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The Year 2001
Filming among the volcanoes in Kamchatka, Russia - August 11 - Sept 15, 2000 The peninsula is the size of California, and is at the northern extension of the Pacific Ring of Fire. It has more than 160 volcanoes, some active at this moment, others silently awaiting eruption. The expedition, led by photographer Carsten Peter (the subject of the film), had a generous budget from National Geographic TV. This allowed us to fly by chopper to some amazing places: the high volcanoes in the Klyuchevskaya area; the Kronotsky Nature Preserve ( a geyser basin reminiscent of Yellowstone); the active caldera of Mutnovsky volcano near the capital, Petropavlovsk; and the very southern tip of the peninsula to visit our friends Maureen Enns and Charlie Russell at their bear study cabin. Flying there we passed over dozens of bears gorging either on the salmon run or grazing amongst the dense blueberry patches. We were also reunited with our old Kamchatkan friend Fedia Faberov who once again acted as our guide and interpreter. He works for the highly commendable agency, Explore Kamchatka The two of us worked as camera operator and sound recordist alongside NGS producers Brian Armstrong and Nancy Donnelly. The show, called Beyond the Lava, premiered in 2002.
Pat shot a documentary film, Shishapangma: Ski from the Death Zone for American Adventure Productions. Mt Shishapangma is the only 8000 meter peak to lie entirely inside Tibet. Our expedition of three American climbers, three Kazakhs, and American Adventure Productions producer Cherie Silvera and me (Pat) got off to a rocky start in the ugly Chinese/Tibetan town of Nyalam. During a stroll at the edge of town, Cherie was bitten on the calf by a dog. (Fearing rabies infection, she received treatment back in the US). A few days later, we reached advance base camp at 5700m. More excitement. A sick, middle-aged Taiwanese climber who had been at or above this elevation for several weeks was not faring well. When his team put him on a horse for the 20 km descent to base camp, he tumbled off in an unconscious stupor. My team mates placed him into our Gamov bag (a portable chamber to regulate air pressure). But the attempts to revive him were futile. Nearly an hour later, the Taiwanese man was dead. He was cremated at base camp. Luckily, there were no more incidents on the mountain which was a busy place. There were a total of at least 70 or 80 people, including Sherpas and cook staff. The weather and snow conditions proved fine, and five of our team made it to the summit (our team launched for the summit from camp 2). Two of them, the Marolt brothers from Aspen, CO, lugged their alpine skis to the top of the central (lower) summit, and side slipped and rappeled the fixed lines back to camp 3, then skied all the way to the base of the mountain from there. I, and two of the three Kazakh climbers from Almaty, could not shake the bronchial infection we had picked up on the way to base camp. The three of us only made it to our high camp at 7000 meters before our lungs flamed out. Ski conditions were actually quite good from that point down and I got in some exhilarating turns on my telly skis despite the struggle to suck air through my soggy lungs, phlegm spewing in all directions. The hour-long programme was be shown on Outdoor Life Network. Check out American Adventure Productions's web site for other shows: http://www.adventurevideos.com/ Back to Top |
Mt. Klyuchevskaya erupting, July 1993 