- [Michael] People ask if it's glued, if there's steel rods,
a lot of people really don't understand
that it's just balanced.
- [Narrator] These mind bending rock formations
are held together with nothing but gravity.
Rock balancing art predates the Bible
and can be found across the globe.
Michael Grab is one of the best balancers around
and his creations have turned him
into an internet phenomenon. [light melodic music]
- 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, that'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.
- [Narrator] 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 in Boulder Creek,
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.
- [Narrator] There aren't many people out there,
who can call themselves professional rock balancers,
but these fragile creations take a lot of practice.
- [Michael] I pretty much go out on a daily basis,
if the weather's nice,
mainly the wind is what I consider bad weather, [laughing]
so if it's snowing or raining, I usually go out anyway,
I mean, that's just part of the beauty of the art form
is just getting out in the elements.
- [Narrator] It took Michael over a decade
to get to this level, a lot of his creations
will take multiple attempts to get right.
- That was the wind?
- [Narrator] 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.
- [Narrator] 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 wanna 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 body weight on
and one that's kind of level.
- [Narrator] 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.
- [Narrator] 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 match 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 gonna be
channeled right to these point.
- [Narrator] He always works backwards,
picking the final rock first,
the bigger the top rock,
the more impossible the structure will look,
when he let's go.
- This is the rock I've designated as my top rock,
just 'cause I like the shape of it
and it has a nice, kind of rounded point
down at the bottom here,
so I basically wanna balance it in this orientation.
- [Narrator] As Michael starts to build, he has to make sure
that the structure has a solid foundation.
- [Michael] It has to be the most stable at the bottom,
because any kind of vibrations
will magnify as they come up the structure.
- [Narrator] With each additional rock,
the build becomes more challenging, the weight increases
and rocks can fall on Michael at any time.
- It actually takes quite a bit of physical strength
to get this one balanced safely,
I have to hold this one with this hand with all this weight,
so it's like really wanting to fall that way.
- [Narrator] The rocks are heavy,
so any collapses could lead to broken fingers.
- See how 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.
[laughing]
- [Narrator] 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've got to do that carefully also.
- [Narrator] Because they're so finely poised,
a tower like this may not last very long.
- [Michael] The structures will last
anywhere from a few seconds to a few days.
- [Narrator] At the end of every build,
Michael likes to test the integrity of the tower
by splashing it with water.
- [Michael] The final process I usually do
is splash it with water
and if it can survive through this,
then it's worthy to be photographed.
- [Narrator] This also gives it
an amazing ice sculpture effect
if left overnight in the cold Boulder air.
- [Michael] 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 life that's around.
- [Narrator] In a bid to leave no trace,
Michael destroys all of his structures
after photographing them.
[light melodic music]
- [Michael] 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.
[light melodic music]