Rae Lakes Film (Documentary / Video)

[chris smead]

Companion forum thread to: Rae Lakes Film (Documentary / Video)

Chris and Muzzy go to Rae Lakes (film!) during the High Sierra’s most biggest snow season on record! Arg! What about their marriage?

[Thomas Sabido]

Chris, great film. You really know how to tell a story through film and multi-media. Muzzy is a total stud.

My wife and I planned/hiked the same trip this Summer and had to make the same adjustment for an east side approach. We had the same itinerary (Kearsarge Lakes, Rae Lakes, Kearsarge Lake). We did not have microspikes, so we turned back about half way up the southern side of Glen Pass when we hit snow, and stayed at Charlotte Lake. Your film brought back great memories. Thank you!

Tom

PS We are hiking the JMT in July, 2018.

[Mike M]

Bravo! Great film- enjoyed immensely- thanks

[Brad Rogers]

What time of year?

Would (will) she go again?

[jscott]

Great film! Muzzy, you are not faint of heart; that was a legitimately intimidating pass crossing–especially for your first time out. Kudos; very impressive. Excellent film production; creative and professional. But mostly the views were great and we got a good sense of your adventure.

[chris smead]

Thanks so much guys!  Glad ya liked it.   I admit a big motivator for this particular project was to entertain our kids, hence all the animations and stuff.   Once I finished the edit and watched it start to finish, I wasn’t sure how adults would react and I was a bit nervous about releasing it.  But so far it seems to be well received on BPL, youtube, and there’s even a pretty lengthly thread on the JMT FB group about it! :)  Thanks for being open minded!!

Yes I was quite proud of Muz.  I think she’d consider going again ONLY if there’s no snow, or heights involved.   She promised me one day the whole family would do the JMT together.  I’m gunna hold her to that!  ;)

[Brian Barnes]

Awesome! You both did great. Loved the video.

[Katherine .]

Loved it. Want to take my daughter there eventually.

Do you do this sort of thing professionally?

[chris smead]

Thanks!

Nope I’m pretty far from professional.  I’ve got a regular day job just like everyone else.  This is just a fun hobby/passion for me.  :)  An expensive hobby actually!  National Park film permit fees are no joke.

I get the occasional paid gig offer, but I live in the Silicon Valley where the cost of living is expensive.  So I’m pretty sure this will never be my primary source of income, which I’ve made peace with.

[Doug Johnson]

I love this. And my wife and I just watched this and then we talked about going to my favorite place- La Bohn Lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. It’s my Rae Lakes. It got us talking about a trip, just the two of us. Thank you, Chris and Muzzy- for sharing this experience with us.

[david morgan]

That loop is spectacular-from the beginning, you all adapted well! I did the traditional Western Access to the lakes long (2000/2001) ago and LOVED it! A year later I thru hiked the JMT N to S starting the Tuesday after Labor Day. Gorgeous but thank God I made it just North of Silver Dollar Lake to the lowest point on the trail (where the normal descent of the Lakes loop begins) due to a September snowstorm. I believe 3 climbers died on the walls of Yosemite. The next day we sauntered up to upper Rae Lakes, saw the pass, and elected to spend the night resting (and reconsidering-no snow gear-i didn’t even have hiking poles). What an experience! Other than these 2 days, the trip was blissful! and a reminder-a bivy sac is nearly useless for waiting out a storm and have extra fuel-warmth wise and spirit wise, having lots of hot tea to drink makes those snow bound hours go by much more tolerably! That area was very spectacular indeed; and am so glad you shared your experience.

[Steofan M]

What a fabulous production! My only question is how on earth do I get your marmot and his chirp out of my dreams at night? That rodent keeps popping up everywhere.

[chris smead]

Haha ya mean this little guy?  https://instagram.com/p/Bae8XUhBcDx/

He took me about 5 minutes to draw and 5 hours to animate.  :)

[Steofan M]

That’s him!!!

Great work on the video!

 

[chris smead]

Thanks!

My next project is about the High Sierra Trail and will be professionally color graded and audio finished.  So look for that May 5, 2018.

[Robb Watts]

Delightful, well done.

[chris smead]

Thanks Robb!  And thanks to everyone else who voted for it for the BPL members choice award!    Very kind of you all.  :)

[Kendall Clement]

Great film! Really enjoyed it. I can’t wait for your next one in 2018.

[chris smead]

Thanks Kendall!  A trailer for the next project will be out in Jan.  :)

[Mark Baker]

You brought out the love of the mountains and the sharing with your wife so well.  Thank you!!

 

[Pamhikes]

I loved the video!  I’m hoping to go back and take my 14 yr old son next year to Rae Lakes.  We both did the JMT 2016 and loved it so much.  Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed seeing your wife’s prospective, it was so wonderful.

 

Pam

[Kenneth Keating]

Great video, fun to watch, typical of all your videos!  Keep up the good work.

K

[Adam White]

That was great–thanks for sharing!

I think the hand-drawn art added a lot, even for the adult audience–backpacking is something we do for fun; it should be fun; videos about it should be fun.

I have done a little amateur video editing/creation (including some parallax effects from photos), and I am probably just really bad at it, but it took me FOREVER, to produce something that ultimately, was, pretty terrible, in a technical sense. Huge kudos for an outstanding final product!

BTW, your maps lacked a little relief =D, if you’re ever interested in it on a future project, I’d be happy to try to generate meshes that could be imported into your rendering software of choice. You could then texture them with whatever you want (like, your neat hand-drawn maps!), and animate them however you like.

[chris smead]

Thanks guys!  Wow Adam, we definitely need to chat.  Will private message ya.

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