(part 3) 1   2   3   4   5  Meanwhile, Stuart Cody of Automated Media Systems in Boston had been at work reducing the size and weight of the battery. When he had what he hoped was a suitable model, he took his now non-rechargeable, six-pound, four-times-as-powerful, 32-volt Lithium Sodium Dioxide (LiSO2) expedition battery to the Brigham Ice Cream Factory in Arlington to test its performance after prolonged exposure to the extreme cold. “I sat there in my parka among the cardboard vats of ice cream waiting for things to cool off,” Cody says. After hours in the –40-degree freezer, Cody was satisfied. With the camera and battery redesigned, packed, and ready to go, Breashears put together his team. “Steady Ed” Viesturs, a three-time Everest summiter from Seattle who has been called America’s finest high-altitude climber, was chosen for deputy leader, and Robert Schauer of Austria for assistant cameraman. Schauer has been described as Breashears’ European counterpart, producing 12 mountain and adventure films in the 20 years since his first ascent of Everest in 1978. When Breashears asked Schauer to help him tackle the IMAX challenge, Schauer didn’t hesitate, but only because it was Breashears doing the asking. “I wouldn’t have tried it with anyone else,” Schauer says. “Up high on the mountain we lost our voices and through the oxygen masks could only be heard in murmurs; so, using hand signals and shaking heads, David and I were able to communicate what had to be done. It was fantastic, almost above the line of where humans usually converse.” Above the line of communication, if not of reason as well. more...
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