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Yosemite ASCENDING RHYTHM opens with a winter sunrise from Valley View, and dissolves to a shot of El Capitan through snowy trees. The Valley awakens to sounds of haunting NativeAmerican music, entitled “The Beginning,” composed by Dik Darnell. Following is a series of shots ending with Bridalveil Fall, including a shot of ice, breaking off the rock from around Horsetail Falls on El Capitan. Ron Kauk appears in silhouette against windy Horsetail Falls with sounds of Native American drums and chants in the background. The scene changes to Royal Arches Falls with melting ice, and dissolves to Ron Kauk climbing a boulder on top of Turtle Back Dome with Yosemite in the background. As Ron sits to watch the sunset, we see Horsetail Falls, splashed with orange from the brilliant sunset. We then dissolve to a shot of the top of upper Yosemite Falls, followed by another dissolve to Ron on top of Overhanging Rock, with Yosemite Falls in the background. The sequence moves on to shots of Ron Kauk climbing beside upper Yosemite Falls, featuring a dramatic zoom from Ron to an extreme wide shot of upper Yosemite Falls. The segment ends with Steph Davis climbing ‘Ten Years After,” a crack beside a roaring, misty lower Yosemite Falls and scenic shots of Yosemite Falls from Sentinel Dome.  The
second segment
begins with hazy sunrise shots of Yosemite Valley photographed from Turtle
Back Dome. The music is entitled “Eastern Messenger,”
and has a Tibetan
flavor with chants and rhythms. The scene dissolves to shots of Ron Kauk
climbing “Heaven,” just below Glacier Point. “Heaven”
was shot at sunrise with Half dome in the background. The sequence ends
with Ron topping out as the camera tilts up to Half Dome at sunset. After
a transition shot of Half dome through trees in Liedig Meadow, we dissolve
to Ron climbing “Little Wing,” with spectacular views of Half
Dome, Sentinel Rock, and Yosemite Valley. As the camera pans to “The
Rostrum”at sunrise, we dissolve to a shot looking straight down to
Steph Davis on “Blind Faith,” a crack on “The Rostrum.”
The segment ends with a big zoom-out from Steph to reveal an extreme wide
shot of “The Rostrum.”
 Segment
three features a music track entitled “New World,” an up-tempo,
contemporary piece with Tibetan overtones. The first sequence opens with
water texture shots of “Royal Arches Falls,” dissolving to shots
of Yamilla
Conchero
climbing next to a waterfall below “Royal Arches.” After Yamilla
and her climbing partner, Sandra Sanchez, top out, we see various shots
of “Arches Falls,” and the two climbers taking a refreshing dip
in “Devils Bathtub.” We transition from a slow motion of Sandra,
with water streaming over her body, to a shot through trees of Ron Kauk
climbing in Camp 4. After bouldering shots of Dean Potter, we see Ron on
“Thriller,” with a beautiful gnarly oak in the foreground. As
Ron ascends “Thriller,” we move to a dissolve showing Ron performing
a long-hands traverse near “Dominator.”Following a two-shot of Ron Kauk and Lynn Hill walking through trees, we see Lynn’s “first ascent by a woman” of “Midnight Lightning,” one of the most famous boulders in the world. Following is a variety of boulder problems demonstrated by Ron Kauk and Dean Potter, and Jerry Moffatt, climbing his problem,“Dominator.” Segment four begins with shots of El Capitan reflected in the Merced River. The music is moody with cello and flute. As the water ripples, we see Ron reflected in the river, and we dissolve to Ron performing a long, ballet like, traverse on middle cathedral. As the camera tilts up from the climb, we transition to a “sun dog” and El Capitan. The camera then tilts down and we discover Eliza White climbing the first pitch of “The Zodiac” on El Capitan. After four shots, including a down angle of Eliza, the camera slowly zooms in, as wind-blown water from Horsetail Falls fills the left side of the frame.  Segment
five starts
with Gregorian-like chanting of “Hallelujah.” The music, entitled
“Heavens Gate,” celebrates the cathedral that is created in Yosemite
Valley. Texture shots of El Capitan reflected
in the Merced River dissolve to wide shots of Eliza White on “The Cringe.”
As the music tempo changes, we cut to Ron Kauk, fluidly climbing “Kaukulator,”
a crack on “The Rostrum.” As Ron climbs, the shot zooms back to
extreme wide, then cuts to Ron climbing an overhang on the top of “Elephant
Rock.” The camera widens as Ron tops out to reveal “Cascade Falls”
below. We transition to shots of “Cascade Falls” and “Yosemite
Falls” reflected in the Merced River before we dissolve to Brittany
Griffith, on the dark and contrasting rock in the “Lower Yosemite Falls”
amphitheater. The segment ends with a long, running-down angle shot of Brittany
as she nears the top of the climb.Segment six dissolves to a side angle of Ron Kauk near the beginning of “Meat Grinder.” The music is “Thunder Dancer,” featuring Native American drums and chants with contemporary keyboards and thunder sound effects. As Ron climbs “Meat Grinder,” we see a down angle with dramatic orange stripes on the rock. With the camera across the canyon, we zoom in from an extreme wide shot of “The Cookie Cliffs” to discover Ron on “Wheat Thin.” This sequence ends with dramatic down angles of Ron, shot as the sun sets, with just the edges of the rock in light. Next, we dissolve to a medium close up of Ron’s hands as he climbs“Outer Limits.” The various shots of this climb were shot during the last light, showing the texture of the rock. As we see a low, side-angle of “Outer Limits,” the shot dissolves to low angle of Ron on “The Cookie Monster,” to end the segment. Segment seven features music with a Hebrew theme. This segment opens visually with shots of Indian Paintbrush and Nude Buckwheat, photographed in Tuolumne Meadows. We transition to a wide shot of Emerick Lake at sunset and a wide shot of Eliza White on Cottage Dome. Side angles of Eliza show the High Sierra in the background. The scene changes to a series of transitional shots including Emerick Lake, Tuolumne Meadows, and a double reflection in a pond of Ron Kauk climbing a boulder near Olmstead Point. We dissolve to a side angle of Ron climbing “Laser Blade,” with Cathedral Peak in the background. After a series of shots of “Laser Blade,” we dissolve to rock texture shots and an extreme wide shot of Ron climbing “Broken Arrow.” After a long, running-down angle and a side angle of Ron topping out, the scene transitions to Sarah Schnieder on a knobby boulder near Tuolumne. The segment ends with Sarah topping out on a boulder at Olmstead Point, with late light on Half Dome in the background. Segment eight begins with a zoom out from two climbers on Pywiak Dome, and dissolves to a silhouette, wide-side angle of Ron Kauk on “Laser Blade,” with stormy Cathedral Peak in the background. The music begins with dramatic chords, then changes to a light up-tempo melody. The tempo change ushers in a dissolve to waving Fall grasses in Cook meadow, with Cathedral Rocks in the background. After backlit shots of trees and Cathedral Rocks from El Cap Meadow, the scene changes to Brittany Griffith, surrounded by Fall trees, bouldering near four-mile trail. After a multi-layered transition of Fall color, the scene dissolves to Ron climbing a boulder problem in dry Mirror Lake. This sequence features a variety of shots, including up angles of Ron climbing with Half Dome in the background. The scene transitions to Jerry Moffat, climbing a new boulder problem near four mile trail. Following is a multi-layered Fall color sequence, ending with red leaves of an eastern elm with Chapel Meadow and Cathedral Rocks. The segment finishes with Ron climbing the first accent of a boulder in dry Tenaya Creek, “Diamond in the Rough.” Segment nine, featuring a reprise of the music, “Heavens Gate,” begins with a complex, multi-layered sequence of Half Dome as it is reflected in the Merced River, the Fall trees, and a sunrise from Cook Meadow, with Half Dome in the background. The scene dissolves to a wide shot of Yosemite Valley with clouds and shafts of light, and climbers on Taft point with El Cap at sunset in the background. Rikke Ishoy appears on a climb near the base of El Capitan, and after a series of shots, including a dramatic down angle, the segment closes with a slow-motion close-up of Rikke, followed by another sunset shot from Taft point, fall trees, and a sunset across Cook Meadow to Cathedral Rocks. Segment ten begins with shots of water texture from Lower Yosemite Falls. The music is a reprise of “The Beginning.” We dissolve to a close up of Steph Davis on “Ten Years After,” shot in the Fall, when Yosemite Falls was running slow. After we see a wide angle of the climb with a blue pool below, we see various shots of the climb including a down angle as Steph climbs the crack. We then dissolve to Fall trees with shafts of light and sun flares, and then to Ron Kauk traversing the roof crack of “Separate Reality.” Ron traverses the crack with the early morning light on the Merced canyon in background. The camera zooms in to Ron as he tops out, then we dissolve to a series of sunset and Fall color shots, including Cathedral Rocks, Sentinel Rock, Backlit Falls trees, and Fall trees with shafts of light. The segment closes with Ron climbing “Killer Pillar” on Elephant Rock. As the Rock glows brilliant orange from the sunset, Ron ascends to the top. Credit segment begins as Ron tops out on “Killer Pillar.” We dissolve to a silhouette of Ron climbing a boulder on Turtle back Dome as the climbing credits roll by. The Background for the production credits is Ron climbing an eret in the Lower Yosemite Falls amphitheater. The light just on the eret gives the illusion of Ron climbing in space.
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