UKC

In this interview Jack Geldard talks to UKC's very own Natalie Berry, and asks her about the last two years of her climbing - which have been followed and made in to a film by Hotaches Productions. 'Transition' is Natalie's story of moving on from indoor climbing and seeing how she fares on the crags and winter climbs of Scotland.

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In reply to UKC Articles:

Seeing the title bit before you click on the video (The Cobbler juxtaposed on the Ben) was initially confusing - I thought, has she been on Echo Wall? Yes, I know it's on the other side of Tower Ridge and you wouldn't be on it mid-winter etc!

In reply to UKC Articles: Great photo of The Pillar!

In reply to UKC Articles:

It funny mentioning kids who are lucky enough to have parents that climb outside and those who don't. As my parents climb, they would sometimes take kids whose parents didn't on climbing holidays with us and they would almost always end up in hospital.

In reply to UKC Articles:

i was ready to dismiss this film a little bit as I have always climbed outside (im one of those people whos parents took me out climbing basically as soon as I could walk and as my mum was an outdoor instructor and both parents were good climbers/ winter climbers. I of course went outside and had lots of kit to borrow). so don't really get the only climbing indoors thing. so my first response (sorry Natalie as you are nice and share my films on hear allot haha) was to dismiss this a little bit. especially as it make it in to KMF this year and Boulder Valley didn't hahaha ... but ye I think i will definatly give it another chance after reading this and definatly have to go see it :P as it is true that i dont really et how hard it must be for some people to get outside as I live in the Lakes, so will be interesting to see another perspective , and some cool climbing too! see you at KMF

however I still think climbing out doors is proper climbing and indoor climbers should all get out.... I mean when I lived in Liverpool for uni we spent ages at all the grubby little training crags and it was great fun (see the film about phil Mitchell in the breck). basically dragged loads of hanngar plastic pullers out to these places that are all in public transport distance of liverpool and got Phil in to outdoor climbing... so I think it would be awesome if people re discover these easy to reach inner city out door venues too!

In reply to UKC Articles:

Ooh, that looks a really good watch.

Also looking forward to Transition 2, featuring Mick Fowler's emotional journey into indoor competition bouldering

D.

In reply to DannyC:
Best film idea ever hahaha
If any well known mountaineers would like to contact.me to make an amusing film please do

In reply to george sewell:

I guess underlying the indoors/outdoors schism is the notion of taking someone who's extremely proficient at certain types of climbing, such as sport and comps and exposing them to other stuff. Simplistically one might argue that someone who's climbed F8b could just cruise pretty much anything going. But, of course, life's not quite like that.

A tale from the crypt... Back in the day, before ice climbing was sexy (gosh, was there such a time?), Patrick Edlinger was pretty well the best rock-climber in the world. He was hanging out with the then unknown Stevie Haston. One day Stevie said, "Why don't we do something different and go ice climbing?" Edlinger shot him a look of pure Gallic contempt. "Ziss ice climbing, Steviee, eet is for girls!"

Well, you can imagine the likely reaction! But, for once, Stevie bit his lip. "Yeah OK Patrick, but hey, just indulge me..."

They went ice climbing. When they came back, Edlinger (then a world-class athlete) was so shattered that he couldn't raise his arms above his head. His beautifully aquiline Gallic nose was broken, courtesy of yanking his ice axe out too forcefully. But, bless him, he smiled ruefully and said, "OK, Steviee, ziss ice climbing, eet is not just for girls!"

Life is transition (and climbing can give us transitions). It's how we deal with transition that matters. Edlinger dealt with it with style. Looks like Natalie did too.

Mick

In reply to DannyC:

Maybe Transition 2 could feature Natalie going somewhere 'character building' in Nepal with Fowler.

Sounds like a great film, really looking forward to seeing it. Though I'm a bit surprised this thread hasn't degenerated into a slanging match about the grade of The Pillar (good to see they got it right).

In reply to DannyC:

Id pay bog bucks to see that film.

Great photo of the pillar... Climbed that and northumberland wall on a shockingly sunny and warm day, the day after climbing BSFT on Beinne Eighe. Don't know if it was just the pleasure of climbing in t shirts the day after a 24 hour winter climbing suffer fest, but those two routes would be right up there in my top e2's list. Excellent.

Looking forward to seeing this film too

In reply to UKC Articles:

That Cobbler photo... Wow.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Not a criticism but it is interesting to see that they are charging £13 for a copy of the film. With the amount of high quality free climbing footage available these days I'd be surprised if there was much of a market to monetize the film in this way. I want to see it for the Cobbler footage alone and I will try and catch it at KMFF if I can but I am not sure I'd pay £13 to see it. On the other hand I realize it must be tough for the film maker who will be lucky to cover their expenses so any money they recoup though sales or advertising is a bonus.

In reply to JM:

I enjoyed the taster but was interest to see Natalie trying to poke a cam into random holes and cracks - someone should have told her to scope the placement out 1st then choose the gear that fits!

Chris

In reply to bensilvestre:

>those two routes would be right up there in my top e2's list. Excellent.

Agreed. Northumberland Wall is top class.

In reply to JM:

HI JM,
It is a fair point! I have used this business model for the last 10 years and it has been broken for about the last 8! For some reason I have continued... what's that definition of insanity about doing the same thing again and again and expecting the outcome to be different.

During that 10 years the costs of production have increased yet sales and prices have dropped.

The maybe lots of "high quality free climbing footage" available, but is there really lots of good climbing FILMS available for free? I guess it depends if you want to watch footage or films!

Diff

In reply to JM:


Worth every penny. Its a beautifully crafted film, not just another bit of badly edited "footage". Buy it and there might be more superb stuff like it in the future.

In reply to UKC Articles:

I bought the film, too. It's really very good and worth the money IMO.

In reply to stevemarkperry:

Yes, I bought it too and it's well worth it.

In reply to diff:

Diff, serious question - has any tv channel ever asked about screening your films (and have you asked them?). Some of them (The Long Hope, E11, Distilled, Redemption and from the sounds of it Transition) have the storyboard structure that would enable them to translate so well to a wider audience. I've never fully understood why they've never been picked up for broadcast on BBC4, E4, or even C4 or BBC2. The exposure might scale up the revenue side of your business model too!

In reply to george sewell:


How dare you sir! This is sacrilege!

In reply to UKC Articles:
Watched it last night for a bargain £4.50 rented on Vimeo (is anyone likely to watch these films more than once?)and as people have said it's a lovely film showcasing some top climbers doing very impressive routes in beautiful surroundings, nice mix of grades too to inspire everyone. Winter routes made me want to go winter climbing again and the Prozac link made me wish the waves hadn't been slamming into the cliff the day we went to climb it, next time! All that was missing was the snappy cuts, sick beats and Drone footage!

In reply to UKC Articles:
I bought it and enjoyed it. The bit of her attempting to onsight Dalriada was as good climbing footage as I've seen and quite inspiring.