How This Guy Balances Impossible Rock Structures | Obsessed | WIRED

people ask if it's glued if there's steel rods a lot of people really don't understand that it's just balanced these mind-bending rock formations are held together with nothing but gravity rock balancing our predates the Bible and can be found across the globe Michael grab is one of the best balances around and his creations have turned him into an internet phenomenon the structure that probably got me noticed first internationally was kind of this orb structure that I made and it's just hundreds of little rocks kind of balanced on a really tiny one at the bottom one of my core drives is to make the formation as impossible as possible or to challenge my own skill and kind of one-up myself each time a lot of reactions to my process while I'm building is like oh no that's impossible they'll never happen especially when I try to take a huge rock and put it on a tip and then people are just kind of mind blown when I actually let go anyone can make rock piles but Michael has spent the last 12 years perfecting the art of balance I started balancing in about 2008 here in Boulder Colorado and Boulder Creek yeah I just fell in love with it and started doing it every day and it kind of took over my life so I ended up quitting my job and doing it full-time there aren't many people out there who can call themselves professional rock balancers but these fragile creations take a lot of practice I pretty much go out on a daily basis if the weather's nice mainly the wind is what I consider bad weather so if it's snowing or raining I usually go out anyway and that's just part of the beauty of the art form is just getting out in the elements it took Michael over a decade to get to this level a lot of his creations would take multiple attempts to get quite each sculpture is different but every time Michael builds he follows the same process the first thing he must do is find a location to create the stack I've built several structures here over the years I just like it because I like the texture of the rock and the way the water flows over the rock to create towers that look like they're defying gravity takes a lot of time so Michael needs to make himself comfortable once I decide where I want to build I need to make kind of a temporary stone chair like so and I'm just trying to make a very stable surface to plant my bodyweight on and one that's kind of level once he's got a comfy seat it's time to choose his tools for balancing I want the rocks to be completely clean so either I'll grab them from an area that's not so mossy or just kind of loose bare rocks and I'm looking for different textures and surfaces like this kind of has a cup on the bottom it's really important to find rocks that have three points of contact in between these three points is the center of gravity it works exactly the same as a camera tripod you just have to Center the mass so I kind of matched that up with my big base Boulder here and get it in a position that is completely stable in between the contacts so all the weight is going to be channel the rate to this point he always works backwards picking the final rock first the bigger the top rock the more impossible the structure will look when he lets go this is the rock I've designated as my top rock just because I like the shape of it and it has a nice kind of rounded point down at the bottom here so I basically want to balance it in this orientation as Michael starts to build he has to make sure that the structure has a solid foundation has to be the most stable at the bottom because any kind of vibrations will magnify as they come up the structure with a traditional rock the build becomes more challenging the weight increases and rocks could fall on Michael at any time but actually takes quite a bit of physical strength to get this one balanced safely they have to hold this one with this hand with all this weight so it's like really wanting to fall that way the rocks are heavy so any collapses could lead to broken fingers so yeah this whole art form is definitely not for the faint of heart you just kind of go all in or else you might get injured once all of the rocks below are aligned the final piece of the puzzle is also the most risky the top rock as I'm building up the core of the structure I'm kind of estimating this final weight and position of the top rock and so once it actually gets up there then it's like the actual weight that I'm working with and so sometimes my adjustments that I've been making the whole time will be a little bit off they're pretty close right now like it's barely balanced but I'm gonna get out of here because you got to do that carefully also because they're so finally poised a tower like this may not last very long the structures will last anywhere from a few seconds to a few days at the end of every build Michael likes to test the integrity of the tower by splashing it with water final process I usually do is splash it with water and if it can survive through this then it's worthy to be photographed this also gives it an amazing ice sculpture effect if left overnight in the cold colder air part of this whole rock balancing thing is actually getting into nature and experiencing it firsthand like turning over rocks and seeing what's on these things and learning about the life that's around in a bit to Leave No Trace Michael destroys one of his structures after photographing them I like to document as much of the creation as possible so that includes the build process that includes the life of the creation as long as it's standing and also the collapse and ideally a natural collapse due to wind or something like that but even still if wind doesn't blow it over and I'm done with all my documentation then I'll just knock it over myself you

Channel: WIRED

Views: 5,335,194

Rating: 4.9270215 out of 5

Keywords: ott obsessed, rock balancing, balancing rocks, rock stacker, balanced rocks, rock balancing michael grab, michael grab rocks, michael grab rock structure, rock structure, rock stacks, rock stackings, rock balance, stacking rocks, rock balancer, rock balancer michael grab, rock stacking impossible, rock stack, rock stack interview, michael grab interview, pro rock balancer, rock sculpture, stacking rock, rock stacking, stacking a rock, impossible rock stacking, wired

Id: puv_cHwT22Y

Length: 7min 24sec (444 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 12 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Unpopular opinion - I find them dumb and ruin the experience of being in nature when you find them off the beaten paths.

[u/craiger_123]

"I quit my job so I could work on this full-time."

[u/shavingice]

Nice story, Thanks.

I have seen these sculptures for years in the Boulder Creek. They always make me smile.

[u/stefan_burnett_]

Leave no trace tho