As a National Geographic photographer, Cory Richards has been to lots of beautiful places and taken lots of stunning pictures. His most famous shot, however, is a selfie. But it wasn’t brimming with photographic brilliance, neither was it an artistic black-and-white replete with profundity. Richards’ picture captured the essence of fear.
He took it just about an hour after burrowing out of an avalanche that nearly killed him and two friends as the trio descended Pakistan’s Gasherbrum II, also known as K4, the 13th highest mountain in the world. They had just completed their first winter ascent and right when it seemed like the worst was over, an exhausted Richards and his companions faced the full brunt of Nature’s fury.
Mercifully, they made it out alive. The men almost couldn’t believe it; Richards bawled like a baby. When he took the shot, his face was covered in ice, his lips cracked and his pale blue eyes bloodshot. That was in 2011.
The picture subsequently made it to the cover of National Geographic, appeared on posters and billboards throughout the US, and then around the world via the Internet. It made him famous, but Richards had to fight through years of PTSD to get over the near-death incident. All this time, though, he never stopped climbing.
In 2016, Richards Snapchatted his way up Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. Compared to the Gasherbrum II climb, this expedition was a walk in the park, where the biggest tragedy that happened was when his mobile phone died the moment he reached the summit. The following year, he returned to repeat the feat but was only partially successful, as he had to reach for oxygen at around 8,687m. Mind you, that’s still as high as K2, the second highest mountain in the world. This time, Richards made sure to pack a spare battery.
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