2 mountaineers are climbing Everest, and you can watch it all unfold on Snapchat
Adrian Ballinger, a California-based mountain guide, has summited Mount Everest six times, and this week, he aims to be a part of the 194th expedition to reach the peak without the help of bottled oxygen.
But he, alongside photographer Cory Richards, have a very specific goal in mind, too: be the first to reach the top while documenting the entire experience on Snapchat.
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Since arriving at base camp on April 25, the pair has been posting videos and photos from their journey to their @EverestNoFilter Snapchat account.
Those following along have gotten to see massive amounts of snow dump down on them at 23,000 feet, coupled with the hesitation in their voices as they approach a particularly rough stretch of the climb. All of which is accompanied by captions, narration and emoji.
Their Snapchat stories also consist of surprisingly regular stuff -- they often discuss food and we've seen them jam out to the latest Lumineers' album. Except, of course, the stunning backdrop for these common activities is the highest mountain on Earth.
While it's not totally clear how the men are charging their phones (Snapchat is a notorious battery guzzler), we can assume they have a collection of extra battery packs to keep devices working for the duration of the trip. Ballinger and Richards have not yet responded to a Mashable request for comment.
The two are both accomplished mountaineers. Ballinger owns Alpenglow Expeditions, which is a company that guides ski trips, treks and climbs.
Richards, on the other hand, was the first American to climb Gasherbrum II, the 13th highest mountain in the world, during wintertime. He is also a photographer for National Geographic.
“A lot of stories and images of Everest you’ve seen have been carefully curated by the storytellers to show the rad and beautiful parts of the mountain,” Ballinger wrote in Outside Magazine in early April. “This year [we] aim to change that.”
You can see the snow dumping down on them at 23,000 feet.
And although this may be the first time that Everest climbers have documented a summit via Snapchat, it's not the first time social media has been used to track a climb. In 2013, China Mobile blanketed the mountain with 4G coverage so mountaineers could host live stream broadcasts from the view from the top. Prior to 2013, Everest had 3G coverage.
Not surprisingly, many climbers have taken advantage of the 4G access, including Google executive Dan Fredinburg, who Instagrammed and tweeted his climb in April 2015 before a massive Earthquake in Nepal triggered an avalanche that killed him and at least 18 others before he reached Everest's peak.
In 2010, Mashable wrote about Elia Saikaly, a filmmaker and adventurer, who documented his climb on Skype, Facebook and Twitter.
Ballinger and Richards are also sharing their journey on Twitter and Instagram, but you'll get the richest visual experience by following along on Snapchat. You can also check out their personal Snapchat accounts, @adrianjb and @crichardsphoto, for a more behind-the-scenes look at the trek.
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Topics Snapchat Social Media
Isabelle Chapman was the Associate Tech Editor for Mashable, where she works on Mashable's Snapchat Discover Channel. She joined the Mashable team in 2015 and is based in New York City.She has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.
