How does Danny MacAskill capture wild riding in “Slabs” on film?

“There’s something about riding on rocks that so direct,” says Danny MacAskill in his behind-the-scenes on Slabs. “Especially clean rock, it’s so grippy and solid. You can really feel that connection to the ground that you don’t feel on dirt.”

Danny MacAskill makes his epic ride down an Isle of Skye rock climbing route look easy in Slabs. But most of us would likely feel our connection to the ground was much more tenuous while perched on a steep rock face above a huge cliff.

Turns out gravity and grip weren’t the only obstacles MacAskill had to deal with while making his incredible new video. The location, Duhb Slabs, is also extremely remote. The entire crew had to boat in, with all the food and supplies they would need for a week-long shoot. Filming was much more minimal than the average Red Bull big-budget production. And, in a zone where the Scottish trials star was the first to ride a mountain bike, the remote location meant falling really wasn’t an option. Any help would be far away, should one of his cliff-edge maneuvers go wrong.

All of this makes the behind-the-curtain look at making Slabs more riveting than your average production.

Danny MacAskill – How we made “The Slabs”

MacAskill explains more details about the challenges and motivation behind his latest video:

“This behind the scenes film takes a closer look at exactly what went into filming my latest ride down the Infamous Dubh Slabs on the Isle of Skye. From walking and planning the route down the hill with my childhood friends Doug and James, to the challenges of reaching and scrambling up the mountain with heavy backpacks full of FPV drone batteries, and how it felt to be riding my bike along the edge of the exposed cliff tops before heading straight down the final slab.

With many of our overseas filming plans cancelled as a result of recent times myself and the crew decided to look a little closer to home for our latest film.

I am a big fan of rock climbing and have been inspired by the various men and woman who set new routes and test themselves on some amazing faces around the world so I set out to find some challenging Slab Rock routes on my home Island of Skye with an aim to ride them in a continuous line and test what was possible on my bike. The remote Dubh Slabs rising out of Loch Coruisk in the heart of the Black Cuilin ridge provided some of the steepest terrain I have ever ridden as well as an amazing backdrop for the film.

The remote location and steep face forced us to think outside the box and meant we had to move away from traditional filming techniques, with us opting to shoot the entire film using GoPros mounted on myself and an FPV (First Person View) racing drone.”