Steve Backshall caving & diving

mikem

Well-known member
His latest series starts with 2 episodes sea kayaking in Greenland & looks like following 2 are underground, but no dates yet for when those will be shown...
 

mikem

Well-known member
Was on Sunday:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00052dh/undiscovered-worlds-with-steve-backshall-series-1-3-mexico-part-1
 

Duncan Price

Active member
mikem said:
Was on Sunday:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00052dh/undiscovered-worlds-with-steve-backshall-series-1-3-mexico-part-1

Dire - I'm sure George Irvine III would have few wrods about Steve Backshall's cave diving prowess.  The German guy with him (although a perfectly nice chap, is hardly the "World's Top Cave diver").  The fact that there was already a guide line leading into the "unexplored" cenote that they were the "first" to enter shows that they were a bit fast and loose with the truth.  I just had to keep watching it as it was a bit like witnessing a car crash.
 

mikem

Well-known member
Caving & canyoning in Oman on Dave TV now:
https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/expedition-with-steve-backshall/watch-online/
 

glyders

Member
Duncan Price said:
The fact that there was already a guide line leading into the "unexplored" cenote that they were the "first" to enter shows that they were a bit fast and loose with the truth.
That's a shame. Steve Backshall is usually very good about being open about what is new and what isn't. He often brings his safety guys and camera crew into shot to talk to them. And I've seen ones where he is honest about being dragged up or through things because it got too hard for him, but only after seeing him giving it a go himself first.
Perhaps they had laid the line that morning or the day before? Or there were several takes to get different angles etc. and footage from later takes had the guide line in?
 

moletta

Member
Not sure about the details but it seems there's been a kayaking incident.
I think Steve Backshall is ok, but maybe its time for more science less adventure
 

mikem

Well-known member
He had one on the Bhutan trip, which is being shown this Sunday, but had a very competent back up team.

Mike
 

mikem

Well-known member
Katie's cave diving view (plus other behind the scenes clips):
https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/expedition-with-steve-backshall-unseen/watch-online/6064246542001
 

mikem

Well-known member
Latest Oman climbing episode starts with a sinkhole, although they don't actually get underground:
https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/expedition-with-steve-backshall/watch-online/6067583255001

Second pitch is more of a caver's route than climber's though (fossil cave at top)...
 

mikem

Well-known member
Proving the trips were quite risky, but he does sometimes make the sensible decision (Yucatan from 23 mins & a practice cave in Oman after):
https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/expedition-with-steve-backshall-unpacked/watch-online
 

Fjell

Well-known member
I struggle to be able to see these videos. Did see one of him doing First Drop with no end of gear, and possibly the least informative cave tour in recorded history.
 

mikem

Well-known member
You have to register with UKTV. Episode 2 is on same link with more on wildlife in Yucatan cenotes from 12 minutes.
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
David Rose probably still cringes at the newspaper headline after we took him into the Frozen Deep some time after its discovery!
 

mikem

Well-known member
If you're referring to the dive line being ahead of them, it can be easily explained by Robbie going through various leads & then returning to tell the others which were worth filming.
 

paul

Moderator
It also brings to mind a talk by Leo Houlding (the climber) I saw in Buxton where he was pointing out what you see on TV may not be necessarily actually what it appears to be. An example he gave was a long distance shot of him on a cliff in Antarctica during a first ascent, followed by a shot of him a few metres away, from above.

Of course there was no sign of a cameraman above him in the long distance shot, and he was leading the climb so would have been first on the rope with no one above him...
 

mikem

Well-known member
Episode 3 of Unpacked includes hand prints in a short  Borneo cave from 15 mins & back to Yucatan at 26
 
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