Yeah, 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 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 cord 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.

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.

There aren't many people out there who can call themselves professional rock balances.

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.

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 will take multiple attempts to get right, how's the each sculpture is different.

But every time Michael builds, he follows the same process.

The first thing you must do is find a location to create the stack.

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, your business like.

So, and I'm just trying to make a very stable surface to plant my body weight on And one this 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 mask.

So I kind of match that up with my big baseball.

They're here and get it in a position that is mhm.

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 each additional 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 when he collapses could lead to broken fingers.

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.

Mhm.

Once all of the rocks below are aligned, the final piece of the puzzle is also the most risky 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 going to 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 bid to leave no trace, Michael destroys all of his structures.

After photographing, 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 and I'll just knock it over myself.

Yeah.