Cory Richards - Explorer And Mountaineer Extraodinaire

Cory Richards might have reached the top of the world multiple times, but his greatest battle was always in his mind.

- Farhan Shah

Mercedes Benz personalities, asked thousands of questions, and transcribed tens of thousands of minutes’ worth of conversations. Past a certain mark, you begin to realise that many people share similar viewpoints. It all tends to sound like a broken record after a while. Not that it’s a bad thing, just that it puts into sharp perspective the uniformity of the human experience.

Cory Richards is not a broken record. Interviewing him was a breath of fresh mountain air. Here stands a man who, among other feats, summitted Everest without oxygen and survived a devastating avalanche on Pakistan’s Gasherbrum II. He’s venerated by the public as an explorer and mountaineer extraodinaire, but it wasn’t his accomplishments that defined the interview. It was his many, many human faults.

What was it like climbing Everest without supplemental oxygen?

I guess the best way to describe it is if you could prolong the experience of swimming as a child, finishing the length of the pool without coming up for air. Now, draw that experience out over six weeks [laughs]. But I don’t think there’s an easy way to describe climbing Everest without oxygen. I can give all of the sensory experiences to you - the suffering, hardship, discomfort, extreme beauty, clarity, fear - but I can’t tell you what it feels like holistically. It is its own unique experience.

What would compel any human being to do such a thing?

Climbing a mountain with the use of oxygen is one thing, and it’s a very worthwhile goal. I don’t want to take away from anybody with the ambition to do it that way.

For me, however, it’s about purity. There’s something innately special about doing everything in my power to rise up to the level of the mountain versus bringing the mountain down to my level.