where it needs to be when we head to Mont Blanc. I found it fascinating to read about the human body’s ability to adapt to physical stress and how this can be used to manipulate it to overcompensation, leading to a higher fitness level than before the stress of training was applied. This includes adding in rest days to allow the body to respond to the induced stress. It was really helpful to read that it would take at least 4, sometimes 8 weeks before any changes could be detected in the body. This certainly helped me manage my expectations. Jon added that that was one of the reasons people give up going to the gym in February after starting training as a new year’s resolution. You have to have patience and let your body do the work.

The book has a great quote by legendary coach Renato Canova: “Training is not the work that you do, it is the value and the cost of your body’s response to the work.”

It’s on!

11/05/2018

I had a chat with Alan. The original 10 days were to include the races they are going to do around Mont Blanc, but in reality, without support it’s going to be really hard for me to be in the right place at the right time. We discussed me going for 5 days instead and just focus on the mountaineering part. We would be on foot, which will make shooting a lot easier. We agree on terms and Alan books my flight to Geneva. It’s on!

Bad news

09/05/2018

I’ve had some bad news. It doesn’t look like the guys can get me on board to cover the 10-day races and exercises at Mont Blanc. The expenses and fees are just too high at this stage without any funding or sponsorship. I propose to defer payment if they cover costs, making sure I’m not out of pocket.

Training - the family gets inspired

07/05/2018

Training starts properly now. I abandon the Runner’s World programme and start on Jon’s. No couple of minutes running, couple of minutes walking for half an hour. We go straight in with a 30-minute run! I manage it though, and feel great. There’s a lot of stretching involved in this programme. My daughter won’t be able to work to this schedule, but it seems my wife has caught the bug and wants to start running with her. We’re going to be a very fit family!

Preparing to start training with a coach

03/05/18

Jon signs me up to Trainingpeaks, the online coaching platform he uses, and asks me to fill out a couple of surveys so he can tailor a training schedule for me. I need to get a heart rate monitor and GPS to get the most out of the training. I own an old Fitbit, but it fails after using it twice. It looks like I need to go shopping again, but decide to wait until the decision on Mont Blanc comes in.

Training, still a very long way to go

26/04/18

Started week two of the running programme. Only a couple of minutes of running, on and off for half an hour, already feels like a lot of work. I’ve got a long way to go! My Saucony shoes are great and I bought a couple of dryfit t-shirts now too. It’s fun being out with my daughter although she’s finding getting up early in the morning a bit taxing…!

Camera kit decisions

21/04/18

I use a Sony PXW-FS7 as my film camera. I shoot everything with it and I love it. I’ve had it for 3,5 years now and working with it is second nature. But it’s simply too big and heavy to bring on this shoot. I need to take stills too, so that would mean bringing two cameras. Not an option.

I upgraded to a Canon 5D IV in January and one of the first things I did when I got it was send it off to Canon for a service upgrade to enable filming in Canon Log, enhancing the camera’s dynamic range. The 5D shoots stills and good enough video, so that was going to be the camera I’d bring. Lenses are heavy too. I’m thinking I’ll only bring one lens when we’re hiking and climbing. The obvious choice is the Canon 24-70 f/2.8 II. It has the perfect range for a combination of landscapes and portraits and is fast enough to perform in low-light conditions. It would need a variable ND filter for filming at wider apertures and a polariser to deal with glare in snowy conditions.

The main challenges with using the 5D as a video camera are that you can’t see the screen at an angle or when the sun is out and the onboard microphone won’t do a good enough job. I decide to go and see a rental house I work with to see what I could use in terms of grip equipment and sound and monitoring.

Exciting and daunting in equal measures

19/04/18

Alan and I meet for coffee. Only now the full extend of what I’m considering to get on board with becomes clear. It’s too big to get my head around though. I’ve been interested in doing more adventure based shoots, but this is way bigger than I envisioned. To begin with, there are several cycling events on Mont Blanc at the end of June, plus going to the summit, at 4,800 meters, then an expedition on Kilimanjaro in February 2019, which is 6,300 meters, followed by the huge expedition in September 2019, in a location that needs to remain a secret for now to protect the world record attempt. That would be a 17-day trek and climb and I know so little about this size of adventures it sounds absolutely insane.

I don’t hesitate in saying yes to it all though. I’ll worry about the practicalities later. All I can think about is the pictures and footage I’ll be able to shoot and the chance to raise awareness with the incredible stories I’ll be able to tell.

I talk it through at home and we agree that safety and preparation are absolutely key, something I know Alan has at the top of his list as well.

So, the main ‘practicalities’ for me are 1) my fitness and 2) the kit I need to bring.

Fitness. I’m a healthy 46-year old (48 when we do the main expedition), but I’m not very sporty, let alone an endurance athlete. I walk a lot – my daily commute alone is 10,000 steps – and that will help a little bit, but I’ll need to become the fittest I’ve ever been in my life for this project. This is exciting (and intimidating) in itself. There’s nothing better than training with a goal in mind. It helps that Alan’s partner in this is an endurance coach and he would train me if it all goes ahead.

Mont Blanc is two months away and it’s not 100% certain there is funding for me to go and shoot for 10 days, but I decide to start running anyway. A couple of months doesn’t seem that long to go from couch to summiting Mont Blanc! While I wait for news on Mont Blanc, I start a running schedule I found on the Runner’s World website: The 8-Week Beginner's Program. My 11-year old daughter is up for coming along with me. I go to a running gear shop to get gait analysis and pick out a pair of trainers and some good socks, that will hopefully help me run comfortably and avoid injuries. My knees and lower back are my weak points, so I have to be careful.

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