If you’re like me you probably zip through most TV commercial (thanks to a DVR or Tivo), but there is one ad that makes me stop and wonder, how did they do that?
Anyone who has watched TV in the past three months has probably run across it, y’know, that Citibank commercial where the woman climbs to the top of a rock as the camera spins around her.
The ad has caused plenty of controversy online as people have debated whether it’s real (which it is) or CGI. I think people would prefer to think it’s fake, especially those of us who are afraid of heights.
Come to find out the woman climber, Katie Brown, isn’t doing anything that hundreds haven’t already done. In the ad Katie climbs to the top of Ancient Art, located outside of Moab, UT.
The rock is popular with climbers and there is plenty of photographic evidence of others on top of it at Summit Post (or via a quick Google search). CNN also did an interesting story about the summit, which you can find on Youtube.
You can also check out the original casting call looking for climbers here. They were looking for “male and female Trad Climbers that are familiar/comfortable with this area (Utah), or are at a level of climbing where this area would not be a problem, even considering the bad rock in the area.” It looks like they definitely found what they wanted in Katie.
For experienced climbers who want to try it themselves (but don’t want to go alone), Moab Desert Adventures offers climbing tours out to Ancient Art for $295 per person. If you’ve never been rock climbing before but have been inspired by the ad to try it, they also offer beginners lessons in the Moab, UT area starting at $165. For more information, visit www.moabdesertadventures.com.
Oh, and that song that so many people find annoying, is LP’s Into The Wild.
It looked like the Irishman in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado