Everest mountain climbing VR experience opens in London this week
Complete with freezing wind effects
London’s latest immersive experience opens this week — Everest: The First Ascent.
You’ll don a VR headset and, for around 40 minutes, will get to experience a virtual version of the first ascent of Everest, the highest mountain in the world. It's the famous and historic trek by explorer Edmund Hillary and his guide Tenzing Norgay, from 1953.
“In 1953, Everest was still uncharted territory. Relive the first ascent of Everest, all the way to the summit,” says Eclipso Cultural Adventures, the company behind this experience.
Everest: The First Ascent is a free-roam VR experience. You walk around immersive 3D scenes, which include base camp and a monastery as well as the mountaintop vistas you may already be picturing. It takes place in a 400 square metre set, and there are physical special effects to amp up the immersion factor.
“Cold air, wind, vibration and pressure cues your body reads as real,” reads the website.
Sound up your street/mountainside? The review of Everest: The First Ascent by Immersive Rumours is worth a read, as it goes into a bit more detail than you’ll get from the official website. It'll give you a better idea of what to expect than the wealth of what look a bit like AI-generated images on the official website.
The claim is we get a legit and properly researched view of the historic expedition, with input from Katia Buffetrille, “professor and specialist in the sacred mountains of Tibetan Buddhism.”
“Each sequence has been checked and enhanced to ensure a faithful historical, cultural and human reconstruction,” says Eclipso.
This is the same company that gave us Colosseum: The Legendary Arena, Space Explorers: The ISS Experience and Titanic: Echoes From the Past.
According to Immersive Rumours, this new experience sees the team upgrade their hardware too. It uses Pico 4 Ultra headsets rather Than the HTC Vive ones employed previously, with a 2160 x 2160 display per eye, similar to that of the Meta Quest 3.
Everest: The First Ascent is found at Eclipso London, at 213-219 Camden High Street. It’s right next to Camden Town Underground station.
Adult tickets cost £27.50, kids and students pay £21.50. It’s suitable for ages eight and up. There are also London resident tickets for £22.50 — make sure to bring some form of proof of address for that one.
The earliest slot you can currently book for Everest: The First Ascent is Thursday, 1st October.
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