Figuring out how to lower a fancy cake and pour tea without spilling from a teapot while on a portaledge hanging from a rock face isn't what most of us puzzle over, but for Squamish's Alex Ratson, 37, these questions are all in a day’s fun.
Ratson is an acclaimed adventure sports film and digital photographer who specializes in rock and ice climbing.
(His Getty Images stock photos have accompanied many of our stories in recent years.)
He is a visual content creator and marketing strategist, with Squamish's Climb On Equipment.
The Squamish Chief caught up with the local for a chat about the route to his unusual career, that unique (to most) tea party video and photo shoot. and what he makes of the changes in town.
What follows is an edited version of that conversation.
Were you raised in Squamish?
No, I was born and raised in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. I moved to Squamish in 2011. Ultimately, I moved here for climbing.
I saw somewhere that you started climbing at five years old? And in Campbell River?
Yep, not that there's a lot of climbing there. When I was young, I had an interest in it. The question was literally, "Dad, what's on the other side of those mountains?" He was like, "Why don't we go find out?"
That is how it all started. Both my parents got me into it, but my dad worked in forestry, so he was a natural outdoorsy person. Then, it was a compounding effect of always wanting to do more.
So, going from more of what we'd call mountaineering—so equivalent to Sky Pilot—when I was five to, by the time I was six or seven, I was full-on rock climbing.
I was lucky in that my dad quickly found mentors for me and for him as well. We got to learn a lot of stuff together.
I quickly discovered ice climbing as well, which, especially on the island, is kind of scarce—it definitely didn't happen frequently. But whenever I could, I would.
And you never had a fear of heights?
No, when you're young, you don’t really have fears yet. I have very much been desensitized to it since a young age. But ironically, I wouldn’t say I have a fear of water, but I am horrible at dealing with water. Whenever people ask me about not being afraid of heights, I will say, "Well, are you afraid of swimming? Because I kind of am."
And now you obviously climb and combine it with photography. When did you start picking up a camera?
Probably in middle school. There was what they called a media course. It was really more videography.
I took to that and then quickly progressed into more still photography because it was more complementary to climbing, especially back then; video cameras were huge back then.
There were a lot of inspiring climbers who also took photos. Those people stood out to me — I wanted to tell stories like what they were doing.
I saw the long list of clients you have worked with. It is a lot of commercial work, right?
These days, it's probably more than 90% commercial, but early on it was primarily more editorial.
My first attempt at college was going to Ryerson for photojournalism, which I quickly dropped out of because I got a job working as a freelancer for The Canadian Press and Reuters in Toronto. I did that in the early 2000s, which was the last prime of that industry. As the standalone photojournalist job description disappeared, I increasingly transitioned into the commercial side.
I'd say my passion still is and always has been telling stories, even when I'm doing commercial work. For example, I'm working right now on a video for SCARPA, the shoe company, and it is finding the story that the product is trying to tell.
OK, let's talk about that little tea party with cake on the rock face that you made an amazing video of. How did that come about?
There's this company town, Treat Squamish, owned by a woman named Clare, and Tabatha (Rathbone) came up with the idea that we should do a tea party on a portaledge with a cake. That idea popped up over a year ago, but it was hard to co-ordinate our schedules.
It came to fruition this past summer. There wasn't tons of planning, to be honest. I took charge of the imagery aspect and whatnot—scouted a few locations and found the exact spot. We bought a few props from Pearl's like all the little tea cups.
Treats made the cake and dropped it off and then it was Tabs and Jana Marshall on the portaledge.
When I buy those fancier cakes, I am nervous about getting it wherever I am going. What was the hardest part of that shoot, moving the cake? (See video at bottom of this story.)
Definitely getting it onto the portaledge.
We had to lower that box on a rope down to the portaledge on a ledge on The Malamute. Now, the way that I shot it kind of hides that the ledge is actually only 30 feet below you. The top of the cliff is maybe 10 feet above you. But it was still lowering that cake 10 feet down on a rope.
And normally you'd put your tea cup down somewhere. On a portaledge, you're just like, OK, everything's moving. Portaledges love to flip if you rapidly move from one corner to the other.
That shoot was purely done for ourselves, for fun.
Being here since 2011, what do you make of the growth and all the changes in town?
I really kick myself for not buying [a house] when I first moved to Squamish. It would have been so attainable. But you can't have your cake and eat it too. And the reality is that if Squamish hadn't boomed, the job I have at Climb On wouldn't exist. You wouldn't have a population or the tourism base that's driving that business. So, you know, take what you can.
I don't climb, so correct me if I am wrong, but is it that some of the more accessible climbing spots are busy, but if you put in a little effort, there is still a lot of great climbing that isn't as busy?
For sure. And it is ironic, if you go to other places in the world, you can almost make fun of Squamish in a nice way. Squamish is so accessible that things that we consider to not be easily accessible anymore are actually still quite accessible. Oh, now you have to walk 30 minutes to get to the spot you want to go rock climbing versus two minutes—big deal. It's a matter of perspective. And the Squamish Access Society held the Golden Scrub Brush Awards recently; look at how many new routes and areas have been developed. You can't keep up with them all!
What do you like to do in your off time?
The beauty of it is that fun and work blends so much. For fun, I like climbing. A lot of times I get to climb for my job as well. So it's just a matter of, am I doing it for someone else or doing it for myself, but it's still quite enjoyable.
Find out more about Ratson on his website or follow him on Instagram @aratson.
Tea party video by Alex Ratson.
