Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75798 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-10-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English
• Running time: 62 minutes

Video Details
Ascending Rhythm is a profoundly stirring work of art, merging the talents of world-renowned rock climber Ron Kauk and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Sterling Johnson. The melding of their many gifts has produced an extraordinary video experience, escalating the viewer to new heights in magnificent Yosemite National Park. "Ascending Rhythm" features not only Ron Kauk, but outstanding rock climbers such as Steph Davis, Lynn Hill, Jerry Moffatt, Dean Potter and others as they climb in beauty to the music of award-winner Dik Darnell. His music intensifies the emotion of the climbs, the sensitivity to the moods and harmony of nature while celebrating the passion of the climbers as they reach for the sky.

Synopsis
Enjoy the mesmerizing natural beauty of Yosemite National Park. This is a beautifully-shot program that takes you to the heart of the park and will dazzle you with scenes of fearless rock climbers ascending the mountains of Yosemite to the rhythmic, musical sounds of nature. ~ Laura Mahnken, All Movie Guide

DVD Menu

• Side #1 --
  • Play
  • Special Features
    • Featured Climbs
      • Broken Arrow
      • Camp 4
      • Seperate Reality
      • Diamond in the Rough
      • Heaven
      • Killer Pillar
    • Commentary
    • Behind the Scenes
      • Kpix
      • Image Gallery
    • Watersongs & Seasons
      • Yosemite: Watersongs
      • Yosemite: The Seasons: Echos of Tenaya
    • Dvd-rom
    • Credits

Customer Reviews

High quality throughout
Beautiful climbing and scenery with very high production values. If the music is not to your liking change over to the alternate soundtrack which has intelligent commentary from Ron and director. For the technicaly inclined, the MPEG stream on this DVD averages 7+ mbps which is much higher than most -- so lots of detail!

Fluffy
The producers have brought the soft porn tradition to rock climbing. Not that I think the sport has to be about extreme adrenaline with searing speed metal tracks in the background, but this is the opposite: New Age music, soft-lense photography, and pseudo philosophical quotes from the climbers woven throughout. Some people might prefer this, but I found it tedious.

On a more practical note, the filming is all over the place. They don't work any routes all the way through, but flit like a butterfly across various scenes. That's good for getting a panorama of the location, but it would have been nice to bring more focus.

Several of my friends have viewed this, and two-thirds of them liked it.

High quality picture with great photography
I am a novice rock climber who has never been to Yosemite. Although I have read many books and seen scores of pictures, this DVD does the best job of showing exactly how beautiful the valley can be. And if you are a rock climber, the artistry of the climbers will astound you.

In addition to the beautiful photography, background music is played with no voice over. It's much like the music you would hear while getting a soothing massage. While not running to my taste, it's not bad and overall enhances the beauty of the DVD.

But this tape is all about the artistry of rock climbing. My limited experience up to 5.10b feels like my muscles will explode. But these climbers look effortless on much tougher routes. Of particular beauty are the climbs near water and also distance photography which zooms in close to the climber taken from a great distance and at great height. Somewhat out of character is the short climb by two females followed by a brief romp in a waterfall. Anything to sell product I guess. I know, I enjoyed it.

Be forewarned that not all climbs are big walls with almost as much time spent in bouldering problems. That might be disappointing for some people who are mesmerized by the clean faces of the big walls.

For me, this DVD is a great experience. Even my wife with a fear of heights was amazed by some of the shots. I strongly recommend this DVD if you enjoy natural beauty, rock climbing, or just like soft background music with great natural beauty.