Want to climb the world's tallest mountain, but don't want to leave the comfort of your own home? Now you can, thanks to a new virtual-reality documentary series that allows you to experience the most notorious mountaineering journey in the world.
"Capturing Everest" is a new four-episode VR series that follows the journey of four climbers — including Garrett Madison, who summited Everest six times, and Brent Bishop, who summited Everest three times — as they ascend the giant peak. Sports Illustrated and Life VR (Time's virtual-reality platform) partnered with the digital media network Endemol Shine Beyond USA to produce the documentary. It was filmed over a two-month period last spring — the first time people were allowed on the mountain after two years of bad weather and safety concerns canceled the previous climbing seasons.
The VR series is billed as "the first-ever complete ascent of the world’s tallest mountain in virtual reality," and its premiere yesterday (May 3) also marks the first-ever augmented-reality issue from Sports Illustrated (SI). [In Photos: Mount Everest Expeditions, Then and Now]
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"['Capturing Everest' is] yet another example of how SI is delivering the access and storytelling for which we've always been known in cutting-edge ways," the magazine's editors wrote in a letter introducing the VR documentary. "And it's the jumping-off point for a new idea of what a magazine can be."
Viewers will experience first-person views of climbing Mount Everest, thanks to a variety of 360-degree video cameras that captured footage along the way. This included cameras attached to zip lines and body cams on the climbers' harnesses. The VR documentary series can also be viewed via 360 video on the SI microsite dedicated to the project, along with related articles, photos and more.
The full "Capturing Everest" VR experience and other exclusive content can be watched via the Life VR app for iOS and Android. In the coming weeks, the magazine said the documentary series will be available on additional VR platforms.
Original article on Live Science.
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