Big Up Prodctions is well known for producing high quality feature-length climbing movies, but in my mind their DVDs also stand out for all the bonus footage that they include. A lot of my favorite climbs on the Dosage V DVD were in the extras which is saying something considering the quality of the movie itself.
In that same vein, Big Up’s most recent release, Progression, is similarly packed with high quality extra footage. A recent post on their blog details the 80 minutes of extras that was included with the DVD release:
1. South Africa: 20 more minutes of Rocklands’ finest. Problems include “Splash of Red” v10, “Brown Shadow” v11 FA, “Ray of Light” v13, “El Corazon” v13 2nd ascent, “The Power of One” v13, “The Hatchling” v11, “Mooiste Maise” v13/14, “Sky” v14 FA,
2. Pachamama: Sharma’s early efforts on his new 5.15a. Originally released online.
3. Magic Mushroom: More footage of Tommy Caldwell working on what was to become possibly the world’s hardest bigwall.
4. Puurs World Cup: Highlights from the 2008 lead climbing World Cup in Puurs, Belgium. Maja Vidmar leads the women and Ramon Julian playfully campuses through the finals route and dominates the men.
5. Smart Went Crazy: Matt Segal getting scared and first ascenting a dangerous Eldorado line, “Smart Went Crazy” 5.13+ r/x
6. Gancho Perfecto: More footage of Adam Ondra working Sharma’s 9a at Margalef (blood-curdling screams and all…)
7. Tis the Season: Highlights from the Fall 2008 New York bouldering season. Originally released online.
8. Bishop: Kevin Jorgeson on “The Swarm” v14 and “This Side of Paradise”. Wills Young and Alex Johnson are also up in the mix.
9. Hoover Dam: Sharma and friends taking a break from the Clark Mountain project and exploring the Hoover Dam for some deep water soloing.
10. Grit: Some home-grown footage from Kevin Jorgeson’s camera featuring Alex Honnold sending “The Promise” e8 as well as getting a no-hands on “End of the Affair” e8.
Those that only purchased the HD Download version of Progression missed out on the extras, but Big Up has made them available for everyone to download on their website for $5.95. Having seen the extras, I would say that the Rocklands, Magic Mushroom or Tis The Season segments alone are more than worth the $6.
For more information, head over to the Big Up website.
