Abigail Humber usually shies away from the cameras while attempting her rock climbs. But for her ascent of Spannuth Armada, a difficult route in the Summersville Lake basin near New River Gorge, W. Va., she did things differently.

There were two weekends in March 2024 when the 20-year-old climber brought Pittsburgh-based filmmaker Billy Holmanto New River Gorge to record her attempts on Spannuth, which is graded an expert-level 5.14b on the American Yosemite Decimal System. Pittsburgh-based photographer Tara Bennett also joined on the second weekend.

They set up five cameras to record Humber’s climb, including two GoPros, two cinema cameras (one of which was operated by an assistant) and a flying drone, Holman said. The goal was to record Humber’s story as best as possible without inte

See Full Page