A climber and filmmaker has created the most detailed image of Mount Everest ever, made up of a mosaic of hundreds of photographs.
It is an astonishing image that shows the beauty and majesty of the Himalaya region.From afar it seems like a normal photgraph of Mount Everest, however, when you zoom in it allows people sitting at their desks or at home to view the world’s highest mountain like never before.
The image is made up of 477 individual photographs, taken during the climbing season in spring 2012 from vantage points all around the mountain with a 300mm lens.
Created by filmmaker David Breashears and nonprofit organisation GlacierWorks to highlight the effect of climate change on the area.Team also produced stunning ‘then and now’ pictures to show the effect climate change on the area since 1921.Working with Microsoft on even more detailed version
‘The Khumbu Icefall is clearly visible here, and one can easily see the hustle and bustle of Everest Base Camp below’.Breashears and his team stitched them together to create one massive image that users can zoom in and out of.
Founded by acclaimed mountaineer, photographer, and filmmaker David Breashears, GlacierWorks is a non-profit organization that vividly illustrates the changes to Himalayan glaciers through art, science, and adventure. Since 2007, GlacierWorks has undertaken ten expeditions to document the current state of the glaciers, retracing the steps of pioneering mountain photographers in order to capture new images that precisely match the early photographic records. Over the past five years, they have recorded losses and changes to glaciers that are inaccessible to all but the most skilled climbers.
The Imagery
Gigapixel imagery lies at the heart of the GlacierWorks website and work. A gigapixel is a single, super high-resolution image created from a series of smaller photographs shot in sequence. In the field, our team uses specially designed hardware to capture each frame, as each must overlap the next by a precise amount. We then use software that recognizes the inter-frame overlap and organizes the pictures accordingly. Specialized web-based viewing tools are then used to allow deep zooms and explorations of these massive images.
High-resolution gigapixel photography enables viewers to experience the glaciers as never before: up-close and with extreme precision. Using theseonline tools, it is possible to soar thousands of feet above a glacier and view it in its entirety or dip down to the ground and explore pebbles in the ice. We believe that this approach will foster a deep understanding of the changes at work in this remote and frozen region.
‘It’s just extraordinary and we’re so excited by that image, and people love clicking on things and zooming in,’ he said.
‘We want to tell the bigger story of climate change in the area, and we are working with Microsoft and the Royal Geographical Society on this.’
The team eventually hope to develop a far larger version of the image so detailed users can actually zoom inside tents at base camp
‘Just 1/100th of our imagery is on the site, and the storytelling possibilities are incredible – people love to move things,’ said Breashears, who has climbed Everest five times.
‘It started out as a simple concept, and every time we visit we find out more – this is not even the tip of the iceberg, we want to take people all over the mountain with 120,000 pictures from a helicopter in the region.
‘We are building this with Microsoft, and we could soon be able to combine the old and new pictures so people can virtually ‘swipe’ images to see how they looked in the past.’
The team has also been working with the Royal Geographical Society in London to create a series of ‘before and after’ photographs showing the effect of climate change since 1921.
‘It’s a very interesting time to be looking at the mountain,’ said Breashears.
‘After a while I became interested in climate change, and how it was affecting the area.
‘Out of that came the idea for matching photography with Royal Geographical Society to show the first images from Everest with current ones.’
The team now plans to combine the two projects into a vast interactive image of the area so detailed viewers can actually zoom into camps of climbers and see inside tents.
‘We are hoping to launch the next version in June next year, and this is really just a placeholder for what we want to do.
‘You’ll be able to zoom into tents, and swipe pictures to see how the view has changed over time.’
Breashears has spent most of his career working in mountain areas.
‘When I was 23 I wanted to be a mountaineer after seeing the picture from the top of Everest taken by Sir Edmund Hillary.
‘I First went to Himalaya in 1979 to climb Ama Dablam near to Everest, which is over 22,000 feet high.
‘I was also becoming interested in photography, so for the past 33 years have been on 5 Everest ascents, including the first live broadcast, and first IMAX film from Everest.
He also revealed he is currently working with Working Title films on a movie set on Everest.
MOUNT EVEREST
Mount Everest is the Earth’s highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres above sea level.In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest.
It has become a mecca for climbers, and has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge from Nepal and the north ridge from Tibet.
The southeast ridge is technically easier and was the route used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953 when they reached the summit for the first time.
To see more glacier images, visit GlacierWorks web site.
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