Episode 41: Cameron Maier — The Rise of Bearcam

It’s funny where we end up, this random world kind of chucking us around like socks in the laundry. Existential mysteries aside, watching the folks around us land where they were meant to be is one of the great joys of being a human.

After leaving Delaware for the mountains of Colorado, Cameron Maier joined a trail crew in Rocky Mountain National Park, already infatuated with climbing and hoping to put to use a college degree. When he was furloughed in 2010 as the season drew to a close, Cam used his government cheese to buy his first camera. And he met Dave Graham. The rest is…well, you know.

Whether by chance or fate, Cam found himself running in a ridiculously elite crew, with Dave Graham at the height of his powers and Daniel Woods, Isabelle Faus, Jon Cardwell, and a host of others crushing rigs and raising their standards on a seemingly weekly basis. Cam had his cameras at the ready.

In the years since those halcyon days, Cameron grew the fledgling Bearcam Media into one of the most recognizable entities in climbing film and photography. From those early stoke films came a sharpened eye and growing ambition, resulting in award-winning films like “Craig’s Reaction” and festival standards like “Concepcion” and “Sonnie Trotter Vs. The Totem Pole.” He messed around hilariously in “Bierstadt – Bierstadt” and dove deep into symbolism and iconography in my personal favorite, “Stone-Spirit.” Hell, he just dropped two episodes of his work covering a tour with the DJ/producer/songwriter, Diplo.

God forgive what I’m about to write…but there’s no hibernation in Bearcam’s future and we’re here for it. That you just had to read that sentence brings me unspeakable joy.

I imagine this episode – especially the outro – is going to demand some conversation. Drop us a line with pitches, concerns, gripes, or gifts and treasures at thunderclingpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Insta @thethundercling.

As always, thanks to Ryne Doughty for the delicious musical stylings!

Happy New Year, Thunder Friends. I’m raising my glass to a bit of hope and equanimity in the…LOLOLOLOL… Eh, let’s just survive.

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