Ben Clark
Adventurer and Film Maker
1) Please tell us a little background on you. Who you are, what you are into, hobbies, etc.
I am an adventurer. If I point my finger at a calendar and randomly pick a day I could be anywhere...filming on the Sea of Cortez, ice climbing on the shores of Lake Michigan, knee deep in mud or knee deep in snow in British Columbia, embracing a sandstorm in a ghostly corral in the July desert heat of Southern Utah or stuck in Kathmandu, Nepal for 10 days with a broken ankle. Well, that's my biased highlight reel from 2010. Bottom Line is, up or down, side to side...wherever, I'm just thrilled to be traveling.
I most like traveling to places I've never been. It doesn't have to be limited as to where or how to get there either. Sometimes, I might be the first person to be there. That's why I like skiing and climbing. At high altitude there is a lot of distance left to be covered and my joy is showing people what is already there: www.skithehimalayas.com
When my head isn't in the clouds, I'm still whetted by mist. Most recently I've found myself oozing along creekbeds and following fly fisherman. It's buggy, it's cold and it is something I knew nothing about...except that it would take me places I'd never been...
It is adventure that leads me to remote reaches and reveals cultures, landscapes and stories of our world that I seek to share. I expect the unexpected rather than plan for disappointment. Everywhere I go, I discover something new.
2) What activities or projects are you working on? Was there a specific incident or occurrence that got you involved, causes, special interests?
I am an Executive producer of three video programming series that depend on A Land Rover Defender 110 as a "satellite" truck. Beyond The Lane, Life is Reel and Ski The Himalayas lead me across the globe in search of adventure. My profession is hopping in a Land Rover and looking for adventure and documenting it. That is what led me to getting EQUIPT. Stock is great, but a few enhancements make this style of travel cost effective and doable with a team.
While many might have a different impression of the 110 or Land Rover, mine is built purely on a decade of traveling international locations in the Defender 110. It is a great fleet vehicle throughout the world, but so rare in the North American Market. My NAS 110, affectionately known as "skillet" after a lengthy run of it's V8 over 108 degree temps, has served to be the platform for adventure that was necessary to reach epic locations and be ready to document the environment and our passage through it.
One recent night really brings to light why having a roof top tent on the 110 saved our trip and the shoot on an episode of the Life is Reel. Host David Allen, Guest John Warren and videographer Chris Dalton all joined me for an fly fishing adventure in the Cimarron mountains of Colorado in the deep gorge of Cow Creek. After a great day of fishing cutthroat trout and shooting the steep washed out gorge, rain was imminent and would be unforgiving in the lush and tight valley.
As an option for stowing our production equipment out of the shots during dinner and camp activities, we had set up the annex to the Eezi Awn 1400 roof top tent and stowed a cot and our duffels in the room it created. It is a two person show, but four people are required to shoot it so we often do whatever we can to get us and our gear out of the shot. As we finished a restaurant quality steak dinner by a roaring camp fire, thunder and lightning reverberated throughout the tiny box canyon and hard cold high altitude rain pelted us in the dark night as we scurried to put away our kitchen.
Hunkered down with a small creek running underneath our vehicle and the cot, we were able to stay dry and comfortable through the 4 hour deluge. Chris, who actually slept in the room on the cot above the water bubbling out of the ground and running under the truck said it was one of the best nights of sleep he could remember. Brilliant. I bet the folks at Eezi Awn weren't thinking of keeping such details in order. The tent and staked annex stayed motionless and we all four slept off what would have been a nerve wracking and labor filled night of digging trenches around tents on the ground and digging around the campsite until it was ruined and hastening erosion.
Instead, after coffee in the morning we fished and shot Cow creek hooking a 15 incher and returning to our tent, folding it away dry and driving home. It was a tragedy averted, I can tell you, you don't make great TV with wet cameras and wet people. Along with the heat of the ground in the desert, deep saturating rain is another great reason why sleeping on the ground can easily foil a great adventure. A roof top tent ensures a dry nights sleep.
3) Any major travel plans?
I have a 7 day Colorado Continental Divide overland expedition in September and 4 remote fly fishing adventures before then. Somewhere in there I plan to run some big distance in the high mountains around Telluride Colorado before heading to Mustang, a small formerly Tibetan province, this fall in October.
4) What travel philosophies have you developed for yourself? Are there any do's and don'ts, definite musts, etc?
Definite do: Get a DOP KIT! Take care of yourself. Don't talk louder, it doesn't translate better.
5) Is there anything particular in your gear set that you absolutely will not leave behind, can't do without?
A video camera.
6) What Equipt products do you enjoy? Are there any that peak your interest?
I like the Portable Power pack. On long foot travel based shoots in Asia I have to use solar for all my charging needs, we go over a month without electricity regularly. It behooves me to be so green and it is a real challenge running a three camera shoot. I feel the Portable Power Pack is in that same family of product and thought. There is nothing cooler than using my drive to actually charge my camera gear.
7) To date: What has been your favorite adventure?
Marriage