Danny MacAskill - Riding the Ridge

Scottish street trials rider and YouTube star Danny MacAskill

is about to embark on an extraordinary new project,

taking on a life-threatening challenge that has never been attempted before -

to create an ambitious new film,

promote his native home, the Isle of Skye,

and achieve global viral success.

This is awesome!

The aim? To ride a bike on Skye's notorious Cuillin Ridgeline.

If I injure myself doing something stupid then that's the whole filming off.

Over the past six years, Danny MacAskill's bike riding ability

has taken him to every corner of the globe.

His unique blend of technical riding

and jaw-dropping stunts has made him a household name

and turned a lifetime hobby into a successful career.

I don't really think too deeply about why it is

I ride my bike, it's just something I love doing.

Danny's success is down to

a collection of creative internet films

showcasing his incredible talent.

Totalling over 100 million views,

these films form the backbone

to Danny's global recognition.

You're always pushing to do

something brand-new you've never tried before.

With such a history of success,

Danny's challenge continues to be searching for new concepts

and locations to better his previous films.

I've definitely got a high bar to set to make something different.

For his latest project,

Danny has returned to his childhood home, the Isle of Skye.

Although I get to travel the world now, Skye is very much my home.

You maybe don't appreciate it when you live here

but it's quite a sort of magical place.

He's looking to Skye's famous Cuillin mountains to draw

inspiration for a new film.

The Cuillin Ridge is definitely for me

the sort of centre of Skye, the backbone of the island.

17 peaks and 11 Munros make up the vast Cuillin mountain range,

at the centre of which lies the infamous Inaccessible Pinnacle.

The idea for the film is to feature Danny riding his bike

and performing tricks at locations on and around the 12km ridge line.

To help him realise this goal,

Danny has teamed up with friend and film-maker Stu Thomson.

Working with Danny, I think I have a very good understanding

of what he has to do, and I think he has a very good

understanding of the filming side.

But this film is like nothing they've done before.

Danny talked about riding the Cuillin Ridge.

The main thing with that, though, is that he hadn't actually

been on the Cuillin Ridge when he said he wanted to make a film there.

To get an idea of the size of the challenge,

Danny and Stu set off on their first ever climb up the ridge for a recce.

It appears it's blowing a force-ten hooley,

and we're on the top of the Inaccessible Pinnacle.

It's one thing doing it on ground level where you've got

your van parked out of shot or you're in a set

or something like that. It's another thing trying to do this

four hours in on a hike on the top of a ridge line.

Deary me! HE CHUCKLES

I think the hardest thing about it is definitely the access.

Before we even, like, roll on the camera

we're going to have to be walking for three or four hours

hiking up huge, steep hills, scrambling, rock climbing parts.

A very severe, very sharp, knife-edge ridge.

Not the place you want to be taking your bike, that's for sure.

Despite being faced with such an extreme environment,

Danny and Stu have committed to the project and put together

a crew equipped to deal with whatever challenges they may face.

Everyone's very experienced

and can deal with all sorts of different situations,

and it's just a really strong unit, you know?

It's a really strong group,

and it's so, so important on a shoot like this to have that.

The last project we did, we did 150 takes on one trick,

whereas here we don't have that luxury

cos we've got two weeks, we've got the weather,

we don't know what's going to happen, you know?

We just have to react all the time and just get as much done as we can.

But filming in arguably

the most dangerous mountain range in the UK

comes with a serious risk.

What scares you most about this film?

Somebody getting hurt.

Despite the significant risks involved,

as dawn breaks on the opening day of the shoot,

the crew's attention turns back

to the traditional Scottish problem of the weather.

What time is it? About seven o'clock?

And we're...

going to have a little trudge up a hill.

Basically, the bit Danny's going to ride

is that white bit up there.

It's, erm...

some view up there, apparently.

Erm, yeah...

It's looking fairly cloudy, but we're told by

the weather forecasters and Matt,

who's...he knows everything about the Cuillins,

that it's going to get really nice later on,

so we're going to risk it and walk three hours.

The crew are faced with an arduous 3,000ft climb with heavy equipment.

So today is our first day up the Cuillins, which is...

yeah, pretty hard going.

There's no path up it, pretty much just straight.

I don't know what we're looking at, it's probably even past 45 degrees.

Doing a hideous slog up onto the ridge.

Pretty nice place to come and carry a miniature helicopter and batteries

and big, random pieces of metal.

-STU:

-What have we been doing this morning?

-Suffering.

-OTHERS LAUGH

But the pork pies taste nice.

I mean, to be fair, it's my call to put the crew through this,

however, I took advice from the local expert,

which is Matt, over here. So, we took Matt's advice and he said,

"Ah, by midday it'll be clear."

So I think it's... What is it? Five to midday now?

-Five to. We've got five minutes.

-So we've got five minutes.

With mist covering the entire ridge,

lugging the hi tech aerial filming equipment could all be for nothing.

Yesterday I thought it was the most amazing bit of kit I've ever seen

and now I could happily just see it roll down the hillside.

OTHERS LAUGH

The mist shows no sign of clearing.

We've been up here for about three hours or so with Danny.

He seems pretty excited.

SNORING

It's quite tempting just to, like, just to roll him.

SNORING

Ten to four. At last, there's a hint of sun.

Whoo!

Nearly nine hours after setting off, filming can finally begin.

The cloud cleared and it was just

really amazing to be getting our first shots on the ridge.

We just got the most spine-tingling views.

It's kind of special. It almost makes it more worthwhile when you

put that much effort in and you get the return of those amazing shots.

The crew have had a successful first day,

but there are still some far bigger challenges to come.

After just a few hours' sleep,

it's up again for the most ambitious day of the shoot.

It's about four o'clock in the morning,

and the plan today is we're going to head up

to the Inaccessible Pinnacle.

The aptly named Inaccessible Pinnacle is a pillar of rock

that forms the summit to one of Scotland's toughest Munros.

The plan is to get up to the Inaccessible Pinnacle

and get Danny up there with his bike.

Well, we don't know for sure, but we imagine it's the first time

a bike's been ever on the Inaccessible Pinnacle.

Considering the start of this week, it just showed it was going to be

horrible conditions, and it's just changed so much, you know? It's...

I can actually see the tops of pretty much all the Cuillins,

which is a rare thing.

So, yeah, I think it's going to be awesome.

6am, and we're up on the ridge.

Definitely worth the early start.

But now the real challenge begins:

filming a shot of Danny and his bike standing at the top of the pinnacle,

to create the film's most iconic image.

With a massive vertical drop on either side,

a mistake could prove fatal.

The drop on one side is over-hanging and infinite,

and the drop on the other side is even greater.

Ooft! Right, this time. Are you ready?

-OK.

-Excellent. That was quite hard work, actually.

The top of the In Pinn has been a dream of mine for years.

It was quite an amazing moment when I was stood on top of the rock.

This is awesome!

Yooo! HE LAUGHS

This is probably one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Unbelievable. Like, it's everything we wanted.

It's everything we wanted to... I guess, you know, he's not riding,

but just showing off Skye for what it is and...

Can't say too many people have been up there with a bike.

With the summit shot complete, Danny repositions to allow

a shot of him climbing up the pinnacle with his bike.

You ready, Stu?

So far, everything is going to plan.

I'm just going to unclip quickly.

Dude, keep the rope on.

I'm... This is... This bit's fine.

It makes it harder for me to walk with. OK.

It's important to me to kind of be doing that stuff in a kind of

legit manner, I don't want to be kind of fooling people.

Here we go. HE EXHALES

Sorry about that, man.

-CREW MEMBER LAUGHS

-You're mad!

He doesn't listen to anyone, like.

He just unclips himself and goes, "Ah, it'll be fine."

Scrambles up while we're all down here going, "What you doin'?!"

I just had to look away and just get Stu to do the filming dead quick.

Climbing it one hand with a bike on your back, that's pretty different.

So I guess that's where he just shows how good he is.

Buoyed by the success at the Inaccessible Pinnacle,

the crew traverse over to film Danny ride the notorious Collie's Ledge,

a thin path that weaves perilously close to a heart-stopping drop.

It's a strange one, actually,

compared to what he does a lot of the time cos he's not doing a trick,

he's literally riding along a bit of trail.

But the difference is on the side of the trail it's, like...

massive exposure.

Collie's Ledge is a very exposed part of the Ridge,

and there's a huge drop down into Coire Lagan.

I'm good to go when you guys are.

-ON RADIO:

-'OK, go for it when you're ready.'

FRUSTRATED GROAN

You're faced with a sort of line where

if it goes wrong, there's literally no coming back from it.

HELICOPTER BUZZES

-ON RADIO:

-'OK, Danny, go for it.'

For me, it's just another bit of trail that you just

have to keep your wits about you on

and make sure you don't clip a pedal or a handlebar that sends you off over a few-hundred-foot drop.

-Can you reset that?

-Yeah, that sort of speed?

Yeah, that speed's good when we do it, yeah.

That first hop is hard work.

How was it looking?

No way!

That is so sick!

It's a relentless schedule of long, gruelling days,

but the film is starting to come together.

Tough day yesterday, so I think today we're a little bit more relaxed.

I say a little bit - we've still been hiking for two hours.

My legs are a bit gubbed from, you know, the last four days

of missioning about the place, so we'll see how it goes.

Shooting at locations all around the ridge,

the crew and Danny work tirelessly to capture all the shots they need.

It's very important for me to feel that I've done my best.

You know, until I've done that, I won't be happy.

But it definitely comes through in the end result cos you've both

worked as hard as you can to get that shot as perfect as possible.

We got back last night, we all just literally

looked at the footage straightaway and we were just like, "Yes!"

Going into the final few days,

there are still more shots to be captured right at the summit,

along with an introduction and a huge final trick for the film.

It's the last day of filming up on the ridge

and the crew have moved to the north end to film on one of the most

famous peaks of the Black Cuillin.

Today we're up Sgurr nan Gillean.

Definitely the most prominent Black Cuillin, the most famous one.

And the plan is to go up onto the ridge line here,

right at the north, and a couple more shots riding the ridge line,

and then start to film Danny on the descent.

Once again, they are faced with a long hike to the summit.

Morale is high, I would say. Everyone is pretty happy with

the footage we've got so far, I think.

The only thing we're battling today is a little bit of fatigue.

Oh, it's been well worth it. I love the pain. I love the punishment.

You can't beat it.

My feet are just kind of covered in blisters and stuff today.

Just pain. We're all going through a bit of pain

but we're absolutely loving it.

Just say when you boys are ready.

OK?

This is a bit steeper than I thought.

It's quite hard to tell from here

cos we're so far away how technical the trail is,

but I think it's just really steep and really difficult to ride.

Ah! HE CHUCKLES

Arrgh!

Sorry, guys!

'Yeah, I'd say I've had my fair share of injuries.'

I've definitely had a few broken bones here and there

and I've had a few sort of long-term injuries

such as a torn disc in my lower back.

-You ready?

-Yeah, ready.

Got it.

That looked really good, actually.

With more crucial ridge shots now in the can,

Danny wants to attempt another big trick for the film.

Just near the top here they've got these huge big flat boulders

and Danny's just looking at doing a gap.

Hopefully this gap's going to be quite easy.

Literally everything Danny looks at every day is with

the mindset of riding something, you know?

Whether it's walking down the street in the middle of Glasgow

or whether it's driving on a road somewhere in the Highlands

or on the top of the Cuillins, like, it's just the way his mind works.

BLEEP.

That is hellishly rough.

OK.

I think...

The tyre's going.

Arrrghhh!

It was difficult because it was a really, really big impact.

It's one of these situations where actually

because we're riding a mountain bike in this film

it made it a lot harder.

HE GROANS

Arrghh!

I really was struggling to hold it together on landing

and get out of the shot.

I feel like hoofing the bike down the hill, to be honest.

Each time, both myself and the bike were making some funny noises.

I've actually got a sore head because the impact's that hard.

I was amazed that the bike took what it did, you know?

It was really heavy going.

'You know, I know I can do it,'

so I'll just kind of keep going until I get it done.

It's the penultimate day of filming,

and the crew are taking to the water to create the film's opening scene.

Today we're down in Elgol right by the coast

and we're going to shoot the opening scene for the film.

The opening scene is basically going to be Danny in a rowing boat

and he's going to be rowing over towards Loch Coruisk.

It's going to be a real nice way

to start the film with a bit of character.

I'm just going to be out there looking like I'm by myself,

rowing away, you know, to go and start the ridge.

Yeah - cheesing it up.

The whole thing should be quite, kind of...quite emotive,

but then really just powerful when you kind of see the Cuillins

and the film begins properly when he gets on his bike.

Energy's low but morale's good.

Like, you're all tired, you're all knackered,

you come back in and you look at the footage and it's like,

"Wow!" you know? It really makes you realise it was totally worth it.

All the sort of hiking,

all the sort of sitting round and just the waiting.

Yeah, everything about it.

It's like, you get back, look at the footage and it's like,

yeah, you can definitely see this is going to be really, really good.

You're just going in towards this incredible landscape

and it's just looking so threatening and huge in front of you.

We see Danny, we see all these little detailed shots

and then it's just like, boom, here's where he's going.

I'm doing a little bit of token rowing.

It's the first time I've rowed in years, which is quite good fun.

Once across to edge of Loch Coruisk, Danny has an idea for a trick

that will test his balance in the opening sequence for the film.

As always, nothing's ever... nothing's ever easy.

Aarrrgh!

We'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes.

-APPLAUSE

-Yeah!

Good. I'm pretty happy. Nice wee line.

Another good day. I can't quite believe it.

I'm not quite sure what we've done to deserve it,

but the results of the film seem to be working out.

The final day of the shoot has arrived,

and Danny has a difficult new trick that he has left to the very end.

The trick he's doing, you call a bump front flip.

He's sort of basically just crashing into a barbed wire fence

and using it to do a front flip.

And Danny's the only person in the world that can do it.

Planning such a trick is one thing,

but, for Danny, making it happen is a far bigger undertaking.

Cos there's technique involved, this is, like, where...

This is, to me, where you can get genuinely hurt,

whereas being up the Pinnacle, Collie's Ledge, nothing like that.

Agh! It gives me the fear so bad!

The hardest thing is just getting it mentally straight that you can do it.

Right. We're going to do it, we're going to do it.

-Holy

-BLEEP!

-LAUGHTER

There's a really fine line between hitting the fence too hard

and your feet coming off the pedals...

..and also not hitting the fence hard enough so you don't make it round.

With Danny now confident he can get the rotation needed,

the crew remove the crash mats.

It's time to go for the final shot.

Arghh! Goddamn it!

It's just a scary thing to do and it doesn't matter how talented

he is, you know, he's still pushing himself,

so it's just as scary for him as us doing something way more basic.

Dropping in.

-APPLAUSE

-Yeah!

-Yeah, buddy!

-Yeah, dude! Whoo!

The final shot is in the can.

After a week of the most spectacular scenery,

lugging camera gear the equivalent of half the height of Everest,

and capturing some spectacular riding along the Cuillin Ridgeline,

it's been a successful shoot.

Everything's worked so well.

You know, the whole team, we've all been pushing so hard every day

to kind of make it happen and...

I don't know. It's been pretty wild.

How do we top this, like? You know, the Cuillins are just stunning,

the landscape's been beautiful all week and we've had this weather,

so it's like, "OK, what the hell are we going to do next?"

Definitely far exceeded my expectations of what

we were going to get done in this time. So, yeah, it's been amazing.

So, as the crew celebrate the end of the shoot,

let's see the results of their hard work.

SONG: What A Voice, What A Voice by Lizzie Higgins

# What a voice What a voice

# What a voice I hear

# It's like the voice

# Of my Willie dear

# But if I had wings

# Like that swallow high

# I would clasp in the arms

# Of my Billy boy

MUSIC: Blackbird by Martyn Bennett

# What a voice What a voice

# What a voice I hear

# It's like the voice

# Of my Willie dear

# What a voice What a voice

# What a voice

# It's like the voice

# Of my Willie dear

# But if I had wings

# Like that swallow high

# There is a blackbird

# Sits on yon tree

# Some says it is blind

# And it cannae see

# Some says it is blind

# And it cannae see

# There is a blackbird

# Sits on yon tree

# Some says it is blind

# And it cannae see

# And so is my

# True love tae me. #

CHEERING AND LAUGHTER

That was fun!