When Jeff Glasbrenner lost his leg at 8 years old, doctors gave him a list of all the physical activities to stay away from. He obliged for a few years. And then, after becoming a wheelchair basketball world champion and a 25-time Ironman, he decided to climb Mount Everest.
In Spring 2016, Jeff became the first American amputee to summit Everest. Of the hundreds of people who attempt to scale the world’s highest mountain each year, an even smaller number make it to the top.
OUR OBJECTIVE
Shoot and publish a vivid, sweeping account of climbing Everest. From Seattle to summit, the idea was to immerse the audience in Jeff’s journey, hearing the ice cracking, the wind ripping, and step-by-step narration on the way up. The experience of climbing Mount Everest has been documented many times over. We wanted to give the audience something entirely new.
The Big Idea
Capturing Everest– The first bottom to summit climb of Everest captured in virtual reality. Jeff’s story, one of hope, teamwork, and perseverance, is captured in the groundbreaking, 360-degree four-part immersive series complemented with a first ever Sports Illustrated augmented reality execution.
The Experience - Augmented & Virtual Reality
Capturing Everest was published as a four-part video series on SI.com and YouTube – made available as a 360 VR series in the LIFE VR app, on Samsung VR, and on Microsoft’s Windows MR platform. The project was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated accompanied by the brand’s first ever AR activated front and back covers, and was sponsored by Coors. We developed the covers, as well as several AR-enhanced pages inside the magazine, to both compliment the 4-part VR Docu-Follow series and stand on their own as compelling behind-the-scenes pieces of content – all accessible via the LIFE VR app.
The edition was premiered to Sundance Film Festival’s 8,000+ brand and influencer audience, 1,000+ accredited press from 22 countries, on and across LIFE VR, and across Time Inc.’s 160MM unduplicated audience and 220MM social friends and followers.
