Get good videos in nature is not that easy, actually is hard to do, especially if you’re are alone. When you are in the wilderness trying to record a video, you need to manage the weather conditions, correct the illumination, balance out the wind… and of course, you have to carry your equipment and take care of it.
That was my first video on YouTube, but actually, that wasn’t the first time I went to film in nature. I had been trying to get some videos two weeks ago, but I wasn’t a success… What was the reason? Just, I was a beginner, and that was my first time.
Today, I’m going to show you how I recorded the video You’ve seen above.
In the Pyrenees, we’d suffered terrible weather for several weeks, and I hadn’t been capable of going out to record videos because there was an enormous risk of avalanches and “polar conditions” (-22ºC with wind speed around 60km/h at 2.000m of altitude). I was afraid of loud winds; my equipment was able to resist low temperatures, but not low temperatures with hard winds.
It’s essential to keep in mind temperature and wind speed every time we go to wild environments, and if we’re above 0ºC, we should consider the humidity.
Take a look at the following wind-chill card.
60km/h (16’67m/s) of wind speed at -22ºC makes temperature appears as if it was about -40ºC.
I was an unlucky man because every time the weather got better, I had medical tests or I had to go to the dentist.
Finally, I had few days with better weather conditions (T.H= -2ºC and T.L = -11ºC at 2.000m with 13km/h of wind speed), and without other obligations, so, I charted a safety track to a safety zone, and I went out again to get some videos.
According to meteorology prediction, below 1.800m of altitude, It should be raining, so I chart a track from 2.000m to 2.300m of elevation. I prefer to find myself at -4ºC snowing than find myself at 0ºC raining by far. But meteorology prediction was wrong…
It was raining at 2.000m of altitude, where a left my car, and I had to up to 2.300m carrying my equipment raining! I had a “wet snowfall” during all ascent. That was tough!
I got hot during the ascent; I only wore my next to skin and my waterproof jacket. If I took out my waterproof jacket, I got wet by rain but, if I wore my waterproof jacket I started sweating.
I had a membrane waterproof jacket but there was nothing I could do, I got wet.
Finally, I reached the “base camp zone” where I was going to stay for three days trying to get good videos and photos. I explored the area and I started to record some videos when the rain stopped.
Try to imagine how hard can do to film a simply video when you’re alone, and you use your camera in manual mode. Every time I do it I need to use a trekking pole to focus and compose the scenes, as you can see some of them were not well done.
As the meteorology prediction said, the weather got better in the afternoon; the wind was going to be calm during all night, so I dug a little trench and a do a bivouac. I needed to see the starts!
Doing a perfect bivouac at snow is not that easy, because you need to keep in mind several factors and you need to be ready if the wind starts to blow and throw snow on your face. I’ll give you some advice to do it in following posts.
That was all for the first day; two difficult days were coming and I needed to rest.
Don’t miss the following post! We’ll keep leaving this adventure!
Thanks for reading!