Up Denali 3D is a stereoscopic (3D) documentary directed and produced by Thomas Riederer PE. The film portrays an adventure trek and technical summit climb of Denali, which is also known as Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America. Denali has an altitude of 20,320 feet and is one of the Seven Summits of the World. Situated in Alaska, in Denali National Park and Preserve near the Arctic Circle, a June Denali climb is spent without darkness. The sun does not set all month. Due to high altitudes and lower temperatures from the mountain being closer to the North Pole, the entire climb is spent on snow.
Background
Up Denali 3D is the fifth 3D mountaineering movie from tree-D Films in the series of Seven Summits in Three Dimensions. Previous 3D films were shot on Cerro Aconcagua, (Aconcagua - The Top of the Western World), Mount Kilimanjaro, (Africa 3D), Russia's Mount Elbrus, (unedited), and Carstensz Pyramid, aka Puncak Jaya, (Carstensz Pyramid – 3D Adventure in Irian Jaya).
Cast
Climbers
The climbers were individuals who had never met each other and came from a variety of backgrounds. Tom Riederer was on the path of the Seven Summits - this would be his fifth, all filmed in 3D. Mike Smith was an athletic mechanic working for Delta Airlines in Atlanta GA. Gary D. Bacon is a former business executive-turned-adventure-traveler and mountaineer. Steve Ullman was 18 years old at the time of the climb, and had participated in Outward Bound mountaineering school. His grandparents in Massachusetts coincidentally lived next door to Bradford Washburn. Phil Fleet was attempting to join the High Pointers club, summiting the highest point in each of the 50 US states. Denali was his 48th, and most difficult.
Guides
Guide Kirby Spangler is from Alaska and has years of climbing experience. Rob Gowler is from Jackson, Wyoming and has guided around the world. Both men were affiliated with the Alaska Mountaineering School/Alaska-Denali Guides and highly skilled for the climb.
Physical Training and Preparation
As mountain climbing requires high amounts of physical fitness, training is started months in advance.
Preparation of equipment, aside from the camera equipment, was a significant undertaking for each member of the team. A typical gear list has numerous items for climbing and camping in cold and windy weather. Attention also had to be paid to preparation of food.
Production
Camera development for extreme environments
Thomas Riederer is a Professional Engineer and inventor who developed the camera system used in the filming of Up Denali 3D, which needed to be reliable for the extreme cold weather anticipated by the climb, as well as light, self-contained and portable to allow a month's worth of shooting with no resupply. Advancements from the camera system used for Aconcagua were designed and tested prior to production. A digital video camera with a modification of the NuView 3D lens, which Riederer invented, was selected. Modifications included a heating system to keep the camera operational at filming temperatures down to 35 below zero Fahrenheit, Left eye/Right eye polarization balancing for taming the white glare of the snow, vertical alignment mechanisms to avoid Left eye/Right eye vertical parallax and other optical, electronic and mechanical modifications.
Further camera development
Based on the filming success of Up Denali 3D and with the subsequent advent of high-definition television, Thomas Riederer developed and patented advanced stereoscopic cameras for observation, entertainment, virtual reality and surgical applications.
On the 3D display side, the advent and development of 3D image processing software such as Stereoscopic Player and StereoMovieMaker have enabled standard-definition productions like Up Denali 3D to be displayed in higher resolution on 3DHD flat-panel televisions.
Filming
The film was shot entirely on location, in Denali National Park and in and around Talkeetna, Alaska. Due to extreme crevasse danger on the glacier the climbers/guides were always roped together in teams of three or four during travel. Higher up the mountain, the steepness and sheer exposure also required roping-up of not only the climbers to each other but also to the mountain. That required snow protection in the form of snow pickets such that the ropes, and hence climbers, were tied to the mountain to prevent catastrophe should a climber fall. This aspect, though adding to filming difficulty, also gave the production an "up close and personal" feel. Some of the scenes showed the ropes, adding an interesting additional 3D depth cue