Mammut's #Project360 Takes Us Up Iconic Mountains Without Ever Leaving Home

An ambitious new undertaking from Mammut is giving armchair mountaineers an opportunity to climb some of the most iconic mountains in the world without ever having to leave those armchairs.

The gear company sent top climbers up major peaks such as the Eiger, El Capitan, and the Matterhorn while wearing specially built camera systems that captured their routes in full 360º images. Those images were then stitched together and placed online, allowing us to take a virtual expedition up those same mountains from the safety of our homes.

Dubbed #Project360, the website hosting these virtual climbs is now online and accessible by the general public. In addition to the mountains listed above, it also offers a virtual climb of Mt. Elbrus – the tallest peak in Europe – and Rübezahl, a massive frozen waterfall in Switzerland. The Mönch – another iconic European peak – is listed as "coming soon."

These virtual climbs work much like Google Street View in that it gives viewers the opportunity to move up and down these mountains, and pan the camera around 360º to get a better view of the landscapes. The result is an opportunity to see what these climbing routes are like, and just how high up they actually are, to better appreciate what climbers must overcome on the way to the top.

This is definitely a fun and impressive way to kill some time on your computer without fear of altitude sickness or vertigo. You can check it out for yourself by clicking here. And if you want to know more about how the project was created, watch the video below.

Video: Emily Harrington Climbs El Capitan's Golden Gate Route

El Capitan is arguably the most iconic climbing wall in the entire world, drawing in the best rock climbers from across the globe. That includes Emily Harrington, who visited Yosemite National Park to attempt the difficult Golden Gate route, which features a rating of 5.13 VI. It took her six days to complete the 40 pitches, but eventually she conquered the route. You can follow her efforts in the video below, which gives us an amazing look at the rock face, and the spectacular valley below.

Video: A Speed Ascent of El Capitan

Zenyatta Mondatta is one of the iconic climbing routes on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. It is often used as a challenging introduction to aid climbing, and is a test piece for taking on some of the other more difficult routes that El Cap has to offer. Back in October of last year, three climbers – David Allfrey, Skiy Detray and Cheyne Lempe – made the 16-pitch ascent and filmed their efforts. The result is this fantastic 9 minute short film that documents their speed ascent of line. This is definitely a good way to wrap up the week, and send us into the weekend. Enjoy!

SPEED ASCENT ZM from Alpinist Magazine on Vimeo.