Forget indoor climbing. Welcome to armchair climbing. No equipment needed. Or effort. Just let a drone do all the work, as you get to experience what it’s like to climb Everest, all the way from from Base Camp, at 17,598 feet, all the way up to the mountain’s 29,032-foot summit.
Equipped with a 4/3 CMOS Hasselblad camera, tri-camera system, the drone captures stunning 4K footage with amazing detail and vivid colors on a flight that took 43-minutes but is compressed to a more bite-sized just-over four minutes for your viewing pleasure.
Yeah, sure, it’s basically an ad for the DJI Mavic 3 Pro drone ($2,199 (US) / £1,879 (UK)), but when the results are this impressive we’re more than happy to provide a link.
Of course, this is not the first time drone footage detailing a climb up Everest has been released but it’s by far the most impressive to reach the internet yet, though it’s not quite the awesome experience of The Quest: Everest VR, but you need a VR headset for that.
For this clip, the drone follows the Western Cwm route from Nepal, flying over such landmarks as the Khumbu Icefall, Geneva Spur, Balcony, Lhotse Face and Hillary Step. Though you may want to turn the Hollywood blockbuster punch-the-air triumphant climax music off, and overlay something from a chillout compilation or Nepalese throat singing instead.
It’s actually been edited together from four separate clips but we don’t this piece of technological sleight-of-hand diminished the impact. Which is pretty awesome.
- The best women’s climbing shoes 2024: for indoor climbing sessions, valley cragging and all-day mountain adventures