Proving "You can lead a photographer to a cliff, but you can't make him jump!"
Proving "You can lead a photographer to a cliff, but you can't make him jump!"
I have sat, not stood on many a ledge
but if I have one puff of weed
I back WAY up
My fave were the 13th floors of 2 high rise rentals
but I once got locked out, that took awhile
the other, high wind bent the glass 6" without breaking
Coyote/Poodle no worries
Tin Can
Flickr Home Page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/albums
Or away from ledges & cliffs.
When Warren Harding made the 27-day first ascent of the Wall of Early Morning Light on El Capitan one hot summer way back when, he bragged about needing only a pint of water a day doing it. Then Royal Robbins went up there and re-climbed it, chopping off all the bolts Harding and his partner had installed, considering it an unfair method of climbing. Nobody re-climbed it again until my nephew and his pal did so when he was living with me during his University years. He took along the little Pentax MX camera I gave him. There is only one conspicuous ledge up there suitable for a sorta storehouse of supplies, plus sleeping area, with a wide crack right above it. There were dozen and dozens of wine bottles stacked in that crack, some still full. Harding was an infamous wine-bibber; and of course, one has to be roped on, anywhere up there, all the time. But it does explain the, "Just one pint of water" a day, statement.
Another difficult route nearby is called Mescalito. They certainly needed to be well roped on each night too!
The scariest time I had was helping out my nephew scope out the Dawn Wall route by climbing to the tip of a huge ice cone directly below Horsetail Falls one winter, chiseling off the top with my ice axe, and setting up my 4X5 Sinar right atop that slippery thing for a unique edge-on LF shot of the face of El Cap. Then huge slabs of ice started falling and hydroplaning away from the face, and it was time to get out of Dodge fast. The descent was the most dangerous part, especially with a heavy pack filled with view camera gear. But I obviously have lived long enough to print that shot a few times. ... but never again..... The presence of a tall ice cone like that at that modest elevation is a very rare occurrence anyway.
Worst height I had to worry about was installing microphones for an organ recital on the triforium opposite the organ. An uneven medieval floor 70cm wide and nothing between you and the floor below except a column here and there. You won't see me there with a 4x5.
Expert in non-working solutions.
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