Here are some stills from the Red Rocks segment in my upcoming film Western Gold.
Pete Lowe on the first ascent of Abstraction V9
Heather Robinson on All Nightmare Long V6
All Nightmare Long
Tom Moulin getting above the trees on his highball/free solo Ariana V6
Fortunately I have two cameras so Tom didn't have to climb Ariana twice!
Me climbing Wet Dream V12
Pat Olson on Angel's Dyno V7
The Lowe family hiking out to Oak Creek
Roscoe trotting out to the boulders
Heather Lowe climbing Blood Trails V5
Pete Lowe on A Clockwork Orange V13
The crux pocket
The crux move
I’m still in Vegas. I can’t seem to tear myself away from this place. I’ve been fortunate enough to have extremely generous friends who let me stay in their homes which allows me to rest and get work done on the film. I’ve been exclusively filming for the past 3-4 weeks which has been great. I was letting my finger heal and it has been helpful to focus all my energy into filming and editing. I’ve captured a wide range of problems from V5 to V13. I’m a bit of a rock snob and I can tell you that every boulder in the film is a must do classic.
A couple days ago I was hiking out in Red Rocks to get some landscape shots and I stumbled upon a few big horn sheep about 15 yards in front of me. I quietly setup my tripod and started shooting. They moved on and I followed, filming them move across the mountain. I started worrying about my camera bag which I left at the initial encounter and when I looked back in that direction I saw this:
I had groups of big horn sheep on both sides of me and more kept popping up.
Big Horn Sheep looking out over their terrain
Then my eyes spotted an all white big horn sheep which I had never seen before.
A rare all-white big horn sheep
Long story short I ended up spending over an hour filming in close proximity to two dozen big horn sheep. Amazing experience and another reason why Red Rocks is a spectacular place to be!
My plans have been changing on a daily basis. I was going to head back to the southeast to film there but based on how much quality footage I captured in Red Rocks I wouldn’t be able to properly feature the southeast since it’s such a big area. I was also going to climb & film in hueco but since my finger is tweaked it doesn’t make sense to go there, especially when there is so much media from Hueco already available on the web. The other areas I will be filming for the movie aren’t in season yet so now I’ve got some time to go climbing elsewhere. I think I will spend a few days in Moe’s Valley and I’d also like to checkout Castle Rock Idaho on my way up north.
Amazing shots – can’t wait to buy the movie.
That’s sick, Alex. Nice work! Looking forward to the film. Looks like those bh sheep were stalking you.
Red Rocks is an amazing place. I’m glad that you’re taking the time to properly document the new (and old) classics. That sounds like an awesome experience with the big horn sheep. Have you run into any desert tortoise yet?
Holy hell, awesome shots Alex! I’m sure the movie is gonna be a stunna. I don’t know about that beta on the Angle Dyno though…
Thanks everyone!! Very excited about how the project is going so far!
Can’t wait to see the film. I haven’t been bouldering in vegas for quite some time…but it seems like a whole lot of development has taken place since the last time I had been there. It’ll be great to see some of the new climbs captured on video.