You’ve Never Seen Mt. Everest Like This Before

As a National Geographic photographer, Cory Richards has used professional cameras to shoot treacherous ice climbing in Burma, the snowy mountains of Antarctica, and the beautiful banks of the Nile River in Uganda. But to record his latest adventure — climbing Mount Everest — Richards is taking to a new platform: Snapchat. Under the handle @EverestNoFilter, Richards is snapping every step of his journey alongside elite mountaineer Adrian Ballinger, Outside reports. If you saw the movie Everest (a harrowing tragedy based on true events) this past fall, prepare to feel terrified when watching Richard's story unfold, click by click. And as for hearing the wind captured via snap? That will make you feel like you're right there on the snowy landscape. Ballinger is attempting the climb without oxygen, which is impressive — 97% of expeditions these days supplement the thinned Everest air with bottled oxygen. Terror aside, it's exhilarating to see the highest mountain in the world in the palm of your hand and watch two men attempt to ascend it in real time. Richards' photo journal shows the documentary power of Snapchat in a way that we haven't really seen before. (Snapchat also just had another recent first: the premiere of a feature-length film, Sickhouse.) Where will snaps go next? Given that space has already been documented, maybe the possibilities really are endless. See some of Richards' brutally honest, beautiful, and, at times, hilarious snaps, below.