Ghost of a flea

Mount Asgard

The "making of" documentary included in the MGM special edition dvd for The Spy Who Loved Me discusses the filming of the opening ski sequence. This is one of my favourite Bond moments as much for the '70s slap-bass score as for the mountains and snow but it is Bond's escape into the abyss, and special parachute, that make the scene. The stunt was filmed in Canada north of the Arctic circle at Mount Asgard.

Rick Sylvester donned skis for the breathtaking ski jump that has been ranked among the ten best stunts ever captured on film. The cliff was Asgard Peak on Baffin Island in Northern Canada. Sylvester, second unit director John Glen, and 14 crew members braved freezing temperatures and snowstorms for 10 days while waiting for a perfect opportunity to make the jump. (An excellent account of this stunt can be found under the entry "The Asgard Jump" in Steven J. Rubin's "The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia.")

I have no interest in climbing up the sides of mountains but would visit Baffin Island quite cheerfully to have a look at the peak from a distance. Mount Thor is also impressive.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at December 4, 2003 09:15 AM