Air 2 An Epic 14,000ft Mountain Climb On Kit Carson Mt. in Colorado and the Death of my Air 2!

[Karlewski]

This was a rough trip for me. Killed my drone and ruptured a ligament in my biceps but, it was still amazing and I'm already post surgery and recovering quickly. . . .

 

[PixelMagic]

Breathtaking (as in I held my breath through most of the adventure)! Wonderful cinematography and commentary.

Sorry to hear of the demise of your drone and your injury. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Mark

 

[Dan Shaw]

This was a rough trip for me. Killed my drone and ruptured a ligament in my biceps but, it was still amazing and I'm already post surgery and recovering quickly. . . .

Wow what a view. Sorry you got hurt and crashed. Praying you have a fast and safe recovery.

 

[JoeyThePilot56]

This was a rough trip for me. Killed my drone and ruptured a ligament in my biceps but, it was still amazing and I'm already post surgery and recovering quickly. . . .

Great video, awesome views. Hope your doing well and recovering quickly. Can't wait to see more of your videos. Cheers !

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Very very nice
Loved the dronie at 8:40, turned you into a speck on the landscape.

Look forward to the next instalment, looks like it'll be a beauty.

(Hope the recovery is progressing fast.)

 

[krodgerson]

Fantastic production. Thank you. What camera are you using on the pole please?

 

[Squidinc]

Awesome video Karl. I watched it on my new Sony Bravia 65” 4K Smart TV! The colours and clarity were amazing! ??
Sorry to hear of your injury. Get well soon. And to think you lost your drone as well… Arrgggghhhh What the hell happened? Cheers mate.

 

[Capt KO]

Used A2’s are pretty reasonable now with the newer model out. Yours has been impressive to say the least. Health wise, from experience, you are going to have a lot of aches and pains in your old age, Lol. But like you, I wouldn’t trade my hard life path for anything. Makes you feel ALIVE. I’ve got lots of exciting stories to tell from my rocker. ?
Live long and prosper.

 

[monteolsen1]

This was a rough trip for me. Killed my drone and ruptured a ligament in my biceps but, it was still amazing and I'm already post surgery and recovering quickly. . . .

I'm real happy you are on the mend. I hope your injury heals quickly.

 

[Frustrated]

Nice video

 

[LeRoytheBoy]

One of, if not the nicest video I've seen here. Not seen anything like this.
But I'm intrigued, you don't say how you killed your Air 2. ???
Also like to know if the higher you ascend, with the air thinner, is it harder to fly a Drone. ???
Was that the reason for your loss.???
Would like to see more of the Flights one day.
Thank you for sharing.

 

[Ron Caballero CAP]

This was a rough trip for me. Killed my drone and ruptured a ligament in my biceps but, it was still amazing and I'm already post surgery and recovering quickly. . . .

Who was your videographer?

 

[Karlewski]

Holy Cow! For some reason the Mavic forum did not send me emails about all these comments! I am sorry I have not been more responsive. Sounds like the big question is, what happen to my drone! I did a long write up in the Youtube comments section explaining and I would be super happy to see you guys there and subscribed if your enjoying our adventures and want notice as more go on-line, it does help the channel as well. . . There are many more to come and many Super Epic ones from the past! This loss and my surgery has not slowed me down at all, I climbed 3 monster mountains in the last 2 days. . .I climbed 2 others two days before surgery, zero issues and some great experiences. I am very grateful.

KILLING MY AIR 2 was SUPER lame, just like the first huge backout/dronie, I was hand launching off a steeper, higher portion of the route. I was throttled up to full and as the drone was going weightless in my hand I dropped my hand. . .and the drone. Evidently it was not flying, bounced once at my feet and off a 200ft vertical cliff face. I peered out and down just as it explode below! I climbed down upset but reminding myself to chill out and be safe. . . Grabbed the mangled body to pack out and get that SD card! I am keeping the drone for spare parts as I will save up for an Air 2s, THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES! in wide angle 5K at some point. I do have a mini 2 as well. . . and I have been AMAZED by it!

The Action Cam on the 10' selfie stick is an INSTA 360 ONE R with a few scratches from helmet mounted free solos on steep rock. Tough to keep you head away from the rock on vertical climbs, not the best form really either, and I'm doing more 3rd person Class 5 rock climbing shots as a result. . . cooler but hard work. . .

I am the videographer, Nate, the guy I met for the first on our way up, did run a GoPro but the footage, from his mouth, "was Horrendous." I did use a tiny bit of it, me hauling *** up the cliff after retrieving my dead drone and 2 more short clips. . . I was super sad his was so terrible, we shared footage and I could have done much better if his was decent. . .I was planning on having much more. . .of his. . .

All of my DJI drones have Performed very well at over 14'000ft including the mini 2 yesterday. . . No reduction in performance that I have noticed but occasional "max prop speed warnings" and "high wind warnings."

I am Recovering astonishingly fast, close to being able to fully straighten my left arm as I stretch my biceps back to it's original length. I can use my arm in every way aside from a "curl" type motion over 5 LBS, I think I could but I won't. I am protecting the amazing surgery. They drilled a hole through a forearm bone, attached a "line" "String" to the tendon, threading that line through the bone hole and tied it to a metal button on the opposite side of the bone WOW! Really seem more like a toggle bolt then a button, LOL, and all through a 1" slice on the inside of my upper forearm. . . AMAZING!

I love climbing and sharing it with you guys, makes it even more fun! So glad to see your comments and have your support for my recovery. Your best wishes for me have not gone unanswered! I can't believe myself what a minor issue getting a, what I was told, tough surgery???? Again I am truly grateful for all of it!

Thank-you Brothers!

Karl

 

[ddnslc]

Does anyone get on your case for flying in a designated wilderness area? I flew at columbine lake outside Fraser and found out later we're not supposed to. Most people were ok with it but got a few scowls.

 

[hiflyer201]

A huge thanks for the production notes! The climb and your narration was a tremendous achievement and the video made it almost unbelievable. What more can I say.....I can't...I'm speechless!

 

[Karlewski]

I do NOT fly in Wilderness areas, I do fly over wilderness areas stationed outside of wilderness areas and for those shots of the BIG waterfall at Willow lake, I SUFFERED, I had to hike extra far to reach the wilderness edge then night before the climb to be there when the lighting was right and FOR SURE I could have flown many way cooler patterns and had a much easier time if I had simple flown right there at the falls but I did not and was confined to that single angle or loose LOS and radio signal. Check out the wilderness boundaries, it was one reason I went there. ArcGIS Web Application
People have never got on my case but, I do my best to be extra respectful where ever I go. I generally fly where people can't, won't go, don't go and the few times I do a less technical route/summit outside of wilderness areas I announce that I'm going to fly, apologize for my annoying swarm of angry bees before I take off and ask anyone around if I can fly near the summit and them and if they want to be in an AWESOME summit shot. They love that! I also invite then to sit with me and see the scene from my phone, They are astonished! We ALL had a great time yesterday at the summit of Mt. Huron doing that and lots of people checked it out. Being an old yet strong mountaineer, people seem drawn to me and want my friendship, especially in dangerous places where I look out for and advise them.

I took my daughter, 5 years old at the time, to Columbine lake for her first camping trip. . .I ended up carrying her and everything for the last mile or so. . . LOL special place!

In all honesty, early in my drone career I did fly in a wilderness area, made a video, realized my mistake and wasted a bunch of time and energy. Bummer. Now I use that site linked above and the SWEET map APP MAvic_South_Oz Showed me and it shows all the boundaries as well so I can see them and EXACTLY where I am relative to them. I expected this to come up so I took this screen shot when I was out there showing my location for the flight. . .The APP is GREAT and a huge help with this. Green line is wilderness boundary. . .

 

[Tentoes]

Wow. Epic!

Sorry 'bout the drone accident.
More sorry 'bout the arm accident.

 

[RustyRussell]

LOTS of pain! But those of us that love the places you go and are now too old to try the same really appreciate your excellent work. Continue to heal and give us more!!

 

[chefjrb]

The explanation of flying into and out of wilderness areas was incorrect. People either quit reading or simply do not care about their impact on the animal life and why it illegal to fly over/in/through these areas to begin with. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that the national forest service is not going to agree with your lengthy assessment and lack of research that was done (check the attachment). If people would put as much effort into not doing something they shouldn’t as they do into attempting to justify their actions there would not be an action to justify. If I were you, I would take the video down. I’m actually surprised that the impact on animals is not enough of a reason to not use the drone in those areas to begin with seeing as how you seem to be an avid outdoorsman. A like on YouTube should not be a driving factor in using your drone. I too live in Colorado where there are more than an abundance of other places to fly that do not affect wildlife and others.

 

[Karlewski]

PM Sent. . .