The Sketchy Pikes Peak Stunt Behind Ken Block's Iconic Climbkhana Photo

The Dream Project: Climbkhana

• 🚀 Climbkhana was a dream project for photographer Larry Chen, allowing him to shoot Ken Block at Pikes Peak in a controlled environment.
• 🎯 Unlike the chaotic Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Climbkhana offered more control over shooting conditions, car, and location.
• 💡 Chen aimed to capture iconic shots with Ken Block, particularly for the thumbnail, to draw viewers in.

Challenges of Pikes Peak Production

• ⚠️ The Hunicorn V2 car, with its 1400 horsepower twin-turbo setup, struggled with Pikes Peak's extreme altitude and thin air, leading to engine issues and multiple swaps.
• ❄️ Pikes Peak weather is notoriously unpredictable, with conditions ranging from warm at the base to below freezing, hail, or snow at the summit, even in summer.
• ⚡ Afternoon thunderstorms and lightning are common above tree line, forcing shoots to end early, especially in areas like Devil's Playground.
• ⏳ The project faced significant delays, requiring three separate trips over two years and 12 days due to car problems and weather.

Capturing the Iconic Evo Corner Shot

• 📌 The famous Evo Corner (named after a car that went off in 2012) was chosen for a dramatic stunt, with Ken Block using stacked rocks as a visual reference point.
• 📸 Larry Chen planned a stitched panoramic shot (1x3 ratio) to capture the entire scene, including the mountain's scale and elevation, not just the car's action.
• 🚗 Ken Block performed a two-wheel slide off the edge of the cliff, narrowly avoiding going off the mountain and clipping the camera crew with his bumper.
• 🖼️ The final iconic photo is composed of 20+ individual images stitched together, capturing the car, the environment, and even other crew members like B-Cam.

Photography vs. Video Storytelling

• 💡 Chen emphasizes that his goal was to capture the authentic moment through still photography, leaving elements like other cameras in the frame to show the reality of the scene.
• 🏆 He expresses pride in creating the thumbnail shot that drew viewers in, highlighting the difference between his focus on a single impactful image and the broader narrative of video production.
• ✨ The resulting photograph has been blown up to massive sizes, displayed prominently, and is a testament to the challenging yet rewarding nature of the Climbkhana project.