Saving Canada - The Stunt

By Peder Ourom, December 2024

The Stunt

The mountain expedition complete, we now changed direction and travelled north from Vancouver to Squamish. To this day, I still have no idea why the production company wanted to film a frightening rock-climbing stunt. All I can think of is that the footage would be used as an example of the technical prowess that the company was capable of. After all, this footage would be more likely to shatter the country into pieces, than provide the glue that would hold it together.

Unlike the Rexford filming, this would be a stressful day for Dave Harris. As well as his planned plunge, we had to get the crew up to the base of Nightmare rock, which may have been chosen for the excellent title name on the demo reel! We worked as porters, riggers, rock climbers that day. Awkward heavy camera equipment loads were manhandled up the tricky approach. There are many huge rock crevasse holes that you could easily fall into if you were not being cautious, and it was a slow set up. Production workers needed to be delicately guided up to the base of the climb. Cameras were set up, focus and exposure settings were checked, and Dave Harris, the designated stuntman, was eventually dressed by the wardrobe department. The production crew was close to ready.

Peter and I were the designated “riggers” and ascended up Sentry Box about 70’, set up a bomber equalized anchor and completed some rough calculations. We figured a 30’ fall would be pretty good, around half the way to the ground. Lots of extra air space, for the expected Dynamic rope stretch. Static lines, friction capstans and fall descenders were all tools that made action falls such as this much easier in the decades that followed, as they allowed much more precise fall length calculations. We did not have any of them.

Dave, Peter and I had decided that it would be a good idea to use a new rope for each of the two “stunt falls,” having convinced the production crew that the rope would be a lot less stretchy after the first fall, and we wanted it to be as dynamic as possible. We also would each get a brand-new rope at the end of the day.

We had devised a way to control the rope movement, in order to avoid any unexpected complications, like the fall rope getting caught around one of us! The free rope was bundled into little packages that were loosely held by heavy elastic bands. They were designed to “pop” off in sequence, as Dave fell. Such skilled riggers we were! The fall we had set up was a direct plunge onto the anchors, unbelayed.

The fun now commenced. Dave was belayed up to the anchor, clipped in, and he psyched up for the plunge. Peter and I reviewed the system, and were satisfied as it all seemed to make good sense. Dave trusted us completely, so felt no need to examine the rigging. Now if it was me taking the fall, I would have checked a little more carefully, and maybe done a test fall or two, although for a test we would have needed another new rope. We were now good to go. Cameras rolled, Dave took a deep breath, and dropped of the slightly overhanging cliff. We dropped him around 30’ on this first fall, and he came to stop way up in the air, a good distance out from the cliff, and well above the camera. A clean and tight fall, thanks to the top-notch stunt rigging team.

Production however, had a problem. It was not exciting enough.

Peter and I now reset for a second take, and swapped in the new rope. The rigging team was now under the gun, and needed to act quickly. No rehearsals, no weight bag drops, no additional safety measures. We didn’t even properly measure the extra rope that was inserted into the system. A few more arm lengths, another rubber banded bundle, and we were ready to go.

After a short discussion between us, we came to the conclusion that as Dave was receiving extra cash for being the stuntman, we would need to give the production crew the thrill they were looking for….

So, we brought Dave up to the belay stance once again, the camera operator declared himself ready, we gave the okay, and the second take commenced. On the call of action, Dave unclipped and fell. And fell and fell and fell. Production wanted more action, and they got it.

This second fall was around 60’, and Dave came to a stop a body length above the rather concerned camera operator. Watching the falling climber Dave grow bigger and bigger in his lens, and increasingly out of focus, he had nowhere to go. Bracing for the impact that he was sure would come, and the resulting impact on his career that would follow. At this point, a wrap was called. The whole production crew was a little emotionally drained, and called a wrap to the “stunt” sequence. Peter and I then decided that the extra $200 or so that Dave had received as a bonus for the plunge, was not the best stunt pay and he should have got a lot more. It was an exciting and historical moment in Canadian stunt history. No one was hurt. Production got what they wanted, and maybe a little extra. And everyone got $$$ in cash.

The stunt was not broadcast coast to coast hundreds of times. It did not help to save Canada. It was frightening. And we were very proud of it. The Squamish hippies and MEC staff, had created a masterpiece fall sequence, out of thin air.