By Luke Sauer
Hiking along a knife ridge can be a scary feat. One misstep in any direction is disaster and can cost dearly. Negotiating such an environment can certainly test anyone's resolve, doing so with a 30-pound weight on your shoulder looking through a myopic and somewhat narcotic eyepiece can be a downright adventure. The mine at Spruce Ridge has been built into the side of a cliff with a sliver of a bench cut from the rock from which to work. There is no spot that is safe from gravity, no space where you can let your guard down and simply relax. Between pulling oneself up different trails by rope to keeping stable footing on crumbling and shifting ground, working this mine would rack any mother with absolute panic.
As a group, we are all usually very cautious. I think we realize and try to keep in mind that sometimes film crews and dangerous situations do not go hand in hand. This shoot however was unlike any other we had encountered. There was no overlooking the potential for disaster - it seemed to lurk at every corner.
Because the mine had been carved from a cliff side, there was literally three feet of space that we could call our own. Imagine Kirsten, our guide Bob, an audioman and two cameramen all working on a strip no bigger than a dinner table, a dinner table that drops off into an abyss. Kirsten and Bob were digging in and along the cliff side, leaving the rest of us to keep a constant eye on our positioning. Stacy the producer would occasionally call out and wringing her hands, would notify if we were getting perilously close to the edge. From time to time, as if a reminder from the grave, someone would kick a rock loose that would fall off the edge and tumble for an eternity finally crashing in a triumphant and horrible explosion. It was hard not to imagine one of us taking a fall listening to such a noise.
We had just finished hiking up to one of the mining benches using a series of roughly hewn trails that required rope assistance to keep from falling backwards. We were all settling in to catch our breath when it happened. I heard a sharp cry above me and heard something tumble. Looking up in a panic, I expected to see someone cartwheeling off a cliff but what I saw instead, was our brand new digital SLR camera in it's case the moment it launched itself off the cliff. Losing sight of the camera, we could still hear it's terrible journey as it hit bottom and continued to tumble. Looking down the canyon, the camera came into view. It was screaming it's way down the wash and was taking huge flying leaps as it hit rock after rock. Finally coming to a rest in a puff of dust, Kirsten turned to me wide-eyed, "Think it's ok?"
I'm just glad it wasn't one of us!
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