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MLCM
WINTER/SPRING2017
Which isn’t to say he can’t still ride with the professionals. Last spring,
on a film expedition in the Rockies for TourismAlberta, Leo had to film
skiers Johnny Collinson and IanMcIntosh climbing and skiing The Sickle, a
terminally exposed face at the back of Lake Louise.
“Leo’s a super capable snowboarder,” McIntosh says, “but he was the only
snowboarder in the crew and also the smallest guy with the biggest pack.
And to access The Sickle you have to traverse out onto this steep face
over several hundred feet of exposure, and everything was covered in ice
runnels because it had been really warm and had frozen solid overnight.”
“For us, on skis, it was a pretty puckering situation,” McIntosh continues,
“and we got to a point where we all started thinking ‘what about Leo?’…
But then out of the darkness Leo appears with his crampons already on
and a big smile on his face, totally unfazed.”
After nailing the shots, Leo dropped into the same face the athletes did,
a line that very few snowboarders have done before and even fewer have
done with $60,000 of camera gear on their backs.
“I think the funniest part of the story is that he’s the ultimate maximizer
of his time,” laughs McIntosh. “He actually managed to scratch himself
into a tinder date the night before we went into the mountains.”
McIntosh and Leo hadworked together before. While filming for Sherpas
Cinema’s
IntoTheMind
, they embarked on an expedition toDenali, the
highest peak in NorthAmerica. With temperatures dropping as low asminus
40 degrees Celsius after sunset, the athletes were forced to retreat to the
cook tent and huddle for warmth. “But Leowould be out in the night
somewhere shooting a time-lapse,” Ian says. “Eating and beingwarm and all
those other things that we put somuch value on, those are all secondary to
himwhen it comes to getting sick shots and getting the job done.”
It’shard tobelieve that thekidsittingacross from
me, a26-year-oldskate rat fromSmithers, BC,was
recently inBeirut filminga commercial for a local
telephonenetwork.
"You just can’t crack theguy.”– IanMcIntosh. MASONMASHON
After almost everythinghe shoots, Leo is known to say,“There shouldbeamoment in there.”Or two... MASONMASHON
